Well...after driving an 80 series for 16 years on 35's with stock gears, I now have 4.88's. I still feel like a gear swap is not a requirement to run 35's on an 80. Stock gears are adequate. However, the 4.88's feel GREAT! General power feels better and the truck pulls better on the highway. I can cruise at 75-80mph comfortably. Sure it revs a bit higher but not like I'm flogging it. I don't have enough time with them yet to see what kind of change (if any) in fuel economy.
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The other change is the brake pads. Darren McRae sent me a set of Carbon pads from Australia. There are likely equivalent pads here in the US but I know Darren would send me the correct thing and would save me the search of finding them here. Its necessary to resurface the rotors to remove any residue from the old pads. Bedding the Carbon pads makes A LOT of brake dust, like completely covered the wheels and calipers. Brake dust should subside a bit after that. Braking performance feels a lot better. I should have done some measured tests with the old pads and done some comparisons for stopping distance etc. Alas, I didn't so it's purely a seat of the pants feel. One thing I will say is that with my old OEM pads I could mash the brake pedal to the floor (on asphalt) and the truck would come to a stop but never hint at engaging the ABS. With these new pads, the ABS still didn't kick on, but all 4 wheels were screeching and the truck comes to a stop noticeably quicker. The pads can make a bit of noise under braking, but nothing overly annoying. Overall, really happy with the upgrade.