I am running 215/85R16 on a 5.43:1 final drive and stock 1-4 gears on my
Syncro - I can still drive at 100km/h except for the hills that will require
3rd most of the time - but what is new, I'm driving a Vanagon.  Where I live
there are plenty of 8 to 10% grade hills and I never have to leave 3rd gear
on these and that is with a 2500kg Syncro Hightop Camper!  The way I look at
is to run the biggest you can get and be a little more patient going up the
hills.  The Vanagon isn't a race car after all! :)

David Marshall

Fast Forward Automotive Inc.
4356 Quesnel-Hixon Road
Quesnel BC Canada  V2J 6Z3

http://www.fastforward.ca    mailto:sales@fastforward.ca
Phone: (250) 992 7775        FAX: (250) 992 1160

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-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of Todd Last
Sent: July 2, 2003 5:48 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Gearing and 15" Wheels....

I am in the process of going to 15" wheels, and in looking at the selection
of tires that have the correct load range and are more of a street/trail
tire, say a 215/70R15 look like they have a theoretical rev/mile of about
751 revs per mile vs about 797 for the 205/70R 14 tires.

This is about a 6% difference.

Right now I'm running XCA 205/75R14 tires which are about 754 rev/mile and I
definitely noticed the difference. Its livable, but I'm not going to win any
1/4 mile acceration contests - steep hills that I used to be able to get by
in 2nd gear, now require a shift into 1st.

Has anyone gone to the trouble to change the gearing to adjust for this? If
so, what did you do?

Todd
'88 Westy