I have got one quick question for you all. I currently have a 1996 F150 2wd eddie bauer edition with a 300 Inline and a 5 speed trans. As you all probably already know, this is avery low end truck. I am looking to make it into more of a road vehicle. I am looking for a good highway truck but I dont want to lose any take off power. I do not know what kind of gears I have got in the rear end (stock) and I dont know what ratio to go to. Is this problem in my rear end or could it be the trans. be low geared? Anyone ever have this same problem or have any ideas on what I should do please email me at derekj39(No Email Addresses In Posts!)

Thanks Derek

 

Read this page and don't post your e-mail to any BBS - bots will pick it up & spam you for the rest of your life.

 

Well, since your rig is going on 7 years young, I would have your mechanic install the next higher gear for the tranny, OR you can pruchase an aftermarket overdrive from Advance Adapter and install it yourself. Either way, it'll cost you some buck's. Good luck...

 

Don't touch the transmission. The 300 needs to be around 2k at highway speed for optimal power. I don't really understand what it is that you want to do.

 

Let's start with basics. On your door jamb there's a vehicle ID sticker. At the bottom of that sticker is an "axle" code, consisting of 2 numbers or a letter and a number. Please post it. Then we'll know what you have for a ratio now.

 

Come-on MustangGT221! Why not change the 5th gear for a bit more O.D.? I would suggest the rear, but bottomofa5th wants to keep the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th gears for drivability in the city and burbs. You know, once he changes the rear ratio, he'll be messing with the speedo, anti lock sensors, etc.. would you agree that maybe a taller tire would help him out as an alternative to gearing? Like 29" or 30" ? 2k is such a low rpm at that for a 5 spd.. Wanting better highway fuel mileage would increase, but at 2k rpms, the pep would be non-existant.

 

Scooter,
Where exactly are you going to get a different 5th gearset for an M5OD? AFAIK they're not available. If they were they'd be very expensive since you'd need to replace the output shaft. You have a source?

 

...and I don't understand what he meant by "low-end truck", either. The Eddie Bauer trim level is as "high-end" as you can get, and even my 3-ton conglomeration of mismatched parts can heave itself up to 90mph with no OD.

 

He can get one out of an F250, and if I'm not mistaken, the gear should be able to be removed with a press. FORD may make some cheap parts for their import models, but not on their trucks! They knew ahead of time that there would be guys like us out there, lifting and racing our rigs. Breakage does happen (to me), and I got mine from an F250. My output shaft was a bit worn, so I had the guy install it whole. The F250 has taller gears 1-4, but 5th is 12.5% lower. My rpms at 60 mph are 2550 and I'm getting 26 mpg. Not bad. I wasn't sure if bottomofa5th, was going to be interested in doing the swap or I'd have mentioned it. My next project will be installing the 2-speed manual O.D. from Advance Adapters. See you later....

 

Aren't you talking about the ZF S5-42? It's available in a wide-ratio variant for heavy trucks, but his F-150 almost certainly has the Mazda M5OD-R2.

 

The F250 uses a ZF tranny not the Mazda M5OD used in the F150. You're not just swapping gears, you're swapping the entire tranny.

Gear ratios are 5.72/2.94/1.61/1.00/0.76 for the ZF
and 3.90/2.25/1.50/1.00/0.80 for the M5OD. That's only a 5% difference in OD, about a 100-150 RPM difference at highway speeds, hardly enough to justify making a tranny change. Given the wider ratios in the lower gears and the much steeper 1st gear ratio, you could change the rear axle ratio along with the tranny to pick up some highway economy, but the tranny isn't going to do it alone.

BTW changing the gears on a 96 does not affect the speedo, odo or rear anti-lock functions. Changing tire size affects all 3 unless you re-calibrate the PSOM.

 

The I-6 is a motor that has all of it's power down low. It makes the most torque at 2k RPM, and the most HP at 3400 rpm. After about 3700 rpm the torque/hp curve just drops right off. You don't want low gearing in an I-6. You should be doing approx. 2K at 60 mph and about 2300-2400 at 75 mph for a good gearing to engine mix. Changing gears won't take away from the driveability of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th gear.

You have to give us a better description of what you want to do and we need to know what gears you have in there already. You want to be around 2k rpm on the highway, trust me I owned a 95. Also, if you change the gear for the OD, the difference between 4th and 5th will be too wide. For a 2wd, it costs $270 for parts plus whatever labor, much cheaper than tires.

 

I may have gotten @%*$$$$. I went to a (GOOD) shop recommended by a "friend". Yhis guy sure talked agood game. I thought it may have been a deal, but I'm going back TODAY with this forum Printed up and see what he's got to say. Thanks guy's. Sorry to drag this one out so long. I'll let you all know what the deal is. Thanks again....

 

If you have a ZF, you have no reason to complain. It's a MUCH stronger and more desirable transmission than the Mazda.

 

In the mazda tranny you can go like 35 mph in 1st gear at 5k rpm. I don't know what the ZF's is but I bet it's like 10mph, that's the easiest way to tell.