[ihc] recommended r&p for a Scout with 36" tires

[damian@xxxxxxx]

Hey guys,

I have a dilemma, that I need to resolve before I do something dumb.  I 
need to upgrade the ring and pinion in my diffs so I can go up hills 
again.  Since I put on 36" tires on my 77' Scout II it has been having 
issues making it up the steep trails.  On the bright side I can do 75 MPH 
at 2000 RPM, but that's not what a Scout is meant to do.  I don't want to 
buy a new r&p just to find out it isn't good enough.  Here are my specs:

727 Auto Trany (2.45 low)
Dana 20 Tcase (2.00 low)
Dana 44 Diffs (3.54 ratio)
Current Crawl Ratio - a disappointing 17.35:1!
36" x 12.5" x 15" Super Swamper Radial / TSL tires

I was thinking of putting in 4.56's in the diffs, which I think would 
bring me to just above stock.  I mostly do mud and hill climbs in the 
truck, but I need something that I can still do 65 MPH on the highway.  
This is mostly an offroad truck, so not too woried about the fuel economy.

Any suggestions?  What is a good ratio to use for 36" tires?  I just can't 
find any good information about this on the net (at least for Scouts).

(PS: if anyone has any good suggestions on what posi/locker I should use 
in the front I could use the advice there too!)

Thanks in advance!

Damian
damian@domain.elided
http://www.testosterone.biz/scout/
(check out my Scout offroad movies above)