I find forum on the rear differental, but none the front. I was wondering if you change gearing on the rear do need to change the front, to the same gearing? Or how does that work?

 

Yes change the gearing. Unless you plan on never using 4wd EVER again.

 

Do you change it to the same gear ratio?

 

Yes use exactly the same gearing. if you have 4.88's in the back put 4.88's in the front differential too!

 

Im also going to put rear lockers on back, do you recommend the front to? I dont do any major rock climbing!

 

A rear locker will do wonders offroad. I ran with just a rear locker for a while and it was a GREAT improvement. The front locker isn't necessary, but does help as well.

Do a search on lockers. You will find hundreds of different opinions on what is the best setup.

 

Thanks for the info!!

 

You don't actually HAVE to change both front and rear gearing. You could just run different size tires front and rear!

 

Math hurts our brains though.

Just run the same ratio front and rear. If you do not have hyrdo assist steering, just run open front or an ARB.

 

Yeah you will screw stuff up if you run different ratios front/rear.
If you can put a front locker in, i would, its about like the step from rear wheel drive to four wheel drive. And i know you will be out wheelin one day and get into a situation where you wish you had a front locker

 

Front and rear gears should be within 1-2% of each other, and you'll be fine. In our case, put the exact same gearing front and rear, unless you're swapping an axle in from another brand (ie, gm 14-bolt rear, or d60, etc)

I drive an 84 pickup with a front locker, open rear. Works pretty good.

Now if you have a 4Runner, you might want to do the rear first, as it's bum heavy. My truck is nose heavy. If you have an IFS truck, definately do the rear first, as the front cv driveline isn't nearly as strong as the rear.