I just got an 88 62 totally stock with an automatic. I talked with a mechanic and he recommended not going with a bigger tire unless I want to lose substantial power and gas mileage. What do you guys think? Could I swing a decent 31" tire without lifting it and no gear change? What is the power loss? I don't want to screw it up.
Bigger tires without a gear change?
- Thread starter btccruiser
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31"s won't be a problem
I think 62s have 4.11 gears and make more horespower than a 60 so even 33s wouldn't be that bad. I had a 62 with 33s and would drive up to the mountains in az here and didn't really notice that big of a power loss and even with small lift It didn't hurt my mileage. there slow in the first place. Now I have a 60 with 3.73s and 33s and I can do 75-80 on the highway. I think with the 62s 31s were even an option from the dealer.
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There was also something mentioned about the transmission having a hard time on the gear changes or the shift points being messed up. Anything on this? I already get a bit of this from time to time. You know like a hard shift into reverse and sometimes a longer wind up from 1st to 2nd gear and a bit of a clunk.
I agree with what the other guys posted. I had a FJ62 for a bit with 33s and stock gears. It seemed to have more pull and power than my 60 series on 32s. That 4:11 gearing makes a world of difference compared to the 3:73. I think you are just fine with the 31s. I'd go ahead and spend a few dollars to be able to fit 32s. I think they look more size proportionate . I just added longer shackles to my 60 for about 80 bucks and put on 32s. Cheap and quick fix, plus has the beefy look. Your choice just my .2 cents 
Throw on some 31's, no problem. I read everyone cautioning not to go with 33's without re-gearing and eventually did anyway. My only regret was that i didn't sooner because overall performance (including highway mountain driving) was better with 33's than 31's.
brian
SILVER Star
gas milage?
you don't drive a cruiser for the great gas milage. so just cross that right off the list.
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Yeah I'm pretty sure my stock 88 FJ would have 3:73 gear though right? And so my question is will 31's or 33's even be worth it on those gears with my automatic? My wife drives this as a daily driver. Right now I can cruise on the highway at 75-80 with no problem. Thoughts?
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Um good point about the gas mileage. I am actually just discovering what horrible mileage this thing gets. I really didn't know before I bought it that it would get such horrid mileage. Whoops. Oh well. It's awesome and I love it. At least gas is cheap right? Oh wait, I just saw it for $4.17 this morning. Ha!
If it's stock 88 it has 4:10's
X2.
I put 30,000 miles on an 88 FJ-62 with 4.11s and 33s. You do not get any performance gain, the tranny doesn't shift properly, and your gas milage is effected. 4.56s for on road would be ideal. If you need to drive up hills it is not fun unless you get a good head of steam. The tranny will keep down shifting and up shifting. The only advantage is that when you get to highway speeds you will cruise at a lower RPM, but try to accelerate when you are already moving close to highway speeds and you will experience slow. You should have no problems with 31s and no lift. On stock non flat springs you can fit 33X10.50s without rubbing.
Moby
GOLD Star
The FJ-62 with A440F transmission is extremely sensitive to final drive ratio changes. If you don't live around hills this may not be an issue. But if you regularly drive hills, particularly long hills on the highway, you will notice a negative difference in performance. The 3FE just doesn't make enough power to compensate for bigger tires with stock gears.
The conventional wisdom is as mentioned by Andrew and Joel however, for reasons I can't explain, my stock 62 performed better with 33's and I drive in the Rocky Mountains regularly. Find someone to swap tires with for test and see what you like.
got 87 wiht 4:10 and 33 up hill still S L O W i mean slow
'89 - 62 with 33x10.5, stock gears and I think it performs fine on road. Getting to highway speeds takes about three times as long my Accord at normal acceleration but it gets there. My normal cruising speed is 70-75mph and as others stated, trying to noticeably accelerate above 60-65mph isn't going to happen but the pig moves.
Hey, didn't this fantastic truck of yours just poop a transmission all over the interstate?
I run studded 235/75/15's in the winter on stock wheels and the rest of the year it's 31's on 15x8 wheels. From my perspective, there's a slight decrease in power with the larger tires. So, my personal preferance would be a gear change in order to run 33's.
