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Anybody regret going with 37s over 35s?

MegaCabn

MegaCabn

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TLDR - Do any of you regret putting 37s on their trucks and what is/was your reasoning? Also, the more pictures on this thread, the better!

Long story - I'm needing new tires soon and I currently have 35s at stock height, but I'm going to do suspension and tires this time around. I'm going back and forth between 1" with 35s or 2.75 with 37s. Cost isn't the issue since Thuren kits are generally the same price for both heights and the price difference between 37 and 35 inch tires is minimal. Only additional cost would be new wheels with 37s.

Here is my dilemma - I want to go with 37s and I'm trying to talk myself out of that. The pros of 35s are I'll still be able to fit in the garage which is nice for maintenance and tinkering. I'll also still be able to fit in most parking garages around here and I'll have two good spare tires since I'm currently on 35s. This route is much more "practical" for my situation and those reasons above. But then again, I daily drive a mega cab in the city so practicality kind of went out the window 12k miles ago lol. Cons of 35s to me are they look stock and small on these trucks and I'll always want 37s.

Pros of 37s are they just look right at home with the right suspension and wheel combo. Also, going up in height for me gives more suspension travel which equals to a better ride on our wonderfully maintained SoCal roads.... and more travel and clearance for the minimal offroading I actually do. Cons are more wear and tear on components and transmission due to the larger tire size and weight (is this actually true?) I won't be able to fit in my garage for maintenance and my driveway is a little too steep to change my oil. Also no more parking garages when I mall crawl with the family.

Sorry for the long rambling post. I'm mostly curious to see if there are some reasons I haven't thought of as to why people wish they didn't go with 37s, if any at all. Honestly, having a killer looking truck on 37s is a good enough reason for me. I'm just trying to get some other opinions. Thanks!IMG_7279.JPG
 
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Bigger tires are harder on legitimately everything on your truck. Brakes, Hubs, Axles, Overdrive clutches, etc.

I too love the look of 37’s, but thinking about longevity of the 68RFE and my desire to not re-gear my truck, I chose to stay with a 35” tire. Measuring the clearance into my heated garage after the fact made me really happy with the decision, as 37’s would have been an issue there. Performing maintenance and storing an expensive truck indoors is rather important to me, especially in the winter.

If you want the look of 37’s and don’t care about the things I mentioned, send it. If you do care about those things, maybe stick with a 35. It’s all personal preference at the end of the day. If you do go 37’s, I’d be sure to have at least a 4.10 gear, if not lower.
 
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Interested to see if anyone actually says they wish they didn’t.

Coming up on running 37s for three years. 3.73 gears, no problems. Have beat it like an old mule up and down all manner of approach/4x4 roads in the mountains.

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Trash Panda said:
Bigger tires are harder on legitimately everything on your truck. Brakes, Hubs, Axles, Overdrive clutches, etc.

I too love the look of 37’s, but thinking about longevity of the 68RFE and my desire to not re-gear my truck, I chose to stay with a 35” tire. Measuring the clearance into my heated garage after the fact made me really happy with the decision, as 37’s would have been an issue there. Performing maintenance and storing an expensive truck indoors is rather important to me, especially in the winter.

If you want the look of 37’s and don’t care about the things I mentioned, send it. If you do care about those things, maybe stick with a 35. It’s all personal preference at the end of the day. If you do go 37’s, I’d be sure to have at least a 4.10 gear, if not lower.
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Unfortunately my garage is too short or else I’d park in there too. But yes, I’m leaning towards 35s for those reasons!
 
I had a 2018 Ram 2500 Cummins. I deleted and tuned that truck. I had Thuren 2.75” coils in front with 2” bag spacers in rear and 2.5 fox shocks. I then put 4.56 gears in it. Had 18x9 with 37x13.50 Toyo RT. It ran well, it rode well. I really enjoyed the setup. It was a big truck for sure though and it felt big. The big feeling was my only gripe really.

I eventually put stock gearing back in it and went to a 1” Thuren coil in front and a 1” bag spacer in back with 20x9 & 35x12.50 BFG ko2. Again great setup other than those tires were meh. Truck felt better to me size wise, and the weight of the tires felt better on the truck.

I will say though, had I done the 37’s with stock gearing I’d have hated it. You could already feel the mass of the 37’s and I was tuned, deleted and running a 4.56 gear.

I attached pictures of each. Sorry the aren’t great and it’s all I have because that was a while ago lol. The 37’s looked wayyy better but that’s just my opinion! The picture by the tractor is 37’s, the other is 35’s.

Oh and I am a white letter guy when it comes to black wheels most of the time. With black wheels and solid black tires it looks like a donut type wheel and tire haha. But most don’t agree.
 

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MegaCabn said:
Unfortunately my garage is too short or else I’d park in there too. But yes, I’m leaning towards 35s for those reasons!
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Not sure if you’re a 68 or an Aisin guy, but the overdrive clutches on your trans will certainly appreciate that decision if you’re on stock gearing.
 
