[Marko_SJ]

MrRocky wrote:

Not saying 31"s are a fantastic idea ungeared but to say there is zero point in fitting them ungeared is a bit of a false statement. I think the vast majority of sierra drivers start out on 31"s ungeared and then progress with gears,lockers, ect...
I would hardly consider braced diffs mandatory with 31"s nor larger tyres. It completely depends on driving style, most of the sierras i drive with in perth do not have braced diffs, the fact is there really isnt anything in perth worthy of a serious amount of armour nor larger tyres than 31"s. The guys around here with all the highly modded cars generally spend there time wheeling with stockers and playing internet mechanics.
Iam aware over east has plenty of tracks requiring 34"s or larger and 6:5's as a neccesity, when i offer my opinion i can only relate it to perth tracks and we have 2 hills and 3 tracks within 1:45mins drive.

You are correct that most sierra drivers start with tires and go from there.

I most certainly would not call it 'done' though.

Mine was shit to drive without gears and I went on the hunt for gears within a week.

I personally wheel with Austuff most often. His car isn't a stocker, it has small (good) tires and twin ARB air lockers as well as gearing.

I personally reckon this car can hand me my arse. And could do so on smaller tires still IMO

If your gunna argue bang for buck setups, I reckon small good muddies with auto lockers is a winning combo. Not un-geared open on 31s.

Gwagensteve wrote:

This side of the country I can't see any point in bracing diffs. I haven't seen a bent front housing, ever. I've seen two broken rear housings from cape york corrugations and a few cracked housings from stupid traction bars and spring overs, but they don't count.

Whilst it is possible to drive a stock geared sierra on 31's, I really do think there is zero point from my standpoint. Maybe in sand it's the hot setup, but I won't comment on sand in this instance.

Steve.

Personally, in flat Darwin mud terrain I found stock gearing and 30's to work well on mud and sand.

Having said this, 6.5's works just as well in the right gear for mud, sand is shit, but we don't have much of it.

[JrZook]

MrRocky wrote:

when i offer my opinion i can only relate it to perth tracks and we have 2 hills and 3 tracks within 1:45mins drive.

I guess this makes total sense of your opinions then. If you were to wheel some of the steep tracks around here you would be pretty much clutch-less after a descent day. Moreover, if you stalled half way up you would have jack all chance of getting going again unless you absolutely hated on that clutch and slipped it significantly. Even then you may not be able to produce the torque for forward motion.

So if you are not mechanically minded, how much is a new clutch and labor to install it these days?

Personally I would just stick to road and light offroad duties for now.

[shep]

I couldn't stand 235/75r15 tyres on stock gearing its got me fucked how anyone drives around on 31s with stock gearing

[MrRocky]

I run presently and for 75% of my sierra years prefer to run 4.1 diffs and 6:5 gears so im lucky to get over a snails pace for the most part even in 5th low and sit at 4100rpm @ 100km/phr on the road. That being said i also normally drive a few secret/private tracks with select others on here. The alternative is pretty much the one track in perth everyone drives as per the w.a. trip thread with the same people doing the same track over and over again. I was mearly arguing that in my scenario 31"s on stock gears are doable for most local tracks here in perth.
As soon as your looking at blue sky 90% of the time then gears and lockers are mandatory.

[alien]

you have to admit though, that doable isn't really the right choice... i mean, i drove part of the powerlines in my mazda 323 sedan and made it out with only a few scuffs to the undercarriage - by no means did i drive anything difficult - the challenge was just in driving it and avoiding absolutely every obstacle, and i had a great time doing so - but if i'd have pushed it just a bit further i'd likely have come out with some serious damage. Again, it was do-able, but i was treading a fine line.

If the OP runs 31's and baby's it around town and the tracks then you're 100% correct - he'll drive all the tracks... but really - what's the challenge if you're not going to try some harder/different lines to make it interesting? its at that point that breakages will start to occur due to not being able to choose a low enough gear to proceed with caution. I'd rather get crossed up (unlocked) at a slow speed and progressively try faster and faster than just hit everything fast because its my only option. That's what a P plater in a GQ patrol does... its not a good example to follow =)

[mrgtt34]

Id rather walk the hills then have no gears! . An unlocked and std gear sierra is shit!