Okay I have oversized tires on my truck (height and width) and obvisouly I lost some fuel economy with that.

Would it be smarter to go to a bit shorter of a tire to get back to the normal milage?

OR, would a gear swap to 4.10/4.30 get it back?

Thanks...just got bored at work and did some thinking...

 

What kinda gears are in it now? if you put in lower gears (i.e. 4.10/4.56) with big tires it should come out to be like the stock gears and tire combo. just try to get the final drive ratio (from trans. back) about the same as stock.

 

It has 3.73:1's in it now. With stock tire size on a Z71 (265/75R16 maybe?) it should turn about 2200rpm@70MPH I figure. Now it is ~2000rpm.

So if I went to a 4.10:1 it would probably get me back to normal.

I dunno...maybe 4.10:1's with shorter tires

 

Changing gearing on a 4wd will get expensive.It depends what you want to do with your truck.If you just want to cruse around on the the street buy a Hypertech tuner and set the tire size to correct your speedometer.If you want to do some serious offroading then open up the checkbook and buy the gears.

 

Hey man, just my opinion, but 4.10's would be a waste of money since it is 4x4 with big tires. You should go with the 4.56's.

 

I have went from 3.73 to 4.56 and it makes a big differance in acceleration but not much in gas milage. It takes a lot of fuel to push big meats I guess. Dont wast your money with 4.10's, you wont even feel a differance. Fourwheel parts wholesalers sold me front/rear gears w/ install kits and detroit locker for $1400. BTW I have 315/75r/16's

 

Is there a split there somewere like a 4.30:1? This truck won't be driven every day in the near future, so that is why I am thinking this. Besides I'd like to get a 10.5" rear axle (~$2400) fabbed up, with whatever gear ratio I needed, so I could launch hard-core on slicks...

Oh, and since the Eaton E-locker is coming out next year for the weenie 8.2" IFS I would get that installed with a gear set also...

Remember just thinking here...

 

I checked around and it seems that nobody makes a 4.30 set for the 8.2ifs. If I was you I would look at the 4.56 seriously because now that I have felt the gears, I think I could have gone even a little bit lower for some better acceleration, but I dont have a freeway to drive on either. Anyway hope this helps in your decision....Jeff