I have a 3 speed auto and 31's with stock gears.  I do however have the 16 valve engine with a bit more power.  It's not horrible around town but yeah, hills kill it and say good bye to 20mpg+.  I think I'm around 18mpg right now.  I plan on regearing it with some 5.12 3rds soon.  Haven't done much wheeling with it yet but so far it's doing fine around town.  Plan your take offs and watch out for hills.

I say do your lift and make it fit 31's.  Meanwhile start looking for some 5.12 thirds.  It'd kinda suck to buy the 30's and still be slow or buy the 30's and put the 5.12's in and then wish you had gotten the 31's.  The swap is regarded as relatively simple in the rear and not terribly hard in the front so hey, for less than $500 you can have a better performing Tracker on 31's.

Yeah, the swap is simple...   I was a little intimidated just looking at the front, but it actually went just as easily as the rear. 

These little trucklets are simple to work on, and everything is so light, you can lift the 3rd member into place easily by  yourself, and the whole front axle housing too..  it's a one man job, and even pretty easy in the driveway..  one weekend if you are slow.. one afternoon if you are a pretty good wrench.

I have no plans on swapping a manual because I like the auto for off-road use,

He's talking about the gears that come in the diffs of the manual truck not the transmission

What you guys are saying makes a lot of sense, I didn't realize that the entire gear assy just popped out like that, that's really good( the pics on e-bay really helped). I think I'll be looking at re-gearing then as you guys have mentioned.
  So if I decide to run 30's I should be looking at 5.125's for gearing out of any stock standard 2 door tracker.
 
I think either way I'm doing the 3" body lift as well as the 1.5" coil spacers. I have a ton of holes in the floor to cut out and re-weld. I think the further the body is away from the running gear the easier it will be for cutting and welding.
  I would like to get the biggest reasonable tire for this set up and if I have to re-gear then I would like to do it appropriately the first time.
If I decide to run 31's then what gears should I be looking at and where can I get them.
Thanks
Jim

Ok, I just saw the post about gears and If I want to run 31" tires with my automatic I need either 5.29 gears or 5.37 gears. They say say are from a ford or toyota. I take it if I want to go this route then I should get the gears and have an experienced diff guys swap them out.
 Will these gears readily install (diameters etc) or is machining required?
Thanks
Jim

Ok, I just saw the post about gears and If I want to run 31" tires with my automatic I need either 5.29 gears or 5.37 gears. They say say are from a ford or toyota.

Those won't fit. 

They have to be Suzuki gears unless you do complete axle swaps, which is a major undertaking involving mucho dinero and/or fab work.  I think you'll be fine running 31's with 5.12 gears.  If I were you I would get Quaddawg's off eBay.  He's an upstanding guy (I actually sold him his 5.62 gears).  Besides, you'd end up with a locker in the rear.

Quote from: KevinN on March 21, 2006, 05:59:24 AM

I have no plans on swapping a manual because I like the auto for off-road use,

He's talking about the gears that come in the diffs of the manual truck not the transmission

I know, I was just giving my opinion...but you know what opinions are like  And right now after the half dozen pickled eggs I had for lunch, woah!

Ok, good to know that I would be fine with the 5.12's and 31" tires. I've never bought off of e-bay before so i am not currently set up. Maybe I should look into this. Hey Qaddog, do you just want to give me a price and I can buy them?
Thanks
Jim

He put them on eBay because several people wanted them, so this way he isn't deciding who gets it.  The auction ends later today, so if you want them you better register and bid

Ok, that sounds fair! I better talk to the wife and get her to set it up, I'm not so computer savy.
Thanks
Jim

Better yet, since you are in Canada, get with DerekJ   he is selling a set out of his 89 manual... and he is in Canada... SHIPPING cost will be much better... and his price is lower too..

Check out this topic in the garage sale

http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=11242.0