Hey fellow yotatechers, what the hell is this bull i hear about having to re-gear when I want to lift my truck or put on bigger tires. Somebody help!!!!

 

You dont have to re-gear if you put bigger tires on, but it is recomended that you do because you will be staying with similar to stock ratios. If you have stock size tires and stock diff gears and you go to a bigger tire and leave your gearing the same you can potentially lose power moving the larger tires around with out changing the gear ratios to "match" with your bigger tires. Hope that helps (im sure someone here can explain it better than me ) good luck!

 

Dragon is right...
changing the gearing with bigger tires isnt bull... its smart...

think of it this way, my truck came from the factory with 4.10 gearing (generally speaking for a v6 with a standard trans.) and 31 inch tires...

if i bump it up to 33 inch tires, then its not so bad, and a lot of people can live with it, but you lose a lot of power... but if i put lowe gears in, say 4.56s, then my truck will drive like the factory intended it to, and it will have the power to do all the things that i need it to...

i dont have the math on hand, but i imagine that your truck is slow anyways, but just think if you increased the rotating mass and diameter of the tires without gearing... you will never be able to merge onto a freeway again... also, you will never be able to pull a steep hill in 5th gear, or in some cases, 3rd gear...

does that make sense??

 

Bull?

I don't believe anyone has said its required, just highly recommended.

Your truck, so its your choice. If you don't want to, don't.

The reasons above are why most people do it.

 

Uh. Are you for real?

 

It is most definitely not BUll.

 

Wow!!! You really mean it lol 5.29's and 31's

 

Anticipating getting bigger tires genious

 

You can always put the bigger tires on, omit the gears and see how you like it. Trust me though, I put the lift and tires on, drove around the block, called the shop, and dropped it off for gears all in the same day. I lived in Colorado at the time. 22RE, 33' tires, and 5280 altitude did not agree!

 

If you can deal with your truck being slower and wearing your clutch out a little faster. Don't bother.

But for most of us, its worth the cash to get that pep back

 

x2... there not required lol, i drove my 91 around with stock gears and 35"boggers it worked! but that turned my 5spd into a 3spd.

p.s i love my new 5:29's its amazing, i can cruise at 60mph in 5th gear no problem.

 

thanks for the help everyone, Now I know what re-gearing will do. thanks again.

 

just an addendum-
gears are sold based on a 'ratio'- pinion gear to ring gear.
so...
4.10 gears are technically a 4.10:1 ratio ... the pinion gear will make 4.10 turns for each 1 turn of the ring gear...
4.88 gears are technically a 4.88:1 ratio ... the pinion gear will make 4.88 turns for each 1 turn of the ring gear...
5.29 gears are technically a 5.29:1 ratio ... the pinion gear will make 5.29 turns for each 1 turn of the ring gear...

so when you realize the pinion gear is connected to the drive shaft, and the ring gear is connected to the wheels you can see how higher ratio gears are used to compensate for bigger tires. conversely, higher ratio gears can be used with stock tires to put more power to the ground.

 

I'll hopefully be in the same situation in a few months. Looking to get ARB's front and rear with 5.29s. Then tires will come later...

 

Can't get a better combo than that. ARB's are hands down the way to go.

 

That is the simplest explanation i've ever read about gearing. It all makes sense now...

thanks for turning on the light bulb in my mind.