Overland owners who switched to 35 & 37 tires

[Armyman247]

I’m specifically looking for any overlanders (or sports that have the 3.73 gears). Looking for your results of going larger tires ( 35 or 37”).

I noticed when I put heavier 33” tires it got a little sluggish (well maybe not sluggish but I def noticed a difference) I still want to go larger. I’m thinking 35” might be my max but realistically that only gains me and inch or 2 max. And seeing how 37” tire weights are pretty similar but gain a lot more height.

Im looking for specific people who actually did the swap (that have 3.73 and have driven with them. I’m NOT planning on doing a gear change anytime in the near future so don’t even want to talk about that. I also already have the mopar lift with 3/4” spacers which netted me about 3.5” of loft so I have the room for 37’s if I wanted. Also I do occasionally off road it (not a mall crawler by any means) but here in the northeast it’s mostly class 6 roads minor/small rock crawling.

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[Tschu8482]

I’m specifically looking for any overlanders (or sports that have the 3.73 gears). Looking for your results of going larger tires ( 35 or 37”).

I noticed when I put heavier 33” tires it got a little sluggish (well maybe not sluggish but I def noticed a difference) I still want to go larger. I’m thinking 35” might be my max but realistically that only gains me and inch or 2 max. And seeing how 37” tire weights are pretty similar but gain a lot more height.

Im looking for specific people who actually did the swap (that have 3.73 and have driven with them. I’m NOT planning on doing a gear change anytime in the near future so don’t even want to talk about that. I also already have the mopar lift with 3/4” spacers which netted me about 3.5” of loft so I have the room for 37’s if I wanted. Also I do occasionally off road it (not a mall crawler by any means) but here in the northeast it’s mostly class 6 roads minor/small rock crawling.

I have been fine with 2” mopar lift and 37” KO2’s with 3.73’s. I haven’t taken it off-road though.

 

[j.o.y.ride]

35s here. I would NOT do 37s. 35s are manageable but 37s would put this thing well beyond what I would do.

Going uphill on a highway 5th gear barely holds highway speeds.

Acceleration in town is fine but the highways are iffy once you head uphill.

The axle shafts are going to be stressed on 37s from what I've been told.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

With my Overland towing 1600 pound empty trailer behind the JT - I'll not go over 33 with this gearing. It struggled badly.

 

[Armyman247]

I have been fine with 2” mopar lift and 37” KO2’s with 3.73’s. I haven’t taken it off-road though.

Do you have any pictures of your setup to satisfy my curiosity?

 

[Armyman247]

With my Overland towing 1600 pound empty trailer behind the JT - I'll not go over 33 with this gearing. It struggled badly.

It would be very rare I would tow anything. But what did it struggle on? Hills? Or just in general? And what do you mean by struggling? Won’t accelerate?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

It would be very rare I would tow anything. But what did it struggle on? Hills? Or just in general? And what do you mean by struggling? Won’t accelerate?

Transmission constantly hunting, really had to hammer on it on our hills (in Iowa - I80 Des Moines to Omaha and back)
It was pretty gutless, mpg barely kept 11 and that was EMPTY, an aluminum flat bed car hauler that weighs 1500 factory, I figured 1600 with tool box, jack, straps, etc. And a flatbed would have very little wind resistance.
I ran into similar with my Chevy and it was geared high, too.
The sweet spot for power just wasn't in the right spot with the Overland gearing. I had trouble keeping 65 and 70 was almost out of the question. I might have hit 8th gear a couple of times, it spent most of the time in 5th and 6th but kept shifting back and forth.

 

[WK2JT]

I have the 2” (3” on non-rubicons) Mopar lift. I started with 35’s and quickly went to 37’s, because 35’s just looked tiny. Still running the stock 3.73 gears and it’s fine. Not a sports car and it’ll do highway speeds. However, the highway is where you’ll notice it. It’ll drop down to 5th and 6th a lot... lot! You sure wouldn’t want to tow with it. Same experience on 35’s as 37’s, 37’s just make it more pronounced. Definitely getting ready to go a minimum of 4.88 and possibly 5.13 because I will be moving to CO and towing. 4.88 gears with 37’s puts you in the same final drive as the max tow, but you’re turning larger circles that weigh a lot more so the 5.13 might be the better option for me. However, either will likely be fine as you’re only talking a 5% difference.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I've thought of re-gearing so I could tow more comfortably, but then I haven't done the math to decide what gears IF I did, and no one around here does that work. I'm old school - if this was differentials from the 60s and 70s, even into the 80s, I'd think about doing it myself, but not with the complexities of these systems.
I have Rubicon springs up front which raised the Overland about 1" and max tow springs in back to better support the weight - that dropped the rear about 1/2" so I need to find some spacers for the thing to bring the back up again.
No plans on going bigger tires, but then never say never. Since it struggles now as it is, no way I'd ever consider towing with 35s and these Overland gears. Bad enough with the stock sizes.

 

[Tschu8482]

Do you have any pictures of your setup to satisfy my curiosity?

 

[Br4hm4]

Shoot I noticed a huge difference from the stock Overland tires to the Rubicon take offs. I can't imagine going to 35s or larger and being happy with it.

 

[Armyman247]

So for you guys that had issues going 35&37 did you guys use an aftermarket tuner to adjust tire size?.. supposedly when you do that the tranny will adjust shift points to match

 

[j.o.y.ride]

So for you guys that had issues going 35&37 did you guys use an aftermarket tuner to adjust tire size?.. supposedly when you do that the tranny will adjust shift points to match

For me shift points isn't the issue, it's the lack of power to hold the gear at speed. If I put it into say 7th and give it enough gas to not force a kick down even in manual setting, it will just start slowing down. It seems to be anything around 2,000 rpm in higher gears where you'd want to cruise isn't happy. Needs to be spinning higher like 2,500. Which makes sense when you see the power curve

It may help some of the gear hunting but it won't help the gear ratios and power to rotate the mass.

 

[Armyman247]

For me shift points isn't the issue, it's the lack of power to hold the gear at speed. If I put it into say 7th and give it enough gas to not force a kick down even in manual setting, it will just start slowing down. It seems to be anything around 2,000 rpm in higher gears where you'd want to cruise isn't happy. Needs to be spinning higher like 2,500. Which makes sense when you see the power curve

It may help some of the gear hunting but it won't help the gear ratios and power to rotate the mass.

Interesting thank def app other insight.. I’m thinking of waiting til my 33’s wear out then goto 35’s unless I find a killer deal between now and then. Hills aren’t a huge issue for me. I’m like 80% highway 10% backroads and 10% off road. No towing or heavy loads. So driveability is huge for me, but I also want it to look go while doing it too lol .

 

[d k]

This engine is completely wrong for this truck.
I wish we could get the 2.0 Turbo

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