i've read through a lot of posts on the forum, and from what i can tell, quite a few people have upgraded to 33" tires setups and kept factory axle gearing--in fact, i saw a few who went up to 35" without changing gears

i'm curious about going to 33" with 3.73 axle ratios

i'd appreciate any replies with your experience and advice if you've kept your stock gears, either 3.55 or 3.73 with 33" tires...

honestly, i didn't think there was any way i could go over 265r70s without losing too much from the higher effective ratio, but after reading, i'm curious what you guys think and what you've had success doing

thanks!

 

33" tires are less than 1" different if you already have the P or LT275/65R18. It isn't that big a difference.

 

sorry, i left out some key info: i have the 255/70R17 stock size

 

I've got 285/75 RR16, which are 33", on my 97 4x4. I don't know what gearing I have but I can tell you that they kill what acceleration my 4.6 had. My truck came with 255s. I bought some 17" wheels on ebay and will be buying new Revos for them. I'm gonna go to something in the 31" range for the sole purpose of gaining some power back.

 

I have had 33x12.50's with heavy 20 in rims on 01 screw for over a year and a half and have not had any problems with the stock gears, which I think are 3.55 if im not mistaken. But I do have the 5.4 engine vs the 4.6 which helps with power.

 

I had those exact same and upgraded to 295/70/17 NItto Terra Grapplers. I've done some moderate offroading to get to some fishing locations and no damage as of yet. I also have 3.73LS. As far as loss of power, I really couldnt tell ya since I upgraded after about 300 miles or so. After I installed the leveling kit, the 255's were way to small.


Here is a pic of the 295's

EDIT: 5.4 here as well

 

I have 33x12.50x17 pro comp mt with 3.73 gears and a 5.4... I personally don't see the need to regear my truck the lose of power is not huge but there is some. If you have a 4.6 then I would look into gears.

 

cool

thanks for the photo too, i'm in a supercrew, but similar to yours...i like the stance

 

are you lifted or levelled? any rubbing with the 12.5 width?

thanks!

i have the 5.4L, and i am perfectly happy with the power right now...i'm coming from a chevy avalanche with 3.42 gears, and that's what's making me leary of going bigger tires...

the triton does make quite a bit more torque at a lower rpm, so i figured i'd have more leeway now, but i just want to understand what i'll be missing because i don't want any excessive downshifting on mild grades or to lose too much acceleration

 

I went with 4:10 gearing with my 97 with the exception of the whine on decel it was a great upgrade, I also had the 4.6 I did this when I put on the 285 75 16 with 16x10 wheels, if it weren't for the crappy azz transmission guy I would still be driving that truck, had it for 8.5 yrs GREAT truck but time to move on

 

With the 4:10 gears didn't you take a pretty good hit on mpg? What was the rpm range at 75 mph? I had considered these kinda gears but was worried about the increased fuel usage and the trucks top end.

 

i had 33's on the 3.73ls and didn't notice any loss at all on the truck- I now have 35's on the the truck, and there is a little low end loss, but i'm not considering regearing yet- im making my best gas mileage to date 18-19mpg tank, and i think regearing to 4.10, 4.33 is going to drop me back down to 13-14mpg...
J

 

i have 305's on the stock 17 rims with a 4.6 and i orgianlly had 255 and i have 3.55 gears i can tell a big difference but its not too bad but it looks sooo much better with the bigger tires and leveling kit i bought a truck so im not really looking for speed

 

Actually the RPM was only slightly higher than stock once the 285's went on I my memory serves me right @ 70 mph my revs were 1900 stock and with the gears and 285's @ 70 I was 2200. As far as top end, with 33" tires and a 4x4 I wasn't looking to hit the audobahn, seriously only did 100 3x in 8 yrs

 

I have 3in lift. No rubbing at all.