gears or tires first

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.

 

[Makahveli]

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.

 

[Paexplorer94]

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.

 

[Robert]

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.

 

[birdman]

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

 

[Robert]

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.

 

[Paexplorer94]

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

 

[CarFreak146]

of course.

 

[Paexplorer94]

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.

 

[CarFreak146]

Lookin, good!! Congrats!!