I have an 1985 truck with a stock engine and 4.88 gears. I am running some 33x9.5 all terain tires and would like to get more aggresive treads. I was told that I would not be able to go up to 35x12.5 without getting 5.29's. Has anyone ran this setup? I will drive my truck to and from the trail and some street use so I still need some manners. I was also told that Interco tires are very heavy and would not be a good fit for my 22R. Thanks for any help.

You don't have to regear right away, the 4.88's will work better with 35's than the 4.10's did with 33's. I wouldn't regear until you are ready to install lockers, then sell the 4.88's to offset the cost of the 5.29's.

For tires I would go with either MTR's or BFG MT's, if money allows the X-terrains are a good tire as well.

i love my 33x10.5x bfg muds, i run the 35 mtr on my 84 but it has 5.29 ( and its still slow as *****)

I just bought 85 4runner last Dec. which has 35" tires with 4.88s. I was surprised how well the gears work with the size tire - I can do 75mph easy on flat with no wind and 65 uphill against wind on the interstate (w/ D.T. header). Not so easy on my '02 TJ with 4.56 and 35" tires (maybe because of brick aerodynamics).

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But, when I put on my 33", it feels like 40 more HP.

I have an ARB locker in the front and will be installing one in the back in a couple of weeks. I don't want to change the gears due to the cost and lack of experience with gear install and setup.

4.88's and 35's will be fine. ive been running that setup for a while now, and its not bad at all.

Since you are all ready have lockers(rear soon) I would just run the 4.88's and mod the engine some.

Does a header give much of a performance increase. I would like to add a weber carb to get a little more out of my engine but I am very new to the 4 cyl engine and this Toyota. My last truck was a 73' FJ40 with a chevy 350, it was much easier to work on. What would you reccomend for a performance increase.

With the motor being nothing more than an airpump, the better the airflow the better the performance, to a point anyways. A header with a better flowing exhaust will help some.

If you are going to piece-meal the build, I would do a header, with a hi-flow cat, and a turbo style muffler(the Raptor is a good muffler at $24). Once the exhaust is done, I would then install the Weber. After that you could upgrade the ignition, Msd works well w/carb'd engines. These are the basic power upgrades for the 22r w/o rebuilding the engine, borinmg the cyls., new cam. and over sized valves.