Silverado going in for a makeover. what to do?

[cofi]

way better then short gears and you can still drive on the highway

[Chad4000]

A few things here.....First gear it!! Being a 3/4 ton it should have a 14 bolt in the rear and more than likely 4.10 gears. When running bigger tires the point of gearing is to get it back close to the stock ratio. If 265's were stock they are about a 31 inch tall tire and your now running a 37 inch tall tire. Too get things back to where they were rpm @ 60 mph you would need to go to a 4.88 gear, if it has 3.73 you would need to go to 4.56. You could still run 4.88's and gain some low end but you would sacrifice top end. I would not go air locker. I would go with a Detroit locker. Bullet proof and no air required. If you wanted to put a locker in the front then I would go air locker, that truck should have a 9.25 in the front and they are tuff as far as IFS goes.

If you wanted to do a carrier for the winch in front, be carefully you can't pull at more than a 30 degree angle without concerns of snapping the carrier off. Not often do you need to winch from behind. Standard rule of thumb is 1 1/2 times the vehicle weight for the winch. Learn how to use a snatch block.

I would get some spare parts, rear drive shaft, one front cv axle, oil, coolant, trans fluid etc, a spare belt. Next would be good under belly protection. Depending on budget that is my $.02 good luck.

thanks for posting man.. good infor

[hurley842002]

think I should actually consider some armor?

Fairly certain the armor that was mentioned was meant to protect the transfer case, differentials, etc.

not the bullet proof stuff.
P

Lol, yes drivetrain armor not ammunition armor.

[hurley842002]

this is right and wrong

taller gears(numerically lower) will be better on the highway keeping your rpms low shorter gears would be better for city driving/ off roading

if it were my truck(im on 37"s with 3.73s myself) i would leave the 3.73s and if your serious about wheeling get an ORU doubler for the low and low low range stuff

I agree with you on taller gears will equate to better gas mileage on the highway, and if I lived someplace like Kansas I'd likely leave it stock and call it good, however I've driven way too many rigs with stock gears, that were dogs in the mountains with anything much over stock tire size.

If your rig sees much street time it's all about finding a happy medium, and while the OP didn't specify any performance goals in the power area, I'd assume he'd still like a reasonable level of performance.

[HoneyBadger]

Definitely get a Ranch Hand bumper.

[rockhound]

Your gas mileage will actually get better if you go with new gears, you are way out of your power band with the 37 inch tires, .4.56 would get close to stock rpm at given speeds, you climb mountain passes in 3rd rather than 2nd and you will get yoir towing ability back

In the rear go for a heavily biased gear driven limited slip, i am running a similar rig and love the limited slip

[Chad4000]

Lol, yes drivetrain armor not ammunition armor.

lol yeah drive train , but again, more rock crawler?

[Chad4000]

Definitely get a Ranch Hand bumper.

another good idea.... I'll have to look into that

[Chad4000]

Your gas mileage will actually get better if you go with new gears, you are way out of your power band with the 37 inch tires, .4.56 would get close to stock rpm at given speeds, you climb mountain passes in 3rd rather than 2nd and you will get yoir towing ability back

In the rear go for a heavily biased gear driven limited slip, i am running a similar rig and love the limited slip

thats exactly what I was thinking... so whats the vote everyone, 4.11 or 4.56?

top speed with 4.56?

[ray1970]

thats exactly what I was thinking... so whats the vote everyone, 4.11 or 4.56?

top speed with 4.56?

It really depends. I'm too lazy to look for it but you can figure out the stock gear ratio and factory tire circumference and do the math based off the circumference of the new tires and determine what gear ratio will be closest to the stock setup.

I had a Dodge Ramcharger on 44" tires that (off the top of my head) had 7.30:1 gears and usually got around 14mpg with a 440.