gears for 4x4 5 speed
 

considering the vast majority of threads i find involve automatic trucks, i'd like to get some opinions from guys who drive sticks & have regeared. i get that the principles are the same, but we're essentially in lockup 98% of the time

mine's a 4x4 '99 RCSB 1/2 ton with a 5.3 / 5 speed & 3.73s
engine's only got headers, CAI, & tune - cam will eventually get thrown in (something 216/224 -ish).

with the 265/75-16s i had before, it was right in the sweet spot for torque vs highway mileage. now that i've got some 8ply 33s that weigh 20lb more each, it really feels like a dog. the 4.02 1st gear is actually useful now, but it's definitely more of a slug in every other gear... especially when i occasionally pull my car (5000lb car/trailer combo). i'd say my driving is about 50/50 - mostly interstate for my drive to work, but everywhere else i go is in town.

that said, i've been looking at 4.30s to get a little better gearing than stock 245s with 3.90s. Motive seems to be the only ones offering them & are thus a little more expensive. 4.10s don't seem like enough of a difference to justify the change, but 4.56s might be a bit much for all the highway driving i do.

thoughts/suggestions?

What mph do you normally cruse on the hw, and what are your rpms at the speed with the 3.73s and wheels?

4:10s are definetly a difference on the highway, to do 70-75 the engine is at 2500 rpm, this is pretty close with both my trucks, one has 285s the other 265s, I wish I had a 5th gear (4l80e) but I dont do highway much so i shouldnt complain

i used to average 70 on the interstate (and just doing the simple math, is about 1950rpm)
since i moved about 2500' higher in elevation with constant 30+mph winds, i started driving 60 (1675rpm) - mainly for the 2mpg difference (that & the limits up here are only 65... which everybody else seems afraid to get up to anyway). 4.30s only turn 15% higher, so i'd be cruising around 1930rpm@60 & 2250rpm@70 when i move back south.

my 5th gear is roughly the same as your 4th: .73 vs .75 (or .70 for 4L60e). also with your turbo, you'd benefit from slightly higher gears like a 3.73 to load it up a little more. i'm looking at a medium-sized cam on a N/A setup, too, which also factors into my choice.

I was getting 19 with boltons 275/55/20 and now I get 22-23 with 210/218 .584/.584 116 Lsa I have 3.42s though....great for mpg terrible for digs haha

If you are cruising around 60-70 I'd say go with the 4.30s, but if you were doing more 75-80 I would stick with the 3.73s

Are you changing the gears yourself or paying a shop?

yeah, i'm gonna have a shop go at this one because i ain't got the time or tools to get it all lined up/measured/shimmed right

Oh that makes the decision tougher ha. If you were doing it, then if you decided the 4.30s were to much just spend $150 plus your time to put the 4.10s in.

The 4.10s might not be enough of a difference and the 4.30s might be to much lol I'm in the same boat, I have a set of 4.10s lying around, but love the highway rpms of my 3.42s, and I'm scared of not properly lining them up and hate to spend $500 for the shop to do it.

Well to be honest Ive driven the truck on the highway once with the turbo and that was on the way home from it getting tuned so I was pussy footing...

But But what I was saying is I thought at least with 4:10s your mileage will go down cause you got to rev the engine up more, like when I let off the gas turning 2500 rpm I get engine braking lol

I wonder if it would be cheaper to buy a front diff and a rear end with 4:10s then buy new gears and pay for a shop to put them in, and if you dont like them you can easily change it back

glad you reminded me of that because i'd considered it a while back & forgot. thing is... i'd either have to find one with a truetrac already in or still pay somebody to put in the one i just bought.

either way, it's still hard to justify this much trouble for such a small gear change as 3.73 -> 4.10

I just installed 5.13 on my 285's LOL (going to 35" soon)

My 3.73 was ass to drive on hwy as speed limit is 65 here. I would always drive in 3rd gear to get my RPMs up to around 2,000 on HWY as my cam hates me under 2500. I would at the very least get 4.56's, Maybe mileage is a big concern to you tho. Shit Im hoping to get better mileage with my 5.13 as I was only getting 10MPG with the 3.73.

Cam Motion Cam 222/230 112+3