I have installed a 2 inch lift and am about to make the next purchase in my "build up". I know that with 31 inch tires i would have to go to about 3.73 gears to get back to normal. Since I'm in college and on a limited budget I can only afford to get either the tires or the gears now. So should I get the tires first or should i get the gears first and the tires later. I'm worried i won't be able to pull out on hills in first gear with the 3.27 gears and 31 inch tires but i also don't want to deal with the poor gas mileage of gears taht are too low. Any advice would be appreciated.

if its a 5 speed you can get tires first. There is a guy on here that has 3:27's and 32's and he just complained about gas milage but no problem.

Yes i have the 5 speed. Will i be able to pull out on hills with 31's and 3.27 gears. Im not all that concerned about gas mileage, just so its driveable.

Get the tires first no doubt, you can work with them since you have a 5spd. It really should not be that bad at all.

no man get the gears first, i recoment lower than 3.73, but tires first will toast your clutch, I know this for a fact living in the mountain area and going throught 3 clutch sets in a little over a tear. thats when I had 3.27 and was running 32's.

why upgrade to 3.73s? i would go with 4.10s personally if you plan on staying at 31s.... i have 3.73s and although didnt notice much difference when going form 235/75/15 to 31s it was noticeable... and the closest to stock would be about a 4.10 ... that would then be equal to 3.73s with 31s

I would say tires first. It shouldn't be to bad either way, so its no big deal which you get first. If you decide to go any bigger than 31s, then definately go gears first.

anyone else have the experience of ruining clutches from running 31s with 3.27 and the 5 speed. Also wouldn't 4.10 gears be much to0 low, I was using the calculator i found at the ranger station,here (http://www.therangerstation.com/Gear_Tire_RatioChange.html) It said 3.55 would be back to normal and 3.73s would be a little lower than stock.

oh man get the tires first. A manual is actually better to run big tires on, bigger tires do more damage to an automatic. If you burn up the clutch cause of 1/1.5 inch difference then you shouldn't be driving a manual. Get the tires and go from there. 3.73's sound good if you choose to do that but seriously get the tires first. I don't see the logic in spending $500 on gears and then buying $600 tires and finding out your $500 gears won't work with your $600 tires so you managed to f*** up twice. Get the tires, drive them on road for a week and take it offroad a couple times, then make your decision. Won't hurt a damn thing.

no man, get the gears first, 4.10's haven't you read the history of explorers with the first gens and their gear ratio's. Stock gear setting was for saving gas and people to get better highway milege. Daily driver setting were suppose to be from 3.55-3.73. That's why all the speed guys here with close to stock size tires usually stay or go to 3.73. Daily driver setting for 31's are 4.10. Go to any shop and ask to see a gear ratio to tire size chart and this will make more sense to you. With 4.10's you can still use stock tires up to 33's no problem.

Remember with gears the lower you go the more hp's you gain but your top speed goes down too. Then again your in the U.S.A. where the speed limit is 75 max which you will still be able to get up too. But upgrading tires with gears will nuetralize things.

And on the cool tip man I know you want your Horse Power. And no it won't stress anything to get 4.10's first. Tires will stress your ex in a way that gears won't. In comparison to an audio setup. Gears are you amp and tires are your subs. A weak amp will leave you unsatisfied with its power towards a sub, and the other way around with a powerful sub-you'll be so please with it it'll make you wanna buy more subs. Nobody can argue with that.

I definatly wanted to get the tires first but it seems like everyone thinks that would be a mistake.

Originally posted by Makahveli
Remember with gears the lower you go the more hp's you gain but your top speed goes down too.
Um, ignore all that! HP has nothing to do with it.

31s with 3.27s are doable, but not optimal. If 31s are the biggest tires you are planning to go with, just get the tires now, and upgrade the gears in the future.

I live in a fairly hilly region and my ex needs to be driveable. So i should go with the tires first.

true you don't lose or gain HP but as far as utilizing the power, it'll feel like you lost some HP, but to correct my self it will still be they just not converted as well.

I tend to agree with robb. The X stock was 3.73:1 gear ratio with 30.5 inch tires. It had plenty of power. Then lifted and went with 33s with a stock 3.73:1 gear ratio. It was a dog but it was drivable. The best description I can give is that 1st gear became like 2nd, and 2nd became like 3rd and so on. I have regeared to a 4.56:1 gear ratio. The power difference is increadable. I do have to shift more often and the top end speed is lowered.

If you go with a 3.73:1 gear ratio you can pick up a used set for a song. I have a used set with a complete front carrier that I am not even trying to sell because there are so many other people on this site trying to sell the same thing. Then only the rear differential need to be set up. A 4.10:1 gear ratio with 31 is likely to low for you unless you tow, wheel often or just like to spin the tires.

Originally posted by unclemeat
I tend to agree with robb. The X stock was 3.73:1 gear ratio with 30.5 inch tires.. . .

I'm not sure which X you are referring to that came stock with 3.73s and 30.5" tires, but it wasn't before '99-'00. The tallest tires that were offered on Gen I Explorers were 235 75R15 (29"). Starting in '95 Ford started offering 255 70R16 (30.5") and to go along with them began offering 4.10s. In either '99 or '00 Ford dropped the 4.10 again but kept the 255 70R16 tires. The 3.73 was then the gear that became standard with the 255 tires.

