alright after much debate ive been thinkin about saying screw it with adding stuff to my engine. i dont wanna mess with anything so im going to leave her stock. its efficient the way it sits. however i do wanna bring her alive a bit more so im going to do an gear swap. i have a M5R2 so im thinking of 3.73 or 4.10s. can anyone chime in on as to which is better. this is for my 88 in my sig. gas mileage isnt an issue. if i cared about gas i wouldve wussed out and got a prius.....

 

Since gas milage is not an issue, 4.10s would be my choice if not 4.56

 

alrighty then. just to see what i could get, how much would my mpg change? running 31s. i was leaning towards 4.10s too

 

4wd? You could loose as much as 5mpg or even gain

 

yeah 4wd. well i guess i better get that rear tank workin soon :P

 

Have you gotten prices for regearing the front and the rear axles?
You are looking at a Minimum of $1000

 

I can agree here, OP here is gonna be doing front and rear axles to get them both geared correctly. If it was 2wd it would be a fair bit cheaper to have done.

 

i was told about 1000 per axle maybe a little more......

 

also if my gear ratio now is a 3.55 does that mean i have the 8.8 axle? lookin for the gear stuff myself. i think im ganna do it myself since the town shop will do the hard stuff like pressing in anything or cutting. also since i wont be running anything bigger than 31s (not into top heavy trucks in the mountains) i think im ganna go with 3.73s. what brand would be best to go with?

 

Since you have an F-150 it's most likely an 8.8" (although I'm really not sure if it might have been a 9" in '88). As far as the 3.55 gears, that could be in anything.

In my opinion 3.73 gears aren't a big enough change to be worth it. Unless you really want to optimize your driving experience at any cost, it won't be much better (or worse) than 3.55 gears at anything. If you don't think 4.10s would be an improvement I'd stick with the 3.55s. But it's your truck and your money, so my opinion isn't worth much here.

As far as doing it yourself, it isn't rocket science, but it is one of those "if you have to ask you can't" sort of things. If you know you can look up instructions and specs (likely in several places to try to verify you're not getting them from one idiot) and are willing to invest in the special tools required, and if you know you are incredibly patient to be able to go through the iterative process of setting the gears up, checking to see if they're right, and then starting over because they aren't right yet, then by all means, go for it.

And I'm serious about that. Setting up gears isn't for everyone, but it might be for you. So if you're sure you can do it, great, do it. But if you just think you can because you can torque a head down correctly, then think about it a little more first.

 

I went the other way in a diesel. It had 4.11 and I went to 3.55. MPG went from 17 to 20.5. Highway noise went down. Trying to move my 12K back-hoe on a 6800 lb trailer, on a hill is impossible w/o using the low range in the transfer case. I don't know how this equates to a 1/2 ton with tall tires, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

If you want to BEEF up your truck I have a set of 4.56 axles from a Dodge 350. Dana 60 front and 70 rear. Rear is set up for a dually. A little bit of torch time and they will go under your 1/2 ton. $1000 for the set!!

 

Yes it can be that much depending on the area.


I would SERIOUSLY rethink that. There is a reason shops charge so much. They do NOT just bolt in. They must be shimmed correctly, preload done and set up. Do it wrong and you will wreck your new $200+ gear set.

Also going from 3.73 to 3.55 would be pointless. You would not even notice a difference

 

after checking the cost between doing it myself or going with a shop i think im just ganna stick with the stock gears if its not going to be that big of an improvement then i dont wanna spend that kind of cash on it. i have taken everyones input and decided to stick with my 3.55s. maybe if i ever decide to do a 351 or 460 swap then i will change gears. but i do appreciate everything thats been said. also if i do ever do it then i will be taking it to a shop. better to have it done right than to screw it up and regret it

 

Where are ya, I'll give ya a 351 rebuildable core if you buy the axle set!!

 

for 2k you should just put a 351 in....better yet a 408.