[TopperHarley]

Once and for all I would like to here from people who A) Actually have 35"+ tires with stock 355 gears, auto, and B) People with this setup that have actually blown their Tranny. On the net, everyone says you will blow your transmission without regearing, but most local guys I talk too, have had no problems with stock gears on their automatic transmission vehicles for years.
I am also one of those people that don't actually go off road. With overdrive off all the time and being strictly on the road I have a hard time believing I will smoke my tranny, especially with a transmission cooler installed. At this point I can roast my 33" tires off the rims if I wanted. I could be wrong, but would like to hear some true stories out there.

 

[TopperHarley]

Also, has anyone done any aftermarket cooling for their transmission? How good are the temprature gauges?

 

[Outlaw Ram]

I ran 36's with 3.55's for 8 months and no problems at all. The most stress is really on wheel bearings if you ask me, on a half ton. The big reason why most people regear is to get perfromance back. I don't think that the stress on the tranny for everyday driving is too much, i never had an overheating problem. If you can live with a loss of power than you can get by with 3.55's.

 

[sbergman]

I have been running 35's with 3.55 for over a yr now. No problems other than the performance loss.

 

[Dodgeraminhamburg]

That's right!

I'm running a Skyjacker 5" lift and 35" BF AT's and 3.55 gears for more than a year now and have never had any problems even on the German Autobahn driving around 85 and more mls per hour or light offroading.
I added an aftermarket Trannycooler and Dexron III Synt. Trans Fluid.
Once again no problems.

Have a great day!

Hans from Hamburg Germany

 

[Outlaw Ram]

Hamburg Germany, thats quite a distance!

 

[mccomas]

i ran 35 inch tires and my stock 3:55 gears for three years (about 43,000 miles). i have driven my rig through the mountains of west virginia, southern germany and austria. i did not have the same stock performance, but have had no problems. i do not do any hard wheeling - only light trails and a few farms. i change my transmission fluid every 10,000. i installed 4:56s about a month ago. bottom line - other than performance, i do not think it is a big problem if you do not wheel hard and you pull good maintenance. this is my opinion and i base it on three years experience with the stock 3:55 gears. i may experience a shorter transmission life in the long run because of those 3 years – unknown at this point. i have 68,000 on my rig and it is smooth as day one...

 

[woody]

Jason is on tranny #2(or 3), A98Wheeler lost his first to that combo, and Fritz Hempty also is on tranny #2...

All with 3.55s and 35" tires.

I think it depends a lot on the tranny. I'm running 3.92s with 35"s, and my tranny acts odd more and more frequently. I definitely need to do a band adjustment.

Fact is that they often just get too hot. The larger tires mean that the engine has to work harder. When in OD, that extra work generates a lot more heat.

Since you drive often in D, not OD, then you're probably doing quite well with tranny temp (about as low as possible in D).

I don't think off-roading really hurts the trannies, the temps are too low, I'm going too slow. It's the long grades in OD, or otherwise lugging the engine in OD that generate the heat that kills the trannies.

I've posted this to other threads but:

Gauges:
http://www.nordskogperformance.com/

Trannypans:
http://www.mag-hytec.com/Transmission_pans.htm

And look at that chart on tranny temp at the Mag-Hytec site.

 

[Outlaw Ram]

Yeah I do comsider myslef lucky with my tranny. I believe that the benefit for lower gears far outweighs the cost.

 

[DieselHrs]

I have 35's and 3.55's in my truck and replaced the tranny about 2 months later. I've had it for about 2 years now and it been good so far. This is on my 84'. I also have 35's and 3.55's on my 96' 2500 diesel and the tranny seems fine so far. These are all automatics.

 

[TopperHarley]

Thanx for the input guys. I definatly want to go to 4.56's at some point but if I to do the gears first I will be waiting a long time before I can afford the rims and tires after that. I am the king of impatient. I am also a little nervous about rumors here in New Hampshire about the height laws changing. Right now it is 30" to the bottom of either bumper, but they are talking about going to the frame now which puts me over by an inch in the rear. Then again, some are saying it will be to the shackle in the rear, and I would be good there. It's always a guessing game.

Thanx,
Topper

 

[RAMRAPTOR]

so my 4:10 gears should not be too bad with 36" swampers... i hope!maybe i can get by with truespeed and not regearing??