My '97 came with the 30.5" tires and 4.10 axles which made for a perfect combination. The combination resulted in only slightly higher RPMs than the 3.73/235 75R15 combination. Either combination is an ideal setup. When I swapped my 30.5" tires for 31.7" tires and kept my 4.10s, my overall ration was the equivalent to having the 235 tires and 3.73 gears. My power dropped slightly when I put my 31.7" tires but my mileage went up slightly. When I then went up to 33" tires, my power dropped drastically as well as my mileage. I reageared to 4.56s which put me back as close to my factory ratio as possible. I gained back most of my lost power and a bit of my mileage.

31" tires are best suited for 4.10s whether the OP tows or not to make up for the weight and diameter the taller tires add. In either case, neither situation (tires or gears first) will be that enjoyable. With 3.27 gears and 31" tires, power will be much worse than stock. If the OP lived in Florida (or some other suitably flat area) then it could be made to work for a while. Living in a hilly areas as he states and power will be severely lacking. If he goes with the gears first, he will have plenty of power and as long as he doesn't make too many runs at 70 + MPH shouldn't be that bad (didn't catch what size his tires are though). I had a 4-cylinder Ranger that I regeared to 3.73s from the factory 3.08s but kept the tire size the same. Around town it was very fun (at least compared to what it was like with 3.08s). Once I got on the highway though and I hated it. I was running 3000-3500 RPM. The high RPMs with my FMS header and Flowmaster muffler caused me to avoid the highways whenever possible. Mileage dropped from 26 MPG to 21 MPG on the highway as well. If I had to do only one, then it would be the gears. If I could wait until I had the money to do both, that is the route I would take.

I tires first.

I am running 32's with 3.27's and an auto.... only downfall is that now, I can't use overdrive and I don't have near the acceleration I used to. But it all depends on if you wanna go bigger than 31's eventually.

I say tires first.

--Ryan

Why are you guys acting like he won't even be able to get it moving if he goes to 31's? Ya'll are scaring the hell out of this guy making it sound like his explorer will be a worthless paper weight if he goes up 1 or 2 inches of tire. Relax. Your explorer will work/run/be drivable, and even go UP a hill with your stock gears, imagine that.

sorry for the confusion, even with 33's he will still be able to move. When I got my ex it came with 32's so I don't know the big difference from stock. I just know from experience and having the same exact 1st Gen Manual Sport that I could almost tell him best. Tires first will strain your ex in a harsh way. But yes you will be able to move, but let me tell you this- if you do tires first get back to me in a few monthes when your clutch burns-up. I only advize gears first cause 3.27's suck and in other post I read that stock tires were 28's. But hey man I've letting off this. Good luck, and 32'a would look better.

Well I appreciate all the advice and I've decided to go with the 30x9.5 inch bfg mud terrain tires since I really need tires badly and I don't want to lose a great deal of power. Since my bfg at have a true diameter of 29.2 and the 30x9.5 mt have a diameter of 29.9 I shouldn't notice a great loss in power.

No one said anything about him not being able to get moving, only about the acclerated wear that will be caused by going to tires that are 10% higher than stock. His RPMs will be 10% lower at the same given speed. Put another way, it will be like starting off in 2nd. It will always feel like it is one gear too high. As I said, on flat ground it wouldn't be too much of a problem for a while. However, he mentioned that there are a lot of hills in his area. Try an experiment some time. Park facing up a decent hill and try taking off in 2nd gear. You will immediately feel the added strain. If you have a manual then you will have to rev very high and slip the clutch quite a bit to get going. If you have an automatic, you will notice you have to press the gas pedal down about twice as hard to get the same acceleration. I have personal experience going up 10% in tire diameter (went from 30.5" to 33" tires) without regearing. My automatic transmission began slipping badly within three months of putting the 33s on whereas it never gave any sign of trouble in the past. Maintenance was always kept up and the fluid looked good. It didn't matter though. When the transmission shop showed me the disks from inside the transmission they were all brown and glazed over. I am pretty sure that my transmission would have probably needed rebuilt within the next 25K-50K miles, but I also have no doubt that the increased tire diameter (and weight) acclerated it to 3K miles. On flat ground and even going up into the mountains here in Arizona I had OK power. I could just feel the added strain though and it took its toll. If his engine or clutch already have a lot of miles (& being a '94 I don't doubt that it does) any already present wear will be greatly accelerated.

yeah but those are 33x12.50 not 31x10.50s... little difference there.

Actually they are 33x11.2 and my Explorer came geared for 30" tires. By putting on 33" diameter tires, I lowered my effective gear ratios by 10%. His Explorer came geared for 28" tires. He wants to put on 31s. Still a 10% difference. The effect will be the same as mine with the expeption of the extra weight of my larger tires (which my extra 45 HP more than makes up for). If he goes from 28" tires to 31" tires, it will still be like he lost 1st gear. Try driving around for a few days without ever using 1st gear and you'll see what kind of affect it has.

Well I got my 30x9.5 mud tires mounted today and i have to say I'm glad I decided to go with them instead of the 31's I do have some power loss in 3rd gear and above and the 30's do look really good and get great traction in the mud. I have pics if anyone wants to see

of course.

here's the pics. the truck is really salt covered since we got a snowstorm yesterday and its already muddy since i had to try out the new tires in the fields.
http://www.fototime.com/B5037F71C0BE979/standard.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/3355BAD2FC285DD/standard.jpg

Lookin, good!! Congrats!! :chug: