Anybody regret going with 35's?

I am in the process of sending my '98 to Christo so he can perform several mods, including a front ARB locker and OME suspension. I have gone back and forth on whether to change the gearing to 4.88 with 35's, or to stick with something closer to 33 and leave the gearing as-is. This truck is a daily driver (12k mi/yr), but not a commuter. I intend to use it for expedition-type trips more than hard-core crawling.

What I'm wondering, especially from those of you who've run your 100 both ways, is how much the 4.88's and 35's change the nature and handling of the truck and whether you think 35's push the truck's limits too far (I'm thinking in terms of tires rubbing, stress on the drivetrain generally, etc.). Any advice would be appreciated.

Also, just to give you an idea of how the truck will be set up, it will have ARB Sahara up front, Slee step sliders, Slee rear bumper, 15 gal reserve tank, African Outback roof rack, AOB drawers and 12k winch. I will mount Terra Grappler radials (33 or 35 inch) on later model 18" wheels, and I'll have a second set of SSwamper TSL mounted to my original 16's for the fun trips.

Hi Morty. I'd PM Cruiser99 (Doron) on this topic. He runs 35's and recently just converted to 4.88. He Expo travels so his truck is loaded. He's BEGGED for gears for a long time though was busy on other projects. If I had to guess what Doron would say? I bet he'd 4.88 with even 33's. (?)

Everything on the 100 seems to handle 35's just fine. I am on my 3rd steering rack in 110K miles. That is the only weekness I've found, though others have not shared the same troubles as I have with the rack. I am VERY HARD on my truck wheeling difficult trails. I've also been doing it for 5+ years in the 2001.

I drove around for a year with 35's and the stock 4.3's. IMO, it kinda sucked. Felt like I was hurting the transmission on every stoplight. The more weight, the worse it gets. Finally regeared to 4.88's and am very happy with it. My power is back--both from a standing start and on the freeway.

Personally, I would not recommend 35's and stock gearing. 35's and the 5-speed would probably be fine though. 35's, 4.88's and the 5-speed would be an awesome combination.

However, with 4.88's, I am getting somekind of driveline vibration at around 72 mph. Absolutely no vibration problems before the regear. I was tempted to go 5.29's but stuck with 4.88's for fuel mileage and gear whine considerations. I have found my 4.88's to be only slightly louder than stock gearing.

Edit: driveline vibrations have completely disappeared after break-in. I did not make any adjustments.

I have no personal knowledge of driving with 35s. But since that never stopped me from saying something , here goes:
I think 33s are the optimal size for expedition type wheeling. Big enough, not too big, easy to implement suspension-wise, no gearing problem, easy to find, less expensive, and on and on.... The soft spot IMHO...

one disadvantage I see is that with 18" you don't have that much rubber between you and the ground / rocks. But again, if they are not that serious rocks....

I am in the same boat ( tossing around the idea of going to 34 or 35`s ) but my only real concern is that the suspension and steering components may suffer an early death

I dont know if "expedition" style use would make much of a difference here (as opposed to heavier, tough off-road driving) but there HAS to be more strain on a vehicle with bigger tires, right ?

The upside for me would be that, as I load my 100 down with more armor and gear, the available ground clearance is quickly lost , so an inch or two of tire height would be a nice way to gain a bit back ..

IMHO though, Re-Gearing is STILL a neccessity (even with 33"s) once you start adding bumpers, racks and expo gear.

e9999 said:

I have no personal knowledge of driving with 35s. But since that never stopped me from saying something , here goes:
I think 33s are the optimal size for expedition type wheeling. Big enough, not too big, easy to implement suspension-wise, no gearing problem, easy to find, less expensive, and on and on.... The soft spot IMHO...

one disadvantage I see is that with 18" you don't have that much rubber between you and the ground / rocks. But again, if they are not that serious rocks....

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I 100% agree with the first part of this statement. I am all about, "bigger is better", but the 2" gained in ground clearance going from 33s to 35s is a lot of trouble for a very little gain.

As for the 18's, aired down, they ride like a caddy on the rocks with my 33" Nittos.

wngrog said:

I 100% agree with the first part of this statement. I am all about, "bigger is better", but the 2" gained in ground clearance going from 33s to 35s is a lot of trouble for a very little gain.

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yes, and even less so if you gain only 1"...!

e9999 said:

yes, and even less so if you gain only 1"...!

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I changed it from 1" to 2" before I sent it since the general populace of the 100 series section would want to agrue otherwise.......

I'm suprised Spresso's not chimed in yet! I wheeled with him on the Barney -Riley trail, him on 35's & 4.88's and mine with 33's and 4.3's. This is a good all around trail with hill climbs, ruts, river crossings, and forest roads. His 100 made it all look easy, while mine had to winch up one hill after I high centered on the back axle. Point is, I made it through with some help, is it worth the extra money? You have to decide, although Spressomon had me thinking about it after hearing how much he likes it. He says the same that shift points, take off, all feel as it did when stock.

I noticed the power loss when I tried 285's. I would not run 35's without regearing. You guys that run 35's with stock gear can you still pull the hills at 65mph.

You beat me to it Jeff! Absolutely NO REGRETS. I am assuming since you are asking you are not constrained by the conversion cost. I built my rig for off-road exploring/hunting/fishing/camping/etc. I ran the 33" GY MT/R's for over a year: Banged the sliders and rear bumper fairly often/regularly. Hated the gearing change relative to the auto tranny shift points. 5-6% doesn't sound like it would be enough to matter...but it is and does...more so with a heavily laden rig like mine.

I thought about this conversion for along time...and I thought the same as you...bigger would be just an ego thing...and 33" was more conservative from a mechanical risk point of view: I disagree with these thoughts after running the 4.88/35 combo.

Downsides (besides $$$): Slight front and rear tire rub at max compression (this can be tuned out via bump spacers); slight vibe, like Hoser said...my vibe is now at 48'ish mph and 65'ish...but not always consistent (I am in the process of trying to narrow this down...but right now I can not 100% blame the gearing for my vibes); less clearance (and significantly less clearance with Toyo OC MT due to their extra 1"+ width) for mud and/or tire chains.

Upsides: Better on-trail handling and ride quality; lower tire pressure ability; better flotation; better traction; alot less slider and rear bumper dragging; less undercarriage grinding (I know, I know...I can hear the peanut gallery going off already..."It's only 3/4 of an inch higher"...on my rig, on the same trails, the 3/4" difference in height is a NOTICABLE benefit!); better MPG (13 with 33"/285 MT/R vs 14.5mpg with 35"/315 MT/R); more effective use of power band/shift points (see mpg results for proof); got my stock gearing back; got my low/low gear back...benefits up and down on-trails; less driveline strain.

4.88's + 315/75/16 + ARB front locker is the cat's pajamas.


IMO: I would rebuild or replace the CV boots/axles assemblies while you have the front diff out if you are lifting (even if you install the Slee diff drop kit)..based upon my experience and virtually every other 100 owner that has lifted the front the CV boots will leak...so be proactive on this...it will save you time and money in the long run.

Good Luck!

Don't waste your time and money with 35" with stock gearing. Only 4.88!

LandCruiserPhil said:

You guys that run 35's with stock gear can you still pull the hills at 65mph.

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Doing 65+mph was never a problem except at high elevation. I occasionally had to downshift to the then "tall" 3rd gear. 3rd gear, 4.3, 35's @ 65mph is good at 2700 RPM. The difference with 4.88's, you can usually just hold 4th gear and not need to downshift, unless it is a pretty good incline.

As for shifts points with 35's & 4.3, I never had a chance to install my Speed Calibrator but I suspect the shift points would have improved some.

LandCruiserPhil said:

I noticed the power loss when I tried 285's. I would not run 35's without regearing. You guys that run 35's with stock gear can you still pull the hills at 65mph.

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I can climb from Black Canyon City up to Sunset Point at almost any speed I want. I raced a friend of mine in a stock Escalade up the Mt. Ord Hill on AZ87. From stop lights he leaves me....and a stock 100....much bigger engine. On the uphills, my mis-geared 100 loses zero to his stock Escalade. I guess that once the 100's moving the V8 has the torque to maintain. I'd like 4.88's but ther cost is not worth it to me. Keep in mind though I carry little gear.

ShottsUZJ100 said:

I can climb from Black Canyon City up to Sunset Point at almost any speed I want. I raced a friend of mine in a stock Escalade up the Mt. Ord Hill on AZ87. From stop lights he leaves me....and a stock 100....much bigger engine. On the uphills, my mis-geared 100 loses zero to his stock Escalade. I guess that once the 100's moving the V8 has the torque to maintain. I'd like 4.88's but ther cost is not worth it to me. Keep in mind though I carry little gear.

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John...have you ever really driven a 4.88 100 with 35"?

spressomon said:

John...have you ever really driven a 4.88 100 with 35"?

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No, though I remember what the 100 was like when stock. I'd like that back but not for the price of admission.

I'm really glad I 4.88 my 80. It's about 7% lower-geared from stock making even more of a power difference which it needs. Gas gets sucked though. Luv the crawl on the 80 with 4.88's. That'd be the main reason I'd 4.88 my 100. Crawl. Not power...got enough to statisfy now.

I went up 10% in tire size on my 4runner 5 yrs ago. Dislikes are poorer braking/acceleration/cornering. A stiff suspension takes care of the cornering. I ended up regearing. Driving around LA was fine since it's mostly flat and at sea level, but climbing those hills on I-40 between Barstow and Flagstaff are a killer. 4th gear was too low, 5th gear too high, so I had to drive in 4th in the slow lane. This was in road trip mode...fully loaded vehicle, plus there's usually a stiff headwind in the desert. I also had to install new rotors/pads/SS brake hoses to regain the lost braking power. There is also a driveline vibration. It was worse after installing the 2" OME lift, but I shimmed the rear leafs by 3 deg...better, but still vibrates in 5th gear around 45-48mph. My guess is your vibration problems are from the increased front drive shaft angle due to the diff drop. Doesn't the front d-shaft use a double cardan joint on the t-case side? My feeling is if one must install larger tires, go with the smallest ones that'll get the job done, like 33's. Handling isn't as good as stock w/ the OME lift...too stiff, so you feel every bump in the road. OTOH, you don't bottom out when driving fast. The OME suspension I have is good if you drive 60mph offroad. At 25mph, stock will do.

I really don’t know what expedition travel means anymore. I begin to suspect that it means different thing to different people.

At the risk of stating the obvious, what you intend to do with you vehicle drives the way you should outfit it. The more generalize the vehicle use the bigger, the compromises and the harder it is to predict how good of a service the vehicle will give.

I outfitted my vehicle for what I see as expedition travel where we relay on the vehicle for everything up to 5 days. When the closest civilization is at least 100-150 mi away and when you have your family with you, you are not looking for trouble (John!!!), you are trying to avoid it. To me, expedition travel is about getting to interesting places that otherwise (not outfitting the vehicle) you could not get to and not proving to yourself, and others, what your vehicle can do. Not that the latter is not fun.

For expedition travel (my definition) you do not need 315! If you cannot get over some obstacle, you will find another way. If your vehicle is anything but a mall-cruiser, the 4.88 is highly recommended. This assuming you will have at least 33” tires.

cruiser99 said:

If your vehicle is anything but a mall-cruiser, the 4.88 is highly recommended. This assuming you will have at least 33” tires.

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I thought you'd say that.

I think that most of the folks here that say "expo travel" share your idea. They want to travel long and far and be self sufficient.

4.88

I have run 4.88's in mine for almost 2 years and about 30k miles. I ran 33's with them and loved it. I recently went up to 35's and all is still great. I have bullbar/winch, heavy drawer storage, sliders, etc. no rear bumper and i also tow a 5500 lb boat regularly.

Hoser & Spressomon
I have no gear noise or vibes, but have experienced vibes in trucks after regearing due to more rpms on the driveshafts. It is likely a pinion angle issue that was not apparant befor the reagear, as the speed you would have had to travel to get the driveshaft rpms that high prior to the regear was too fast for average driving. It should be cured by some adjustable rear upper control arms, like christo has for the 80 series (not sure if they fit 100s). With ome 863's is kinda like J-springs on the 80's and sometimes need pinion angle adjusted slightly.