what gear ratio?

[SwampLife]

ok so im trying to figure out if I can pull 36x14.50 swampers on my 84 k5 diesel without changing gear ratios. right now im running 33s and its not bad. I plan on getting some 1 ton axles soon so I hate to spend extra on the ones I got. I would pretty much have an hour of highway driving to get it home on the 36s, and i don't know if it would really be feasible with those tires.

any thoughts?

 

[badmix]

Need to list the transmission your running (4sp, 700r, TH400, etc)

With 36s I wouldnt run anything under 4:88s or so.

Ive got 4:10s with 33" , 305cid and 700r, its the perfect blend IMO. I can run hiway speeds at 1900rpm @ 65mph and still have some nice low gear trail riding.

 

[TheBeast_88K5]

Need to list the transmission your running (4sp, 700r, TH400, etc)

With 36s I wouldnt run anything under 4:88s or so.

Ive got 4:10s with 33" , 305cid and 700r, its the perfect blend IMO. I can run hiway speeds at 1900rpm @ 65mph and still have some nice low gear trail riding.

I run a 38K mile, rebuilt, 350tbi/700R4/208/4.10/37's..... It's a DOG.

You have to give it a good amount of pedal, to get goin'.
And, I have a healthy, 38K mile rebuilt 350tbi.

I vastly second the "no less than 4.88's" suggestion.
Fwiw, 4.88's would be drawing the line between get up, and highway RPM.

West Coast Diff's has a lot of useful info, and calculator's...
>>> http://www.differentials.com/technical-help/differential-gear-ratio-calculator <<<<

 

[black dawg]

What gear and trans do you have?

 

[Blue85]

You're talking about running for a period of time with that combination, or just a single highway trip? I can't figure out which you are saying.

 

[SwampLife]

You're talking about running for a period of time with that combination, or just a single highway trip? I can't figure out which you are saying.

pretty much just a single trip to be able to get it home with the new tires on it. transmission is a 700r and i have not figured out the current gear ratio yet, but i assume its stock for a k5 diesel

 

[badmix]

Just ONE single trip. It wont matter, just get up going and drive it, it may suck getting up to speed or if gears too low, youll just wind it up sooner.

 

[big dan]

I run 36s on my dd with 3.73s and it goes just fine. I do have a pretty healthy 350 and th350 so no overdrive and it works good, will smoke the tires if I want and has decent gearing on the highway. I also plan on dropping to 33s and lots of other changes soon as this truck is slowly getting transformed into a tow pig.

With od though I would be going for 4.88s and maybe even 5.13s. With 5.13s in od you have about 3.60 end gearing which is higher than what I have now but I dont do much 70+ mph so that would be my ideal setup I think. 4.88s might be better if you do much freeway traveling.

However, if you're just making one trip to get it home I wouldnt bother worrying about gearing.

 

[80' 427]

I am ran 36s and 4.10 and now 39s. On the road it is fine but needs more gear wheeling. The 454 make a huge difference though. The diesel may work ok. My 6.2 likes low rpm cruising.

 

[SwampLife]

ok that sounds pretty good. I should at least be able to get it home and thats all i really need right now. thanks yall

 

[6.2Blazer]

ok that sounds pretty good. I should at least be able to get it home and thats all i really need right now. thanks yall

Absolutely no reason you couldn't drive it home....not like going from a 33" to 36" tire is somehow going to make it unable to move or something. I've gone from 33x12.50 radials, to 35x12.50 radials, to 38x13 bias Swampers, to 39.5x15.5 bias Swampers on my 6.2 K5 with the same 4.10 gears and have no issues driving it on the highway between trails.

Likely you will keep the 700r4 out of of overdrive but you can see how it does. If it lugs real bad and constantly wants to shift in and out of OD just pull the shifter into D and go. I haven't shifted into OD on my K5 since it had 35's.