From: "Forhan, Thomas" <Thomas.Forhan@...>
To: "'EUROMOG@...'" <EUROMOG@...>
Cc: "'Derek Drew'" <drew@...>
Subject: RE: [Syncro] It happened...blew tranny
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 17:34:54 -0500
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John,
Still working through my gearing, based on a tire a little smaller than what I understand you are running (30x9.5x15s, correct?).
I'm thinking about the 235/75/15s, or an equivalent diameter 16, maybe about half an inch smaller in diameter than yours.
My question regards your trailing arms. Did you go to 16"?
No, he did not change his trailing arms. He trimmed his 14" trailing arm flanges instead.
If not, did you have to trim the 14" trailing arm flanges?
Thanks
Tom Forhan
My suspicion is that 30x9.5x15s are the largest size tire you can fit without changing the trailing arms to 16" type.
This tire is 29.5" tall.
The other tires of this height class and also adequately narrow are, in BF Goodrich All Terrain Radial KO, would be:
Revs Mile / Size / Height
705
707
715
717
730
The number on the right is the published actual height of the tire, although going from actual experience the tire may be slightly less than that number.
Since Wessels 29.5 inch tire only just fits, with grinding, if you want to be able to fit chains on there and not change to 16" trailing arms, you may wish to select a tire about 1/2 to 1 inch smaller than Wessels' tire.
If so, then, your choice might boil down to
715
717
730
Whether you need 1 inch or 1/2 inch smaller than Wessels tire depends on what kind of chains you want to use, as well as how aggressive you are at removing trailing arm material from your trailing arms.
One option is to make the use of chains contingent on your changing the trailing arms or a fairly radical modification of your 14" arms. Thus, you would do this in stages. In that case, you might want to choose one of these two slightly larger tires:
705
707
...get everything installed, and then worry about solving the trailing arm / chain issues in summer 2003.
Cable chains are much smaller clearance requirements than regular chains. But they do break when offroading in mud fields, I have found, but not intolerably so. My guess is that cable chains will fit with your current thinking to 235/70/16, but if going with regular chains, they may or may not fit. Some regular chains have a lower profile on them.
Due to my probable choice of a larger tire, I am afraid I will likely be restricted to cable chains myself.
To anyone evesdropping in on this conversation who is not familiar with this topic, please note that NONE of these tires should normally be installed in a vehicle without changing your ring and pinions in your transmission from 4.86 to a higher number, either 5.43, 5.83, or 6.17. The exception would be low-budget and heroic off-road types, who might select 235/70/16 or 235/75r15 to use with stock gearing, notwithstanding the utter loss of 4th gear as a hill climbing instrument. A better maximum tire radical choice for stock geared drivers would be:
743
748
All the tire sizes discussed in this email are for BF Goodrich All-Terrain Radial KO, a tire selected because it is known to provide generally excellent all around results for any Vanagon Syncro. Other brands and types of tires of the same sizes will typically be slightly smaller in any given published size.
________________________________________________________
Derek Drew New York, NY & Washington, DC
erekdrew@...
Email me for viscous couplings
'90 Syncro Westfalia...
...seen off-road at
http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/Syncro_Madness_Area.htm
Note: most valuable Vanagon sites on the planet (for owners) are:
http://gerry.vanagon.com/cgi-bin/wa.exe?S1=vanagon
http://gerry.vanagon.com/files/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro
http://www.vanagon.com
http://www.syncro.org
My syncro list postings consolidated
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/messagesearch?query=212-580-6486
My refrigerator article:
http://www.vanagon.com/info/articles/Refrigerator/Reefer_Madness.htm
My article that shows how to deal with insurance companies:
http://gerry.vanagon.com/files/auto-insurance-madness.html
To view Wolfgang's incredibly informative wheel article
http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/fitbigtiresonvanagon.htm
To view Tim Smith's incredibly useful gearing calculator
http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/syncrotireandgearratios.xls
To view two articles about how to think about improving your gears at transmission rebuild time
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/7207
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/7221
To view some 16" Trailing Arms that enable much larger tires see
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/syncro-org/files/Wheels%2C%20Tires%20%26%20Gearing/Wheel%20%26%20Tire%20Photos/16_Inch_Trailing_Arm.jpg
To view the CV900, the only perfect 16" rim for T3 Vanagon and Syncro see
http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/vanagon/images/perfectwheel16s.jpg
http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/vanagon/images/perfect16wheel.jpg
Articles about choosing a 16" wheel and this CV900 model:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/9294
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/8672
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/9209
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/10563
My article about belt protectors and CV joint protectors
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/6112
SYNCRO OWNERS WHO DRIVE OFF THE ROAD:
You only get to change your ring and pinions once every 10 or 20 years
because that's how long the average syncro transmission goes before
its next rebuild. Start planning for higher number ring and pinion sets NOW!
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