There has been a lot of debate from pseudo experts in this thread regarding gears. Just about everyone but two members fear the gear and are flipping out why I'm running 37" tires on stock 3.73 gears. There are two camps here: re-gear and don't fear the gear. Both sides are speaking from experience and both camps are absolutely correct. This past week I just found out how this can be true and where this overwhelming fear of the gear comes from.
Before I started this project I sat down and crunched some numbers and did a little bit of research. Traditional overland vehicle is a Japanese underpowered and overpriced budget beater. We are talking Tacomas, Hardbodies, Frontiers, Monteros, Troopers. They are known for reliability and ease or working on when they break down on the trail. 100-200hp I4s or V6s that are barely able to propel an empty truck down the road and need to be run in 4x4 low to make it up just about any obstacle off road more difficult than 2-3 steps. This traditional underpowered setup has evolved to much more powerful and efficient powerplants in more heavy duty setups. The same popular Japanese trucks have also grown up big time. 2015 Tacoma is the same size, weight and horsepower as a 1990 full size Ford, GM or Dodge pickup. Even though the vehicles became more powerful and capable, most owners are still stuck in the 1980s and 1990s mentality brainwashed into the consumers by aftermarket parts manufacturers.
A good friend of mine has a 2015 Frontier and was impressed with what my Sub has done and wanted a similar setup on his 4cyl 2015 Frontier. I had absolutely no issues with my truck so I agreed to help him out so he can join me on the "dirt roads" I have been exploring in timelapse.
We put a 2-3" lift kit on the Frontier: rear shackles and strut spacers, then 33x12.5" tires. The truck looks fantastic, it looks so good that Nissan should send them off the assembly line looking like this.
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Stock height with front right wheel on jack making front left look higher.
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2-3" lift/level kit with stock tires
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33s are on with the lift, damn the truck looks sexy.
And for the record for anyone that has a frontier that wants to do this, we had to remove the front spoiler/wind deflector, there was no trimming and nothing is rubbing. And yes we are running the stock steel rims with the 33x12.5s and they work perfectly at above 30 PSI.
Frontier did a 2-3 days of street driving and there was no significant difference in on street performance and the truck looks so sexy unlike my Sub.
Frontier is 2wd only and since I run all the "dirt roads" in the Sub in 2wd we went up Rocky Gap Road, video in earlier posts, only to the top, we didn't want to take the Frontier through the technical section. My buddy has been four wheeling for over a decade and swears by his manual transmission. 2 miles into the trail we reached the first obstacle, small rock garden and that was the end of the line for the Frontier. I hooked up my tow rope and pulled him through (I stayed in 2wd). 1/4 mile later we got to the next obstacle: couple dips and a sharp turn. All my Rubicon owning friends put their Jeeps in 4x4 low, lock all the diffs and disconnect the sway bar for this obstacle. I have always went through it in 2wd high with no problems. After 20 minutes of attempts from various angles and speeds the Frontier was done, could not make it through the section. We parked it to let the tranny cool down and I took my buddy all the way to the top in the Sub to show him what the rest trail looks like.
******, why does the Suburban able to efortlessly glide up this "dirt road," all my Jeep friends switch into 4x4 low and lock the diffs and the Frontier threw in a towel completely? GEARS, it's all about the engine power output, transmission, differential components, gears and tires. All of you naysayers were absolutely correct, your little underpowered Japanese overlanders MUST have different gears for any tire size increase from the factory or even if you want to keep the factory size tires and actually go off road. (This is what all the aftermarket parts manufactures brainwashed everyone with.)
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We parked it to cool off, but damn the truck looks sexy with the 33s.
2000 Suburban weight ~6,000# engine ~300hp and ~300ft/lbs of torque.
2015 Frontier weight ~4,000# engine ~160hp and ~170ft/lbs of torque.
Frontier is 30% lighter than my Suburban and has 50% less HP and torque. It looks like a world traveling overlander but if you look at the numbers it's all just the looks without any substance. Frontier's 4.08 rear gears and the 160hp are not strong enough to push a 4,000lbs truck on 33s over any obstacles. Now we are trying to figure out what to do with the Frontier so he can keep up with me on the "dirt roads" which I got made fun of in earlier post for calling "Jeep trails."
So the moral of the story is that non V8 full size truck owners need some serious gears or a larger power plant in their rigs to power the larger tires, making 31x10.5 such a popular tire size in that community. Full size trucks, if driven with any common sense off road and on, function perfectly and reliably with stock gears and oversized tire. I have 15k miles with this setup without any problems.
Do not fear the gear, get out and run what you have, try what you have before you buy what you don't need.
