Thinking of regearing for towing performance, need opinions please
 

So I have some time while I'm sitting over here in the sandbox to think about what I want to do to my truck when I get home. Adam (Farmb0y) will be glad to hear I am finally planning to go with an actual turbo-back exhaust instead of just my straight-pipe. :-X04

The other thing I am seriously considering is regearing. I have mentioned this in a few threads, but don't think I have started a dedicated thread for it and need some real help and insight for my setup.

So, my truck sits on 285's, or 33" rubber. I have the stock 3.73 gears. I have seen all the calculators out there on the web, but what I'm really looking for is real-world experiences, costs vs. gains, etc....

I think 4.10 gears will get me to the RPM range I am looking for, but I have read a lot of opinions on the web which say that it is reccomended to skip a gearing step to have a noticeable difference. So, my question is 4.10 or 4.30? Or there's the opinion of not regearing at all and using tuning/other performance mods to get the added towing power I'm after?

My truck spends most of it's time towing my ~14,000lb 5th wheel, so I am not overly concerned about unloaded fuel mileage. I would like to be able to run 65-70mph while towing and be closer to the trucks optimal power band than I currently am (1700-2000 RPM).

Thanks for the input!

I'm interested to hear the responses.

Hey Bob have you looked into the Gear Vender & I saw something were US Gear has a deal out to compete with the Gear Vender ?

Good luck with your search & stay safe over there

Hey Bob, are you looking for more grunt to get you going, or just an overall increase in RPM? when I had my 97 1 ton, I was running 4.10s and 33in 19.5s. I wanted to go to 4.30s but they weren't available for the 10.25 ford axle. so I went with 4.56 gears. Lots more power to get moving, but it was just a little too much for daily driving. I think the 4.30s would be a nice compromise.
Cj, is the US Gear news something new? I have the US gear dual range OD now. they stopped production and support on it back in 08-09. I had the GV unit on my 97. they are very sensitive to maintenance and there are several things you can't do, like use an exhaust brake, or gear down to slow down while the GV unit is enguaged. its kinda fragile. I would love to see US gear bring back the Dual Range.

Barney

Barney I believe the US Gear OD you have is the one I was thinking of. When I was looking into it it was a few years ago, so I'm sure that's it & I didn't know they stopped production....I thought it was a good set up when I was looking.

Sorry Bob I didn't know US Gear had stopped production :-X19

My understanding was that US Gear was bought out and that the new owner decided they have so much work to do with the military contracts that they don't even care about the civilian side of things. I guess they just pitched all the dual range plans, blueprints and any parts that were left. I was lucky enough to find a guy in TX that wanted to sell his and I bought it just for spare parts
Barney

I would steer clear of 4.30's with 33" tires if I were you. I think you would be happy with 4.10's. I have 4.30's and at 65mph I'm doing 2000 rpm's with 36.8" tire's.

1700-2000 rpm at 65-70 is with the O/D on. You shouldn't tow with O/D. Turn it off and you will have the higher rpms you are looking for.

Thanks for all the responses guys. Towing with OD off is not an option and also not necesary. In 3rd gear the RPMs are perfect between 55-60mph, but I'm not going to drive that slow on the interstate.

So, Barney, based on what Jeff is running, do you think 4.30 would be too much? Anyone else out there with real-world experience?

What have you guys found is the most cost-effective way to do a gear swap? I think I read somewhere that someone reccomended finding axles at a junkyard with the gears I want already in them. I would think that would be very hard to find since I'm fairly certain the SRW trucks weren't offered with anything other than 3.73.

Look at axles from the gas powered trucks! That's how I scored my 4.30's. I picked up the rear on CL for $200. Here's a few by me, I know there not the gear ratio you are looking for, but I just posted them as an example.

ford truck 10.5" rear axle

F250 rear end

This one is in Charlotte

2003 250super duty ford 4x4 parts

And here's a good deal on a 6.0 IC!

http://charlotte.craigslist.org/pts/2615367771.html

Awesome, thanks Jeff! I didn't realize the gas models had the lower gear ratios. Should I go for a full axle swap, or just swap the ring and pinion?

I swapped the axle out completely, I'm pretty handy with a wrench, but want nothing to do with setting up gears. I want to rebuild my stock axle when I save up for my tru trac.

Also keep in mind, you have a D60 front axle, If you find a complete set of axles, make sure it's off a 2002 or later. I would just have the gears done in the front, people want a pretty penny for D60 front ends around here.

That is a good deal on a 6.0 cooler! I wish I was back home right now so I could scoop it up:-X15

Is the front axle on the gassers a D60?

I see you have gauges, so stock tires with a dptuner, doubt you would ever look back. Save you a lot of money also.