New Gears
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Joined: Sep 2013
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From: Linden, MI
New Gears
I have been patiently holding off on getting new gears in my Ex until I got new tires. Well the new tires are on so I started researching for new gears. I came across a lot of good info and opinions in my search, especially the 4lo gear calculator. It seems though that more of the gearing changes have been done to Ex's with V10's than the one's with the 6.0PSD. I only want to do this once so I want to ask your opinions on which gear ratio you would choose.
Here is what I have. 2005 Ex, 6.0 PSD, original 3.73 gears. New tires are 295/70/18 (overall diameter of 34.3"). This truck is my wife's daily driver and we pull an 8,000lb travel trailer about 10 times a year. One of those trips is usually longer, around 3000 miles round trip. With the old tires 305/55/20 the trans was never hunting for gears while pulling our trailer in the mountains of Tennesee.
Based on the 4lo calculator a 4.10 gear will put me back to an effective ratio of 3.73. I am not sure if a 4.30 ration is too much. I think the 4.10 will be fine for my needs but again I only want to do this once.
Here is what I have. 2005 Ex, 6.0 PSD, original 3.73 gears. New tires are 295/70/18 (overall diameter of 34.3"). This truck is my wife's daily driver and we pull an 8,000lb travel trailer about 10 times a year. One of those trips is usually longer, around 3000 miles round trip. With the old tires 305/55/20 the trans was never hunting for gears while pulling our trailer in the mountains of Tennesee.
Based on the 4lo calculator a 4.10 gear will put me back to an effective ratio of 3.73. I am not sure if a 4.30 ration is too much. I think the 4.10 will be fine for my needs but again I only want to do this once.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 1,715
Likes: 60
From: Central NH
I'm in a similar position, so I will offer up an opinion. My Ex is 7.3 powered, has 295/75-16s.... about 34", and I currently tow a 6500lb TT and a 7000lb dump trailer. We are considering getting a larger TT next year, probably somewhere between 8500 and 10,000lbs.
Though I feel my Excursion tows our current TT just fine as-is, I do find that it does hunt between 3rd gear and OD a little too often for my liking.
I also used an online calculator and found that swapping in 4.30 gears will bring my overall ratio very close to 4.10. This is where I want to be in the end. For me, I couldn't justify the expense of a gear swap to go to the next ratio.
For the sake of comparison, I also have a 7.3 powered F350 with 4.10 gears. Even though it has less HP than my Excursion, it feels as though it tows more effortlessly because of the gear ratio.
For me, I'm not concerned if I take a slight hit on highway, non-trailering MPG. I'd rather have the easier towing.
My advice..... go with4.30s
Though I feel my Excursion tows our current TT just fine as-is, I do find that it does hunt between 3rd gear and OD a little too often for my liking.
I also used an online calculator and found that swapping in 4.30 gears will bring my overall ratio very close to 4.10. This is where I want to be in the end. For me, I couldn't justify the expense of a gear swap to go to the next ratio.
For the sake of comparison, I also have a 7.3 powered F350 with 4.10 gears. Even though it has less HP than my Excursion, it feels as though it tows more effortlessly because of the gear ratio.
For me, I'm not concerned if I take a slight hit on highway, non-trailering MPG. I'd rather have the easier towing.
My advice..... go with4.30s
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Sep 15, 2015 10:47 AM