I am probably the outlier here, but I just recently went back to a 35" tire after having 37" tires. My truck is a 2025 Ram 2500 Mega cab with 2" thuren leveling kit. I had the a Mickey Thompson Baja Legend EXP in a 37x13.5R20 and just went to the Nitto Terra Grappler G3 in a 295/65R20.

I think the truck drives better, my mileage has definitely improved and I think it looks better. With only a 2" leveling kit I think the 37s looked a little "overstuffed" mainly up front. The 35s are more porportionate imo. My wife has the same truck with a 4" lift and 37s and I think that combo looks great.
 

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Wanderlust073 said:
The trans can move a 15000lb trailer from a dead stop but will self destruct over a couple hundred extra lbs of rubber? I never got the logic…
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Let’s put it this way.

Reputable transmission builders (like Randys) won’t warranty a transmission on a truck with 37’s unless there is proof it’s been re-geared. Big tires are absolute hell on transmissions, especially in overdrive gears.

Leverage has a hell of an effect on the forces seen by a transmission.
 

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Trash Panda said:
Let’s put it this way.

Reputable transmission builders (like Randys) won’t warranty a transmission on a truck with 37’s unless there is proof it’s been re-geared. Big tires are absolute hell on transmissions, especially in overdrive gears.

Leverage has a hell of an effect on the forces seen by a transmission.
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Roll in on 37s with any transmission problem and most anybody is going to blame the tires, that’s certainly a consideration.

Realistically it changes 3.73 to 3.33 and people towed on that with far less capable transmissions for years.

OP should ask for everyone who nuked a trams because they had 37s installed to post here if that’s really his concern.
 
Wanderlust073 said:
Roll in on 37s with any transmission problem and most anybody is going to blame the tires, that’s certainly a consideration.

Realistically it changes 3.73 to 3.33 and people towed on that with far less capable transmissions for years.

OP should ask for everyone who nuked a trams because they had 37s installed to post here if that’s really his concern.
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Changing the effective gearing to 3.33 would be reason enough for me to want nothing to do with a tire setup without a gear change. That would be an absolute dog to drive empty, much less with a load on it.

To each their own, I suppose. Some guys just gotta have that stuffed tire look, and don’t care what it takes.
 
Wanderlust073 said:
Roll in on 37s with any transmission problem and most anybody is going to blame the tires, that’s certainly a consideration.

Realistically it changes 3.73 to 3.33 and people towed on that with far less capable transmissions for years.

OP should ask for everyone who nuked a trams because they had 37s installed to post here if that’s really his concern.
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You can see my post above. But my transmission was slipping after 37’s and I was running 4.56 gears. But maybe it was cause I had a delete and tune so I had more than stock power idk.
 
I went from pizza cutter 35s to "normal" 37x12.50R17s. The 37s look way better, and my average mpg has not noticeably changed. I'm doing a 3000-mile road trip to Arizona and back in 3 weeks and wanted bigger and wider rubber for the desert trails I go on.

Before...

20251021_113541.jpg

After...

20260131_155958-EDIT.jpg
 
On my DRW but just from having 295x60x20 my Draglink, passenger ball joint and track bar started to have play in them....replaced at 15K. Maybe just bad luck, but heavier tires wear things out faster.
 
Wanderlust073 said:
The trans can move a 15000lb trailer from a dead stop but will self destruct over a couple hundred extra lbs of rubber? I never got the logic…
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Yes, but like you said...it affects the gearing - that was not engineered in to the trans. The 37s may not "nuke" the trans but it will certainly shorten the life of that trans and other components.

That's why you need to spend the money to upgrade components when going to 37s and larger.
 
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sstoner911 said:
Yes, but like you said...it affects the gearing - that was not engineered in to the trans. The 37s may not "nuke" the trans but it will certainly shorten the life of that trans and other components.

That's why you need to spend the money to upgrade components when going to 37s and larger.
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No argument. Doing anything to your truck that pushes it out of factory specs increases the risks of something going wrong which you are going to have to pay for out of pocket.

Doesn't mean it's guaranteed to happen.

Here's all the posts on this site, which is a magnet for people bitching about the smallest thing going wrong, regarding trans failures from large tires. Looks to me like the count is 0, though one guy got the finger on a warranty claim due to running... 35's.

 
Wanderlust073 said:
No argument. Doing anything to your truck that pushes it out of factory specs increases the risks of something going wrong which you are going to have to pay for out of pocket.

Doesn't mean it's guaranteed to happen.

Here's all the posts on this site, which is a magnet for people bitching about the smallest thing going wrong, regarding trans failures from large tires. Looks to me like the count is 0, though one guy got the finger on a warranty claim due to running... 35's.

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Heat is a killer for a trans...larger tires creates more heat. So I am sure when peoples 68RFE takes a crap they don't immediately point to the 37s or 40s they stuck on the truck.

Being in the Rock Crawler community over the past 20 years when I see the Jeep guys bitching about drive shaft issues, ball joints, and trans issues I always point to the 37+ with no additional upgrades on the Jeep.

If you talk to any aftermarket trans builder - they will not warranty the transmission unless you have 4.10 gears or better for 37 in tires...there is a reason for that.
 
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