4wd axle compatibility
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Joined: Jan 2017
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4wd axle compatibility
I read before that gear ratios in the front and rear axles need to match. Is this true? Also is it acceptable to have any combination of non-LS and LS differentials in the front and rear or do they need to be the same as each other also?
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Lead Driver
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 5,006
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From: Roseville, MN
Very important that the gear ratios in the front and rear axles are very close. Being off by a hundredth or two (like 4.09 & 4.11 or 3.54 and 3.55) won't matter. But if you have something like 3.55 in the front and 3.73 in the rear (or worse) you will be scrubbing / skidding tires whenever you are in 4WD. It will make the truck very hard to control, wear the tires really fast, give terrible mileage and possibly break things like U-joints.
It's also important to have the same size tires on both axles.
Type of differential doesn't matter.
It's also important to have the same size tires on both axles.
Type of differential doesn't matter.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 908
Likes: 119
What he said about matching the gear ratio front and rear. Up to ~1% mismatch is ok. You'll see slightly mismatched gears paired together from the factory, e.g 3.55/3.54, 3.08/3.05 and so on.
Technically you don't have to match the gears as long as the tire size and gears both match so you could run small tires and tall gears up front and big tires and deep gears out back as long as it all matched up to the same ratio.
You can have any combination but if you want to attract the least intelligent, least experienced and most opinionated people on the forum you should start a debate about the pros and cons of the various configurations for street use, throw in something about snow for good measure
Technically you don't have to match the gears as long as the tire size and gears both match so you could run small tires and tall gears up front and big tires and deep gears out back as long as it all matched up to the same ratio.
You can have any combination but if you want to attract the least intelligent, least experienced and most opinionated people on the forum you should start a debate about the pros and cons of the various configurations for street use, throw in something about snow for good measure
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