gears or tires first?

[ckomai]

I have 31's with 3.55 gearing. I want to do 33's with 4.56. I know if I do tires first I will be putting more stress on the drivetrain and will loose torque off the line. But what will happen if I gear 4.56 while I have 31's?

 

[ghosttrain2]

I run 31's on mine with 3.73 gearing-no stress, and still gets 16 mpg combined.

 

[ckomai]

but thats like a perfect combo you have going. I was wondering if I had a 4.56 31" setup what would happen.

 

[damarble]

Either way will be fine. Guys run around in muscle cars with 4.10+ and <30" tires and do fine. I'm rolling on 34s with 3.73s and get by. It's gutless but gets the job done and I have no plan to regear. Only putting money into D60s (way down the road).

 

[Albino 94LTD]

but thats like a perfect combo you have going. I was wondering if I had a 4.56 31" setup what would happen.

Pro;
It'll be a little quicker around town. Better for towing.

Con;
Freeway RPMs higher = slightly lower MPG

In short, nothing bad.

 

[ckomai]

albino, had a feeling about that but just wanted to confirm. now the question is 4.10 or 4.56

 

[damarble]

When in doubt go deeper. After those 33s you will consider 35s so the more gear now the better.

 

[Maniak]

Do a little math to get an idea of how fast your going to be spinning the motor..

For example. We went from 3.27 to 4.10's but were still running the 30" tires (for a couple months)..

In town it was great. On the freeway, we were spinning the motor at 2500+ rpms just to go the speed limit. Around here that is 75mph.

With 4.56 we would have been closer to 3000 rpms and I just can't spin that poor motor that fast for long periods..

Just something to think about.. and I use http://4lo.com/calc/gearratio.php to figure RPM/Speed/Gear ratios.. easier than doing real math

~Mark

 

[jd4242]

Never fear the gear!!!! 4.56 @33s or if trail rig and no highway go 4.88s.I loved and ran 33street tires with 4.88s

 

[Steve A]

4.56's.. You won't regret it, 4.88's are fine too, especially for autos. Although imho, for a 5-speed manual it's a little over the top near 75 mph, when running 31's for sure.