For the record, the following material discusses the differences between my
"recommended" set of gears to use with 29.5 tall tires and the ratios John
Wessels is actually using.

It concludes that my recommendations, because they spread the gears out
further than they were before, would result in a top speed better matched
to today's 65 mph highways. But it also concludes that John's setup, though
putting top speed effectively at only 69mph, is also a good choice and much
less expensive because fewer gears need to be changed. (He changed only 4th.)

At 02:12 PM 8/9/01 -0400, you wrote:
>Very substantial clip,
>
>Hello Derek,
>Anyway. I have the .78 factory VW SA 4th gear installed in my Syncro.
>All the other gears are stock ratios. The gear spacing is excellent and it
>will pull a major grade in 4 the gear with a stock 2.1 WBX. I still need to
>get my speedo calibrated for the 6.17 R&P's and the tire change. So as to
>exact RPM at MPH I cannot give accurate data. If I ever get a GPS I will post
>that info.

I can pretty much accurately figure out your speeds without the GPS, which
information is contained in the material below, which contains a short
discussion of the differences between your current setup and the setup I
would advocate.

My recommendation for any syncro with tires rated by the factory to be
29.5" tall, using 4,000rpm as a benchmark is this:

My Recommendation vs. Stock Range Comment on This Plan
G 9.15mph 10.00 - 10.51 YUMMY...nice and lower
1st 14.6mph 15.95 - 16.76 Lower
2nd 29.35mph 29.28 - 30.76 Like the stock MXL 2nd
3rd 51.09mph 49.23 - 51.73 Like our BFG 27x8.50/14 3rd
4th 76mph 70.95 - 74.55 1.5mph faster than the BFG (better
for 65mph speed limit)

Whereas you are actually now running this:

This Plan vs. Stock Range Comment on This Plan
G 9.15mph 10.00 - 10.51 YUMMY...nice and very low.
1st 14.6mph 15.95 - 16.76 Very low
2nd 26.79mph 29.28 - 30. Very low
3rd 45.09mph 49.23 - 51.73 Very low.
4th 70.74mph 70.95 - 74.55 Low stock

I made my recommendation on the basis that many highways are now 65mph, and
having an effective top speed of 70.74mph (even more like 69mph going by
the oil temp gague shooting up around 3900 rpm) is a tad low given this.
Granted, your 4th gear is now equal to stock. But that speed was set for
55mph speed limits. And because you already have a 26 mph difference
between 3rd and 4th (vs 22mph difference in stock configuration), if you go
up higher in 4th, it is then advisable to bring 3rd up as well to "bridge
the gap" a bit. That's what I did in my recommendations.

Still, I think you have a fine configuration, there are no mistakes in it
of any kind, and I would not hesitate to recommend that others implement it.

>As to the "bash" plate in the front I haven't hit it yet. More than enough
>ground clearance and approach angle.

Right. So what I am half jokingly saying is...who cares about the G gear.
Just go as fast as you want in G and start bashing that plate.

>The SyncroMog is now a daily driver so the testing goes on. On major point
>that you and all the other tall tire crowd forgets to mention is brakes. I
>feel that it is a must to install the big brake kit from SA. My brakes work
>and feel so good even with the tall tires.

Have we worked out a supply of the SA pads and rotors as spare parts then?
Or is it prudent to purchase two or more SA brake "kits" in order to have
spares? I guess it is coming time for me to research the least expensive
way I can get a couple of these kits.

JOHN'S RESPONSE TO THE MATERIAL ABOVE:

I wanted all my gears to be lower as my Syncro is an off road machine! 70 MPH
is like warp speed compared to the 55 MPH of a Unimog!!! I also like that I
can go up a grade without down shifting to third. An overdrive 4th gear with
a load can cause you to downshift quickly. Since I now have an off road
machine anything over 70 MPH at the "altitude" that I drive at would be
scary....

>John Wessels

________________________________________________________
Derek Drew New York, NY & Washington, DC
derekdrew@... 212-580-6486
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
ftp://gerry.vanagon.com/pub/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro
http://www.vanagon.com
http://www.syncro.org
My refrigerator article:
http://www.vanagon.com/info/articles/Refrigerator/Reefer_Madness.htm
My article that shows how to deal with insurance companies:
ftp://gerry.vanagon.com/pub/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 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