gear swap mandatory?

[cc93cruiser]

1993 cruiser-would putting 35" m/t's tires be a good idea on my cruiser- it has a 3" lift- currently running with 33" tires- just wondering how the truck would operate-is a gear swap mandatory with 35" tires, please any info let me know, would car accelerate like a dog? truck is daily driver and gets taken off road every other weekend.

 

[landtank]

not need but very much appreciated. I toed a small 3500 lb campimng trailer and gear through the white mountains for a few years before re-gearing. Kept it in power mode and out of OD. If you can realise what you're driving and deal with it it's not a problem. I'd slap on the meats and then decide if you want the gears.

 

[Bob_Garrett]

I ran 35s with stock gearing for a year. It was acceptable on the road here in the relatively flat midwest. Expect the truck to downshift even on mild freeway grades, unless you turn off the cruise control and allow the truck to loose speed. Uphill freeway on-ramps require a lot of skinny pedal. If you regularly drive at higher altitudes you'll find it to be pretty slow. One trip over the mountain passes in Colorado was enough to convince me to regear. Regearing also improved performance on the trail due to a better crawl ratio and both city and highway gas mileage increased by about 1 mpg.

Bob

 

[Waggoner5]

Bob, what gear ratio did you go to?
Gary

 

[Junk]

Depends on where you live (mountains, hills, flat etc) and how you like to drive. If you do mainly highway driving on flat open stretches, then it's less likely you'll find the need to swap. I agree with Landtank, put the tires on then decide. Then again, if you're only doing the bigger tires for looks it would be easier and cheaper to stick with 33s.

 

[Bob_Garrett]

Bob, what gear ratio did you go to?
Gary

4.56

 

[dclee]

I was wondering about long term effects such as crankshaft wear. Since you effectively take the truck out of it's powerband with the big tires and no lift, you end up revving a lot just to get going from a standstill. Anyone know anything about this?

Thanks,

 

[landtank]

Besides the obivous eefects of better performance with re-gearing I consider the advantage of less stress and better cooling from fluids cycling faster attributes to doing the re-gear as well.