Gears, Gears, Gears
 

Hey guys. I am definitely wanting to do a gear swap on my truck in the near future. I browsed the internet and found a set by USA Standard. I was going to go with Yukon, but I will save near $600 using USA Standard. Anyways, there is no 4.30s in the USAs. The next step up is a 4.56.

My truck is my daily driver. I will rarely take it on the interstate but its not 100% ruled out. If I go on a camping trip, the use of interstates could happen, so I need a short enough gear to keep it from screaming down the interstate (if I chose to) and tall enough to keep the engine happen on the highway. If need be, I could always avoid interstates (a better option anyways!). With that being said, are the 4.56s ok? How about 4.88s?

Also, my camper is a 25' 5th wheel. It weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 8500 lbs. Not small, not large. The gears will be a little for the camper, and a lot for the fun!

In my opinion 4.30 gear ratio is the sweet spot for this drive train. On the hwy at 70mph your engine will be in the upper 2000rpm range. That is where the v10 is happy. Your mileage should not vary much at all, but the hunting for gears in the tranny will be greatly reduced. There are a multitude of owners on this site that have done the swap or already have them from factory and are pleased with the 4.30. When I get mine paid off, a set of 4.30 gears will be the first thing I do. I have 3.73 now and it hunts for gears when towing on the hwy.

my '09 is lifted on 37's, and has stock 4.10's. I'm planning to swap to 4.88's. are you running larger tires?

Not currently. Iv got a set of stock size Toyos with plenty of tread. When it comes time for new tires, I will probably step up the size to either a 295/70 (34" I believe) or a 35". Im a fan of the Nitto Trail Grapplers!

But of course after dropping a grand into gears, I wont have enough left over to blow $1200+ on tires, so they will be done a ways apart.

If you are even considering the larger 35" tires in the future I would go with the 4.88 gears, thats what I did on my V-10 EX. If you run it all through one of the online gear/tire calculators it shows that 35"s with 4.88s nets an effective ratio of 4.39, pretty close to the sweet spot factory 4.30s.
We tow a 31' ToyHauler that weighs 9500lbs. Every year we take a Spring break vacation with and head South from Philly on I-95, destinations have included various locations in NC and SC, three of these trips over the same route (mostly) with the stock 3.73s gave us between 6.8 and 7.6 MPG. I tow between 57 and 63 MPH. This past Spring we went to Savannah GA, following the same route again, just a little bit farther, the only changes were a set of Banks headers and 4.88 gears (still running the same 32" tires as before). Towing the same trailer at the same speeds we got 9.0 MPG, the EX did not drop out of OD a single time while on the highway over the entire trip, in the past it would drop down a gear on any upgrade.
This Spring I'll be heading South again but his time with 35" tires and a new trailer thats about 500lbs heavier and 9' longer, I hope to still have improved MPGs over the original setup.
I don't do a lot of solo driving in the Ex but from what I can tell it lost about 1.5 MPG highway with the 4.88 gears and the 32" tires. Around town I don't know, it's too hard to not hot rod it a little, the gears really woke it up off the line!

What speeds do you run on your "daily" route ?
If you are rarely exceeding 50mph or so: I say go crazy!

My wife got fake boobs and was glad she went bigger instead of being conservative. I am too of course. She looks like a bikini model. We know other women who made more modest choices with their implants and they ALL have regrets.

And I could have been conservative and gotten a V8 van, but I'm glad I got the V10.

I could have saved some money and gotten a smaller trailer for my racecar, but I got the 24' with V nose and upgraded frame and axles. I sleep better at night.

My point is: I think you're better off getting the crazy gears and enjoying them. Easier to avoid highways than to "wish you had more gear." I.e.: "wish you had spent your $1,000 differently"...

My drive consist of approx. 75% highway... But its only 8 miles to work, so 75% of 8 is about 5 miles worth of highway. Im only getting 10 mpgs to start with so if I lose 1.5 mpgs dropping the gears way down low, I wont be able to afford to drive the dern thing lol.

So far Iv got "Stick with 4.30s" and "Go wild! 4.88s". Maybe I should just meet in the middle and do the 4.56s lol

Ugh, even 5 miles of twice-daily highway speeds at 3,800rpm is a bad situation... Beyond just the fuel economy...

Maybe you should do the calculations before you buy your gears.

4.56 and 34-35 inch wouldnt be bad and maybe cheaper than 4.30s for a dd, but i can definitely understand the "go big or go home" train of thought :)

I'm pretty happy with the all around performance of my 4.30s with stock tires, and was pleasantly surprised when it calculated 14 and change on the last fill up after a mix of highway , freeway, and a little bit of town driving.

3800 RPMs! Yikes, how fast do you drive on the highway!? I don't have my notebook with me currently but with my 4.88s and the old 32" tires I wasn't anywhere near that high of RPMs at 65 MPH. :-wink

^^^ I was thinking the same thing? If going from 3.73s to 4.30s only raises your rpms a few hundred RPM, then going to 4.88s would raises it MAYBE 1000 RPMs. Im only turn something like 1800 rpm now. Ill see if an online calculator will give the true answer lol. I don't usually have luck with them though...

Drumroll please! If my t-case has a final drive ratio of 1:1 (which Im sure it does) and drop the rear end ratio to a 4.88 with my stock 32" tires at 65 mph, I will be turning 2365 rpms.

If this calculator is right, then Id have to go 105 mph to turn 3800 rpms

If that's right, Iv got a ton of RPMs left, even with the 4.88s. I may take the truck for a test drive and see what 2365 rpms sound like

I was guessing and exaggerating. :)
There's so many variables: tire size, transmission ratios, rear end ratios- my point was that it could get ugly in a worst case scenario.

I drove my buddy's 2000 excursion V10 for a couple weeks and it was 2,600 rpm at 70-75mph with stock tires and drivetrain.

You'll find lots of people on this V10 forum saying "the V10 likes to sing"... Etc., and they're correct to a degree, but there's just something wrong with slinging 10 pistons and con rods and a 100lb crankshaft at 2,500rpm on any regular basis.

It's your deal: I'm just thinking outside the box. I drive my V10 100-250 miles per day- maybe we have different desires/values.

Also I'm rather skeptical of your results for the online calculator: again- if I'm wrong them I'm wrong, but 4.88 final drive would require either a very steep Overdive ratio, or some mighty large tires in order to achieve 2,365rpm at 65mph. What's your truck have?

The final drive ratio on a 4R100 is .71, my tire size is a stock 32", and currently 3.73s.

Ill check a different calculator and see how close the results are. I "currently" drive approximately 16 miles a day if I don't go to town for anything. But coming up in February, Ill be working 2 jobs, so that number will double.

I also agree, that number does seem pretty low

Randys Ring and Pinion gave me the exact same results:

4.88 gears, 65 mph, 32" tire, .71 final drive = 2365 rpms