Rear gear really necessary for 285’s ?

I have a MT but I can barely tell the difference between 285/75/17s and 265/70/17s... Both sets were E rated too.

 

285, cmc and 5.29 gear. With 285 and stock gears I rarely used 6th gear.

 

That's accurate. 6th is almost non existent with 285s and stock gearing. Don't really miss it though, 5th is an overdrive gear as well.

 

I’m at like 2500 RPMs in 6th gear going about 70-75mph... I guess the manual transmission makes all the difference. I don’t really notice any loss of power.

 

The .71 6th gear and the stock 4.3 gears definitely help the M/T guys VS the A/T with .58 6th gear and 3.9 gears.

I enjoy driving my truck with 5.29. Should have been the first mod I did when I got it.

 

What RPMs are you at in 6th at 75mph with those 5.29s?

 

70mph on GPS is around 2300-2500rpm. I haven't re-calibrated the speedo after putting on the 285’s.

 

2300-2500 is ideal at that speed imo. I havn’t recalibrated my speedometer either. I don’t think it is worth the cost.

 

No

 

Wait, your stock OEM tires are 265/75/16?! That's very unusual that it came stock with 75 series tires.

 

I have 265/70/16. Debating to go up to 265/75/16 or 285/75/16.

 

I went up 1 size and the drive isn't horrible...if you drive it in S the whole time. They really recommend for you to regear even with the stock tires.

 

I spend a lot of time in Denver and surrounding areas and just went 285/70/17. You don't NEED to regear with auto, but I'm going to. I don't have a lot of armor yet, only sliders, but I'll be getting bumpers, and I plan on towing a trailer. I think 4.88's will be a good gear for me. One thing to watch for is unsprung weight. I went with the Konig Countersteer Type X's and Falken Wildpeak AT3W and my wheel/tire combo only went up 10lbs over stock offroad. That's a lot for unsprung weight change, but the best I could find for a reasonable price (and they look great).

 

Im pretty sure stock OR comes with 265/70/16, unless the dealer added aftermarker rims/tires of course.

265/75/16 is the biggest tire that fits without a lift on stock suspension.

 

How much highway driving do you do above 65mph or so?

 

Yes you’re correct. I just misread the numbers. My truck was stock 265/70/16

 

It's not necessary but I would recommend it. I'm on 285's and went with 4.88 gears (second gen). There are quite a few threads about low speed shakes. Having re-geared, I think that has something to do with the shakes with stock gears. The truck isn't trying as hard to turn those tires. It's also easier to crawl. Lastly, my actual speed now matches my speedo. I calculated about. 5% difference in speedo distance versus actual difference on the stock gears.

 

I have 285's and no regear. I 100% feel a difference in acceleration during takeoff and in general. I am going to regear when I can afford to do so. I also have been rubbing as well. I don't notice it city driving but when i do its usually when I pull into my driveway (there is a bump) and during heavy offroading. However with this said....

I have an OME lift kit and that combined with the tires has drastically improved my offroad performance. Even just the tires alone helped immensely. I wouldn't take the tires off if given the choice and I found 285's to be well worth. I say if you are ready to maybe do some very light trimming and banging, buy just the tires. I have never had gears but I would recommend doing that and the tires together if you can afford it. Haven't really seen any bad reviews of 4.88 and 285's together. I'd like to see reviews of 4.88 vs 5.29 with 285s in terms of acceleration, and I'd recommend reading everything you can find here to do some research and make the best decision. This thread is a good start but I would read all the things. Good luck!