2003 E350 Rear Gear Change
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5th Wheeling
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 44
Likes: 6
2003 E350 Rear Gear Change
I just made my first trip with the new (to me) van towing the 8000# race car trailer. The V-10 pulled very well, and towed about as well as my old F250 did with the diesel before I chipped it.
However, my van has the 3.55 ratio and I think the engine would be much happier with a little more gear...a 4.10 would make cruising at 75mph a lot nicer.
So, to my questions:
-How do I identify the rear end? Will the door code tell me, or do I need the info from the tag underneath?
-Where do I find gears?
-Is there anything needed for speedomeer correction?
-Any other gotchas?
Thanks,
DaveW
However, my van has the 3.55 ratio and I think the engine would be much happier with a little more gear...a 4.10 would make cruising at 75mph a lot nicer.
So, to my questions:
-How do I identify the rear end? Will the door code tell me, or do I need the info from the tag underneath?
-Where do I find gears?
-Is there anything needed for speedomeer correction?
-Any other gotchas?
Thanks,
DaveW
New User
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
I believe the information is on the back side of the differential as to ratio. The mech. that did my work ordered the parts from dana. The bearings were also fried which was the reason we did the work in the first place. He could only get the bearings from ford, no one else can make them yet, so they made the price of the project go up. Total price, including the reprograming for speedo, $1,200.
Lead Driver
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 5,018
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From: Maryville
I so want to do the same, the EXT E-350's have 3.50 gears, the tag bolted on the pan will tell you, that's where I found mine. I have the Microtuner, so if I can ever afford gears ECM adjustment will be no problems. I think you'd be better off locating an entire rear end with gears of your choice then getting them changed, many do. I can't hold od doing 75 empty, and in town driving is murder since I have it set to hold gears too.
Wouldn't 3.73's be good, 4.10's could be too low?
Wouldn't 3.73's be good, 4.10's could be too low?
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5th Wheeling
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 44
Likes: 6
I was hoping to order the gears myself. I have a buddy at a shop who can change them for me...I hope bearings aren't a problem since the van only has 27,000 miles. I'd hate to find a dogged out junkyard rear end and have trouble with it later...if I went that route, I'd get one of any ratio and rebuild it on the bench before swapping.
The 4.10's will be perfect for me while towing. Probably too much for empty use, but my van is essentially permanently attached to the trailer.
Maples01 - I gather from your post that the van tuner allows gear changes? I wasn't sure since Superchips is kind of vague on what options work on what vehicles and the tuner covers so many.
Thanks,
DaveW
The 4.10's will be perfect for me while towing. Probably too much for empty use, but my van is essentially permanently attached to the trailer.
Maples01 - I gather from your post that the van tuner allows gear changes? I wasn't sure since Superchips is kind of vague on what options work on what vehicles and the tuner covers so many.
Thanks,
DaveW
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Joined: Jan 2005
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Our trailor is a 30ft toyhauler and weighs 7000 lbs. dry. Plus is pushes a lot of air. I found with the 3.73 pulling in o/d was only possible if the road was perfectly flat with no headwind. I was getting around 7 mpg out of o/d. In o/d, without cruise and varying the speed at times to keep it in o/d, we got 7.5 mpg. We don't usually pull faster than 65 mph. Most of our time in the van is towing, so I was trying to get gearing to fine tune our rig. We plan a trip to the Keys next week so I will have some mpg averages to see if the change was a good one. I did run one tank, without pulling, city/highway miles and got 13.5 mpg and that's only 1 mpg less than the best ever. I think I would notice the higher rpms if I drove 75 mph but since we don't I really like the way the 4.10 feels. Our bearings started making noise at around 53,000 miles and at 60,000 it was time to get work done. My mechanic said he only sees bearings that looked as bad as ours in vechicle that towed over 100,000 miles or more. He suggested that I change the gear oil every 30,000 miles from now on. Will do! Hope any of my experiance can help anyone else.
Last edited by Ehauler; Mar 22, 2005 at 02:25 PM.
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Lead Driver
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 5,018
Likes: 132
From: Maryville
The tuner allows you to adjust for tire size and gear swaps, you just key them in, the key program in it adjusts gear changes and really adds the power, they even have them setup now with 87 octain settings.You guys may want to give one a shot, I noticed a big change in towing ability, I had to take a Mustang on a car trailer about 600 miles through the hills of TN and NC shortly after adding the tuner, towing speed increased and gear searching decreased.
I wasn't talking about the masses swapping in junkyard rears, these guys are ordering and adding new ones, cheaper than building the one they have, simply put the old ones on ebay. I want a dually axle, I can't stand how the rear on these vans tracks inside of the front, I hear it makes the big ones like mine tippy.
I wasn't talking about the masses swapping in junkyard rears, these guys are ordering and adding new ones, cheaper than building the one they have, simply put the old ones on ebay. I want a dually axle, I can't stand how the rear on these vans tracks inside of the front, I hear it makes the big ones like mine tippy.
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Originally Posted by maples01
I want a dually axle, I can't stand how the rear on these vans tracks inside of the front, I hear it makes the big ones like mine tippy.
Senior User
Joined: Jun 2003
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From: Pella, IA
My '97 E-350 Club Wagon V10 has the 4.10 and I like it. The gas mileage isn't great - the best I've ever seen was about 15mpg on the highway - but it pulls really nice and you won't notice the higher RPM's on the highway. I'd recommed it.
