To all of you that have lifted your ride and now run 285s, how many of you regeared and how important was it? Im sure there are alot of you that have stock gearing and do you notice a huge difference in day to day driving? Can you merge into traffic ok? Cruise at 70mph without much hassle?

 

works just fine without regearing... not as "peppy" but moves just fine, i cruise at 75-85 on the highway

 

Never touched a thing.
Not a "HUGE" difference and for me merging traffic is no hassle as long as they get out of the way, lol j/k
Really though my 285's were just for wheeling and it's when i threw my "street queen" wheels on with the 33's did i notice a bit of lagging but nothing to cry about. (mind you 285 are suppose to be equivalent to the 33's in height) oh, and this is for a TOYO MT tire.
I drive to seattle for work 22miles each way and freeway or passing wasn't too bad.

 

i got 305's same size just wider and didn't notice a thing. but pullin a malibu might be a different story. those things are crap.... lol gotta get the mastercraft X30 like myself!!!

 

With a manual it is less of a big deal. But I wouldn't run 285's without regearing an auto. This is just an opinion. Take it for what its worth.

It's all a matter of perspective. What is ok for some is not for others.

I think stock tires and gears suck with an automatic. But that's just me because I think the 3-4 spacing is too wide and OD is too deep. I think automatics with stock tires need 4.56s or 4.88s to keep it in the power on hills. In the auto I'm always in 3rd because it cant hold OD with stock tires on hills and it is always hunting and shifting and can't find a happy medium. Long grades are horrible, even with a light load. I think 4.88's would solve that. And I doubt MPG would be any worse because it would be in the power band more of the time and not work as hard.

Now my 5spd rig runs 4.56's with 32" AT's on the street and 33" MT's for trips and wheelin. And I think it is perfect.

In and auto, with 285's, if it were me I'd run 5.29's. But that's me. BTW rpm in OD is similar between auto w/5.29 and manual w/4.56 because of the difference in OD

 

i was thinkin about regearing for my tires...i couldnt imagine running 285's, im gona go with 4.56 before i get 285's

 

Again, it's all personal preference, but I've been running 285's for over a year, taken several long distance trips, and while there was a slight power loss, it hasn't been anything extreme. I eventually want to regear, but that's more to get my mileage back, if anything.

 

Do it. If you don't like it, regear it. It's all in what you can live with.

 

I have 4.10's. It's okay. Wish I had 4.56's, and Im only getting 13-14MPG in the city, but It's okay.

 

I've been running 285's for about a year, with no re-gearing. During that time I've put over 20k miles on it, most of which is at highway speeds, and acceleration is fine...

 

Can you please define "fine"?

1 guys says "ok", another "fine", another says he can't image stock gears on 285's. This proves my point and the point others have made. It's personal preferance.

How do you think it is now? Is it fast enough for you? Or do you think its slow?

 

Plus it makes your speedo whack...
I think I'll stick with 265's and enjoy the performance and economy...
These motors love to rev so don't be afriad to wind them out - they'll hold.

 

well first if u regear then u should do front and rear and that can get expensive but as far as me im runnin 295's without a lift at all and have had no problems at all the only difference is that my speedo is off

 

i have 4.10 and 33's, no huge deal, truck is slow and heavy anyway, if i wanted a fast car, i would have bought one.

 

I have 4.88 now but if I had to do it again I would do 4.56. I'm running 285 BFG A/T.

 

Regearing was a huge improvement in terms of acceleration, towing, and especially on the trail. I severely underestimated the performance gains before actually coughing up the cash. I can crawl even slower now than stock, and also enginebraking on the downhills in 1st gear is much more controllable now. I don't feel highway performance has suffered too much, as I rarely speed. On a recent trip to Vegas and back I averaged 17mpg.

 

For those of you that spent the cash to regear, after labor what did it run you?

 

For the rear: Labor was $200 and Parts were about $300 for the gears, install kit, and solid collar.

For the front I bought a used Factory 4.56 diff for $300.

So just for the regear it was $800

But I also added lockers and that was much more money.

 

Would regearing to 4.56's give me worse gas mileage?

 

4.56's would get you close to "stock" as far as gearing/tires are concerned. Gas mileage would be close to "stock" not accounting for any weight or drag differences.

4.88's are slightly undergeared, meaning RPM's (with 285s) are higher at cruise speed than with stock gears/tires. But not by much. There is a thread with lots of info on this.