As many of you know by now, I've had my truck for 15 years. It came with 31 x 10.5 x 15 tires and 4.56 gears. I'm putting ARB lockers in the front and rear. (I hate getting stuck.) The guys who are going to do the install said that now would be the time to change the ratio since they'll already have the diffs apart (although it'll stll cost about $600 for the regear). I started thinking . . . hey, with my new 1" BL I could go with 33's and change to 4.88 to even things out again.

But, I'm wondering how much 33 inch tires will improve my life. I use my truck for going to Mammoth as often as possible during the winter (especially when there's a dump alert), for getting to and from trail heads for backpacking, exploring in the desert and mountains (California, Baja, Colorado) or transporting my dirt bike for the same (although my dirt bike days may be numbered), getting around some awful roads in the Temecula/Rainbow area where my dad has some land (yeah, it's the ranch truck sometimes), carrying around my scuba gear . . . . oh, and driving to and from work.

I read a lot of threads about gearing already. So, my question isn't about that. There's already a ton of information. Just, whether with my use of the truck I'd be better off with 33's instead of the 31's I've been using for so long. Oh, and if I went with 33's I'd stay with 10.5s and keep them on the stock alloys.

Thanks!

 

if your going to be wheeling I'd get 33s or at least regear now then do 33s when your 31s wear out $600 extra seems like a chunk of change when you can get gears with install kits for ~$450, doesn't seem like much extra labor when they have to set up gears anyways when they install the ARBs. So I'd regear now one of these days your gonna want bigger tires so then you'll have to pay again and pull the 3rds again just to regear.

 

Well normally id say 33's but now after reading your post im not sure. If you have had your truck for 15yrs and you arent sure if you need 33's. then you probably dont.

 

33s

 

you can still run 33s on 4.56s so you dont HAVE to regear now.

 

I guess the one thing that has me thinking 33 is the fact that I'm probably ramping back on the dirt bike thing. I'd still like to explore which means my truck will have to take up the slack. I know I'll never be able to go all the places I've been on my bike. (What's that thing Waskillywabbit says?) But, it would be cool to go a lot of the places I wasn't too sure about before the lockers with the truck. It used to be kind of a Thunderbirds thing . . .. . going as far as I could with the truck then jumping on the bike and going the rest of the way.

How much will 33s help?

 

front and rear lockers will give you more capability than any 5 things will ever give you.

 

Hmmm . . . .

4.88 - 4.56 = .32 things?

4 x 2" = 8 things?

Thunderbird reference?

Man, a google search on "5 things" gave me a 5 thing list for anything I could think of except tire size decisions. :cry:

 

Larger tires are the only thing that will truly increase overall ground clearance of your truck. If you are thinking of spending more time offroad like you indicate in your second post then regear and get the 33s.

 

mammy is already getting snow, you may be changing tires sooner than ya think

well 33s sure can't hurt, esp if the snow is deep, or the trails rocky. you may find that with your incrased ground clearance you'll venture to new, rockier/harder trails and have more fun. of course this could open a pandora's box and make you want to this and that mod on top of what you're already doing

 

I would stay with 31s, if you're gonna have lockers, you wont get stuck as much. I considered 33x10.50 but I want to have plenty of room to flex, I will not cut or trim my truck so I would have to get more lift. And if I get more lift I'd be just as well off to go SAS rather than an IFS lift and all that crap. If there was a 32x10.50 I would have it, but I've never even seen one. You can safely traverse most things with 31s....with the exception of boulders and 3ft water. I say 31s....no sense in changing now.

 

Let me break out the crayons.

lockers front and back is better than lift, larger tires, gears, second t case, and a hillbily sticker all put togeather. So basically its not realy going to matter much if you go to 33's.

 

FYI - Super Swamper TSL Radials comes in a 32x10.50

 

Tanks, I wuv ta culer!


Yeah, I got the picture. I was just having fun. I did find a thread in "off topic" that's going right now . . . all about the best and worst mods. Several people have given "5 things" lists. You're right on with the general consensus there.

Thanks a bunch! I'm leaning towards 33's after everyone's help. You guys are great!

 

Awesome, too bad I didn't know that beforehand. I might up to that after college if I get a second car or a bike or somethin. I wouldn't want to wear em out too fast driving all over the place.

 

Ive never even gone over to offtopic. Youll like 33's.

 

I shoulda' posted this before:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...ighlight=worst

 

I have 33's and 4.56's it gets me around town just fine and trail work is ok too. Currently I'm open on either end. I will how-ever change to 4.88's and lockers when the cash presents itself!

Mike

 

i ran 35's on stock toyota 4.10's... now thats poor hillbilly for you

 

These tires are louder than a cat on fire...that being said, they are pretty good offroad...i would recomend MTRs, but they prob don't come in a 32x10.50...32x11.5 probably would be just fine...just a thougt...

2 lockers will get you a ton of places you wish to go...they are the best mod you can buy, and the air lockers, IMHO, are the best of the locker world...next is gearing, then armor, then lift and tires...if you are double locked, armored, and geared, you rig will out perform any lifted, single locked big tired rig out there...