Gearing help

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Jun 25, 2012 | 09:33 PM

roostercrows

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Laughing Gas

Joined: Aug 2005

Posts: 831

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From: Port Elgin, On

Gearing help

Hey guys my dad has a 1997 F350 drw, cc, lb 7.3 and the gearing in it is 4.11. He is not happy with the mileage that he is getting and was wondering if going to a higher gear ratio would help any with fuel consuption and be cost effective. Thanks for any input.

James

Jun 25, 2012 | 11:00 PM

BigAlsPSD

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Joined: May 2009

Posts: 5,470

Likes: 3

From: Pea Ridge, AR

2WD or 4? Just because double the cost. Gears can be had pretty cheap, but figure around $1k if you are having it done per axle.

To be cost effective you would have to make up the difference in MPG's to justify. Obviously if you aren't concerned about anything except mileage you could go extremely high gearing but couldn't pull much and maybe not ever get anywhere lol.

Jun 26, 2012 | 05:05 AM

roostercrows

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Laughing Gas

Joined: Aug 2005

Posts: 831

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From: Port Elgin, On

I'm sorry, that is the info I forgot, 2wd, he is going for mileage but he does tow with it, mostly trailers under 9k.

Jun 26, 2012 | 06:47 AM

Tugly

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Joined: Jan 2011

Posts: 18,849

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From: Puget Sound

My stock 4X4 gearing of 3.73 gets me as low as 16 city in the winter and as high as 20 on the open road with summer fuel if I keep the RPMs below 2000. The CC DRW is heavier than mine with more road friction, so the mileage would be a bit lower - but keeping those revs below 2000 on the highway make a big difference. There are attachments available for the output of the transmission to alter the gearing ratio as well, but they are expensive. This attachment also changes the steps on the gearing to keep the shifts closer and leave the RPMs in the torque band. This would help with economy while towing.

I'm sorry, I had a link to these long ago, but I'd have to start over with a whole new search.