I have a 1984 22r pickup. Its on 31x12.5x15 tires right now, i want to jump up to 35x12.5x15 but buddy of mine told me that i don't want to go that big on the stock 4.10 ratio because 5th gear will become basically useless. I am brand new to working on cars and know extremely little. Im learning as i do doing basic maintenance on the truck. Is it a total pain in the ass to replace the gear pinions and stuff? How much would it cost me if i payed a shop to do it? Anything helps, thanks.

 

Check out www.gearinstalls.com to get an idea of what all is involved in setting up gears, it takes some special tools.

You can buy the 5.29 geared diffs and install them yourself with basic tools. Marlin, trailgear, etc all sell diffs in various ratios.