Well, I can't imagine a re-gear would hurt either of you guys
Keep in mind that my truck has the 6sp trans, but I'm quite happy with my choice to alter the gear ratio.
I am running 4.11's w/35's and I think I could've/should've gone to 4.56's and been good with them. The 4.11/35" combo still have plenty of MPH for 1/4mi runs, lots of low end grunt and still let the rpm's run under 1800 at 65mph.
I noticed a little bump in mpg, but not a significant enough amount that I would recommend a swap for economy gains, especially for a 4x4(2 axle's), although in terms of percentage my 1.4 mpg increase equated to roughly 10%
yes I was getting an average economy of appx 14.8 mpg before and now I get about 16.2. Towing seemed easier all the way around too, easier on economy, easier to get to and maintain speed and slightly easier on the egt's as well.
Other placebo effects could possibly be:
A feeling of better throttle response
Less turbo lag, ie the gears get up and go faster, so will the turbo
Getting through the gears faster, less feeling like your pushing to run them out, if that makes sense, which yields
Quicker 0-60, ah hell, improved acceleration at any point really
Downsides include:
Cost, depending on how you go about it and the mileage on all the axle bearings, labor isn't cheap and neither are all the parts once they are in a collective pile.
Dialing in your speedo :rofl:
Potential for gear whine
Potential for future gear whine
Time and planning, that is if you can't afford to go and just have an axle or two built up done up right. I couldn't, it took me a year maybe more to get all my parts together (including the lift) and the rear end went out two months before I could afford it
course, at that time I decided to add an eaton DETROIT trutrac to the list too...
If you're planning on keeping you're trucks and running those big tires guys, I personally believe it's a worthwhile investment, if younplan on getting rid of the truck w/in two years or so, I'm not sure I'd be willing to drop the coin and settle for smaller tires...