Date:         Wed, 9 Dec 1998 12:33:43 -0500
Reply-To:     Tom Carrington <tcarrington@RELITECH.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Tom Carrington <tcarrington@RELITECH.COM>
Organization: ReliTech, Inc.
Subject:      Re: Diesel Westy Gearing Swaps- reply
Comments: To: Larry Hamm <ldhamm@XMISSION.COM>
Comments: cc: vanagon@VANAGON.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Interesting. I didn't even think about the idea of switching to 15"
rims. I was looking at tire sizes at a local tire store, all based on
the 14" rim size. Too late for me now - the gas tranny is in there. I
should probably update my web conversion page to add tire info as well.

Anyone else done this?

Thanks for the input!
TomC

Larry Hamm wrote:
>
> Tim Smith wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > Has anyone taken the ratio of R&Pinion gears for gas vs. diesel trans and
> > figured out what size tires would make for the same conversion. Saves re/re
> > your own 'known' trans and hoping the $300 junkyard special will last. New
> > tires on 15" rims oughta do it.  Nice to get back the desired 'gearing',
> > gain some ground clearance, get new tires, keep a good trans, all with
> > minimal effort. bye, Tim
>
> Tim,
> That's what I did on mine. The approximate figures look like this:
> The 235/75-15's are about 29" in diameter, and the stock 14's are
> roughly 25.5". So about 12% difference.
> The 5.86 diesel gearbox (DZ) is about 20% lower geared than the later
> wasser's 4.83. That gives me an overall gear reduction of about 8%% over
> a stock Wasser. 8% more power, 8% higher RPM at cruise, 12% speedo
> error, 1.75" increase in ground clearance. Works for me.
> Larry