Thread: new gear ratio?

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We have all gotten used to cruising rpms down in the 2000 range but for short periods the 4.11s aren't that bad, depending on the tire height. Back in the muscle car days we drove the crap out of 4.11s and 4.56s, probably not much at 80 on the freeway I suppose. I had a 66 Olds 442 with a 4 speed and 4.33s and it got down the road just fine, original engine made it well over 100,000 miles.

By todays standards 4:10's are pretty deep, but as mentioned, tire height has a lot to do with how drivable your truck will be. Like Willowbilly3, lots of us have driven around regularly on gears in the 4:56 and 4:88 range. I even ran some 5:13's in a 64 Chevy (briefly) for a while. With 30 in tall M&H slicks you knew some gears were back there, but I still drove around that way. My one GTO came stock with 3:90's with 4:33 as an option, and those were on short redline tires.

We won't talk about gas mileage though.

Don

Your best bet would be to find and rebuild a 4L80E out of a GM pickup so you could still run an overdrive. I doubt you would tear up a properly built 4L80E. IMO, it would be better than a Gear Vendors overdrive unit behind a TH400.

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

By todays standards 4:10's are pretty deep, but as mentioned, tire height has a lot to do with how drivable your truck will be. Like Willowbilly3, lots of us have driven around regularly on gears in the 4:56 and 4:88 range. I even ran some 5:13's in a 64 Chevy (briefly) for a while. With 30 in tall M&H slicks you knew some gears were back there, but I still drove around that way. My one GTO came stock with 3:90's with 4:33 as an option, and those were on short redline tires.

We won't talk about gas mileage though.

Don

The 442 I mentioned got 15+ on the trip back from Colorado to S.D. when I brought it home. I also drove some 5.13 in a daily driver for a couple years. It was a 57 F350 dually with a 312 and it could pull a house. 65 was about tops on cruising speed. It got about 12 out on the road.