By 'regear', I had in mind changing the ring and pinion in the differentials. For instance, you are likely geared at 4.10:1 at the axles. That is fine up to 31" tires, but if you want to pull 33" or 35" tires you would be much more comfortable with 4.88s or 5.29s respectively.

Generally, you want to gear the diffs for highway driving, not so much offroad gearing. It just sets things aright when using larger tires.

With special tools like inch-lb. torque wrenches, some homemade tools perhaps, and some mentoring, regearing is something not beyond the average garage mechanic. Most would probably opt to have a shop do that however, because without some instruction it can be a bit mysterious and the consequences of doing it wrong can be... inconvenient. Pulling the diffs yourself (see the service manual) will save you some bux though.

You can also regear the transfer case, going from the stock low range of 2.28:1 to 4.0:1, 4.7:1, or 5.0:1. You can go with a crawler modification too, essentially adding another reduction box as a 'doubler'. The advantage of that is that you preserve the stock low range for, say, 80% of wheeling, while having half that ratio or more for serious stuff. These tend to be more expensive though, and probably beyond your scope (for now: warning, the bug bites!).

 

Thanks for shedding some light on the subject. For my purposes, I think any crawler mods would be counterproductive for my rigs desired use. So do I actually need to modify my transmission at all then?

 

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regearing your differentials will bring your final gear ratio back to stock when running larger tires.

 

www.gearinstalls.com
Not a bad place to start, if you want to learn. Zuk does a thing or two unconventionally (extreme carrier bearing preload for instance) but he has had a good track record.

 

Thanks guys, i didnt mean to hijack this ba thread with newbie questions. i wanna see some more of this build!!

 

can you clarify something for me? i need an inner fender and a radiator core support and i need to go to the junkyard (i'll be lucky if i find something decent there) and since i've never taken off the front clip, i'm not really sure what to expect. can i pull the front clip with basic hand tools and a drill? it looks like it will come off by drilling out the (factory) spotwelds, is that right? thanks

 

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We'll be doing this on an 89 standard cab real soon! The BFH routine worked out great, but the grille doesn't quite sit right w/ the fenders and bumper.