Thread: 35s on a puma 90

comparing gearing between older defenders/110s, disco and the puma, the puma is considerably lower geared final drive ratio and considerably more powerful then a TDI with lag being very minimal down low unlike a TDI, never owned a TD5 so cant comment there.

For example a puma vs TD5 defender is roughly 27% lower geared in high range 1st and 45% lower geared in low range low, if my numbers are correct. 6th gear high on the other hand is roughly 21% higher.

An increase to 35 from a 31/32in tyre is around 10%, even at 37in its only about 16% incease, so when it comes to comparing gearing on 37s you still way ahead in the lower gears in a puma.

At the other end of the scale the increase to higher gears and increase in weight of the tyres would work things alot harder at higher speeds, but even changing the diff gearing going large tyres you still have to consider the increase in weight of the tyre.

Here is a screen shot of a spread i have used to calculate different options in my landys i put puma info in just as a comparison.

Had about an hour long chat with the fountain of knowledge poster by the name of 90@. Gave me some great info with his experience with 35s on a 90. He sent me this post and I don't think he will mind if I share it as info on mods to 90s in Australia is at a minimum. Thanks again mate. Very much appreciate the time you took out


Quick couple of things that I'm thinking about for before you fit the guards & tyres....
1).Fuel filler will have a gap in it where the flares go over the corner of it.
2).rear corner protectors (or the flares will have to be cut down, otherwise the flares don't fit.
3). Fuel filler pipe and breather pipe...
These come very, very close to my tyres when at full articulation, any of the "larger" size 35" will probably hit, on a 110/130 they are mounted again further back than on a 90 so they have a lot more clearance.
4). BFG KM2 315/75r16 are the tyres that I'm running at the moment, they are actually just over 34" in diameter, so not truly a 35", if going to a true 35" tyre you will probably have a few more clearance issues.
5). Inner guards for the front.... the normal thing is to cut the outer flare off the front plastic guards and just mount the inner piece back on again using the plastic rivets/scrivets, be careful of the headlight wires hanging out and catching the tyres if you don't have the inner guard in place.... I thought it would be ok to move my 90 a few meters without the guards on, I ended up ripping both sides headlight wiring out $$$$$....
6). Cut the tab off the rear end of the front inner guard, where it used to mount onto the alloy panel below the doors, (I see that you have rock sliders there now) it will catch on the tyres and rip the inner guard off if your unlucky.
7). Suspension bushes.... my suspension bushes (mainly the front are pretty well worn and they are letting the axles/wheels float around the place more than a few years ago when I first mounted the 35"s, when I first put them on I didn't get any rubbing on the inner guards, but now with the well worn bushes I'm getting the tyres hitting the front inner guards and ripping the bottom of them. I'm planning on going to earlier model galvanised metal inner guards that I will clearance before fitting.
8). Rear spring seats/perches... the rear spring perches jutting out from the chassis of a 90 don't quite come out as far as on a 110/130, they have slightly smaller springs fitted and as such most 90 run into less clearance issues at the rear with wider wheels/tyres than 110/130 models do.



The 90's are a different shape to the 110's and the fuel filler is mounted further forward on a 90 than a 110.
The rear corner protectors for 110's usually leave enough room for the flat dog flares to fit without modifying, but with the shorter ass end on a 90 there is not as much room.
To put it bluntly the 110's have a fat ass like Kim Kardashian....
the 90's have a much more pert Supermodel size bum!