that was my next question. what type of torque converter are you running? i have the sc3200 yank and it is a tight mother. it won't go past 2000 or so rpm until boost rolls in. i had a looser tt3000 but it would blow right through it if boost came in hard. also what motor are you running? the 5.3l has good torque but not like that of a 6.0 or bigger. i do see what your saying about the power band and all, makes since.

it really does seem like a package deal. a lower torque motor may need the steeper gears to get moving and will still be able to load the motor. where as the higher low end torque motor will just loose traction and ruin the spool. so if i plan on doing a built 370 later i may wanna stick with the 3.73's as the 370 will spool the tc78 very fast and won't need the gear like the 5.3 with the same turbo.

seems to me that with the setup i have now the 4.10's will work real nice. but later when i do build the motor i will want to go back to the 3.73's

 

I think the fact that your 4wd also is a big key to your equation! 4.10's might work for you, only one way to find out! My set-up is long gone but it was a 366ci motor, when I had the 4.10's I had a 3200 converter which I quickly replaced and swapped to a 2600 and that allowed me to remain in my set powerband a little longer. After that I went back down to 3.73's and that really helped me not shift through all the gears so fast.

 

get that AWD back together and take some of the stress off of your rear IMO, then go 4.10

 

and add stress to my front end. lol
There are little pits and pieces missing in my bearings and ring/pinion on my front end. when i get that fixed then we'll see about it. but at the same time it would just spin anyway. well not with the SSS case..... either way i'm going with the 14bolt i'm done ******* around with the pos 10bolt.

 

my 3200 acts like a 2600 or so until boost come on. my gears seem like they take forever to shift. lol