OK, follow this thinking and see if I'm on to something here. Maybe this is so obvious that it didn't deserve mentioning, but I can't find ANY info on this.

I used to have a 17t drive gear and a 37t driven gear. I now have that same 17t drive gear, and a 44t driven gear, which gives me the appropriate ratio for the new rear.

Here's the concern. Obviously the 44t gear has a bigger diameter than the old 37t gear. How would it fit?



I have the new housing for 40+ tooth driven gears, but that doesn't move the axis of the driven gear at all. If the two gears that I used to have meshed properly, and you don't change either axis, but one gear size is changed, wouldn't that be problematic???

 

....I just found these combinations which all work for a 3.27 rear axle with 245/50/16 tires:

16 / 41
15 / 39
17 / 44

...They all are pretty darn close as far as ratio, but they are all physically different sizes.