thinkin about getting new tires, cause mine are pretty beat. There's 265s on there now. I was thinking about 285s. What kind of experiences have you guys had with this? I know the bigger tires look nicer, but do they right better? and what kind of change can I expect in mileage?

Also what will there be any noticable preformance difference, offroad or on?

 

on the plus side, i think they look better, you get another inch or so of ground clearance.
on the negative side, it makes your speedometer incorrect, or off even more. it changes your final, effective, gear ratio even more, sapping the truck of low rpm torque.

they don't ride better. the tread pattern you get will have a lot to do with ride and noise. mine are a sort of lightweight all terrain, cooper discovery. ok on the road but they don't have any big side lugs so they suck in mud. on the other hand they ride quiet. mine fit with no problems. people refer to them as 33's, but mine are only about 32 inches in diameter.

 

On my second pair, wouldn't considering going back! I didn't notice MPG change but didn't pay close attention. I say go for it!

 

How much will it throw off my speedometer, and which way? How do I adjust that?

 

Not sure about the changes, my suggestion is to buy a hypertech, you will be able to adjust for the bigger tires, advance the timing, pickup some power and reap the benefits of better MPG. I am four months into doing it myself and ran the device numbers against the gas savings. I onlu need an oil change to break even on the cost of the device. You will like the bigger tires, you will like the features in the Hypertech and you will cost justify the device within 3k to 5k miles. No joke.

 

... bout 7% (IIRC) ... you'll be traveling faster and going farther than your gauges indicate.

 

Can I have the speedometer re-caliberated? or is there a way to do it myself?

 

or is it even worth doing when I have to go 80 mph to make a 5 mph difference?

 

does you 96 have an electronic digital odometer or analog numbers ?
the newer models have the electronic speedometer driven by the differential sensor, but i was thinking the older models had a gear in the transmission...?

 

Pretty sure 97 back has the tranny gear. 98 up use the RWSS.