Differential Gear Ratios: How to Pick the Best for Your Off-Road Vehicle

When installing oversize tires on your vehicle, you’ll notice that you’ll lose low-end power when towing, taking off from a stop or even on the trail. To regain this power, you’ll need to re-gear your differentials. The formula to figure out ideal gear ratio is stock tire size divided by the stock gear ratio.

This should be equal to your new tire size divided by your new gear ratio. However, this doesn’t account for extra rotating mass of the tire, just the dimensions.

Going strictly by this formula works well for street driven trucks without heavy aftermarket accessories. If you’re looking to get more torque for carrying heavy loads, towing, or if you spend a lot of time on the trail, you’ll want to pick a ratio that is deeper (numerically higher) by one or two available ratios than what the formula suggests. This typically ends up being between 5% and 15% deeper.

We have put together a chart to make things a little easier: https://ruggedrocksoffroad.com/nissan-gearing-chart.html

Once you have your gear ratio calculated, you can get your Nissan truck or SUV gears on order at https://ruggedrocksoffroad.com

Off Road Events, Special Deals & Latest Happenings – September 2012


It’s officially been 6 years since Rugged Rocks had it’s first customer, and being that it was an online sale I didn’t get to pin my $20 bill on the wall as many brick and mortar shops do. But even without the good luck of the first $20, Rugged Rocks is still here. Although day to day, I run Rugged Rocks by myself, I couldn’t have gotten this far without the great support of some key people in the Nissan community who have spread the word of this company. Some went so far as to get articles in some popular off road magazines! I send out a huge Thanks out to those that have helped keep Rugged Rocks going over the years.

I was reminiscing of the early stages of the company, when we were out wheeling more, building more, taking more pictures, and coming home to tell more stories; pictures and stories that I’d often pass on to you in newsletters and that we’d talk about on the forum, it was like our digital campfire. At that time we had a really good active group on the RR forum with lots of tech and up to date news on projects in the works… until one day I accidentally hit a button that deleted all posts over 30 days old which threw lots of valuable content out the window taking many users and readers with it… oops.

Well I’d like to light that fire again because Rugged Rocks is much more than a place to get parts, it’s also been a great source of information for many people, a place to meet up with fellow wheelers and make new friends. So feel free to join the forum but not just to chat, join us on some trail runs and camping trips as well. Feel free to even put a run together yourself, or suggest a trail run for someone else to lead! If there is a trail that people want to run and there isn’t a leader, I’ll usually step up to the plate… I like wheeling too ya know!

So jump on the forum and wheel with us! There will be pics and videos of our travels online after the trips.. and let me tell you, experiencing these trips first hand is way better than the digital second hand version!

At the bottom of this e-mail there is a small list of upcoming events that I recommend for everyone ranging from low key trips to hardcore rock crawling. I hope to see some new people at these events, and please feel free to spread the word of these events (or this entire newsletter that matter!) by forwarding this e-mail or re-posting it on other Nissan message boards etc.

Thanks again for all the support over the years! See you on the trail!

Rugged Rocks Founder.

Steven Lutz

P.S. if you would like Rugged Rocks to sponsor your forum or event, please contact me.

Upcoming Events!
**Check the Rugged Rocks Forum for the latest updates on trail runs and events. **

Nissans @ The Hammers! in Johnson Valley,CA – October 11 – 14th

Borrego Fest in Anza Borrego, CA (with O.A.U.S.A) – October 19th – 21st

CANVAZ II in Big Bear, CA – October 26 – 28

Latest Build: WD21 Solid Axle Swap w/ Diamond Axle
As you may have seen on the Rugged Rocks Facebook Page, the Rugged Rocks Pathfinder went under the torch and is being refreshed with what will be the Solid Axle Swap kit. This build features a new transmission cross-member, Sway a Way 14″ Travel Coil-overs, and the Beefy Diamond Hybrid Nissan/Dana 60 front axle with REID knuckles. The H233B 3rd members will be loaded with 5.57 gears. The back of the truck is already set up with the Rugged Rocks 4-link which is holding strong, the only change needed to fit the 37’s is to lengthen the links another inch or so. The truck will sit on 37″ BFG KM2 Tires wrapping 17″ Allied Rockathon Beadlock Wheels. For the last few years it’s been running a 5:1 Atlas tranfer-case which will remain in place behind the stock 5 speed manual transmission driven by a stock 3.0 v6 motor. Keep up on the details in the forum!

Wheeling into 2011 with Rugged Rocks

Happy New Year from Rugged Rocks! We’re kicking off 2011 after a move to South Lake Tahoe, CA over the holidays! After getting a few feet of snow we’re still getting settled in and back into our regular routine of doing business. Due to the recent storms, we’ve had a delay in getting consistent phone and internet services up and running, but it’s expected that we’ll have the issues worked out in the next week or so. Besides the issues with utilities, we’re really looking forward to a killer 2011 being that we’ve got great new products coming right around the corner. We’re now just a stones throw away from some of the greatest wheeling in the country which includes but isn’t limited to the famous Rubicon Trail. Not only does this give us a place to play, but a great area to test new products.

Speaking of testing products, we’re looking to putting together a small team of people we’ll be referring to as the ‘Rugged Rocks Rough Riders’ Continue reading “Wheeling into 2011 with Rugged Rocks”