Any thought on gears?

[BlackSTX]

After having had my tunes for a while now, and having adjusted to the performance of the truck, I now want more acceleration. Sure, like many of you I'd prefer to add some power adders, but a supercharger for a truck with a 4.6L in it isn't easy to find, or really in the budget; so I'm left with the idea of swapping the gears.
I currently have 3.55's and the stock size tires but am considering something in the range of 4.10 to 4.56. Have any of you swapped into this range, and how has it helped?
I don't do much highway driving so any mileage loss isn't really an issue to me; I'm more interested in acceleration and responsiveness.

Give me some ideas, I've posted this elsewhere a while back, but the bench racers there gave me ratios a bit too extreme, and I'm looking to be realistic and streetable. After all, this is my daily driver, not a weekend warrior.

[88Racing]

This a tough one!
You are not pulling anything big(load wise) or not putting bigger tires on. The bigger the ratio the more the economy is sacrificed.
My gut is telling me 3.73's.
My brain is telling me 4.10's.
Tell you what plug your numbers into the pegasus gear calcultor and see what that comes up with.
Just some thoughts.
JMHO
Lars

[BlackSTX]

Yeah, it is. I've been trying to think it out for a while. I have gone to a few sites and plugged in some numbers, and it appears 4.30's would likely raise RPM's at 55 mph in overdrive about 300 RPM's, which I don't consider significant for the driving I do. Since my daily commute is about 6 miles round trip, and the majority of driving I do isn't at expressway speeds.
I just want to get the mass moving quickly..... Something a relatively low horsepower 4.6L is a bit challenged in doing.

[88Racing]

Well general rule is to go a step up. So if the info pointed you to 4.30 then go to 4.56. Or is this toooo radical?

[JWBFX4]

I would think 4.10's would be a perfect fit. But IMO i would not go over 4.30's

But you will sacrifice some mileage at the higher speeds (interstate driving)

[Jackpine]

And, Ford's torque control is going to get in the way if you go too high. Bill posted about this somewhere a long time back and I can't really think of a good "search string" to find it. Maybe if you search on all posts by "Power Hungry" and "gears" you may get lucky?

At any rate, if you put the gearing too high. the PCM won't see the need for power and will limit what you can get (at least that is what I understand).

Bill also published an Excel spreadsheet "RPM vs MPH calculator.xls", recently that you may be able to find pretty quickly if you look for it.

Personally, I would not go above 4.10.

- Jack

[BlackSTX]

Thanks for the info!

I'm guessing that 4.10's may win out, though I am curious about trying 4.30's. I'll admit, I don't know about the torque limiting effect of the PCM.

I believe it's always a bit better to wish you had a bit more gear than wishing you hadn't gone so extreme. I know 4.56's or better can get you up and running pretty quick, but there's certainly a down side with them. The answers I got on another forum some time ago was very extreme..... 4.88's.... really! I couldn't even consider them to be serious, especially since I'm not planning on lifting my truck and running 36" tires, nor am I planning on taking it to the track.

I knew I'd get more logical responses here, not to mention some other info. worth considering, thanks!

[Jackpine]

Originally Posted by BlackSTX

Thanks for the info!

I'm guessing that 4.10's may win out, though I am curious about trying 4.30's. I'll admit, I don't know about the torque limiting effect of the PCM.

I believe it's always a bit better to wish you had a bit more gear than wishing you hadn't gone so extreme. I know 4.56's or better can get you up and running pretty quick, but there's certainly a down side with them. The answers I got on another forum some time ago was very extreme..... 4.88's.... really! I couldn't even consider them to be serious, especially since I'm not planning on lifting my truck and running 36" tires, nor am I planning on taking it to the track.

I knew I'd get more logical responses here, not to mention some other info. worth considering, thanks!

With my tires, going one step up in gear ratio adds about 200 RPM in the 66 mph range. A bit more than that at 76, maybe around 250 RPM? I think anything more than that would make the engine sound like it was screaming at cruise speeds. I know I hate to listen to it when I have to drop into 3rd while towing at 65, sounds to me like the engine's running much too fast.

- Jack

[BlackSTX]

I know what you mean about listening to the engine upon dropping to third for inclines and such. Before the programmer and tuning I was kicking down for slight inclines. I've at least eliminated that a vast majority of the time. I also think a gear swap will help this out a bit more too since it won't be under a strain for a slight incline.
My last Ranger had 4.10's and a 5-spd auto. it was a perfect combination; I just wish I had this set up in the 150.

By the way, Jack.... Thanks for the tip about the excel file Bill posted; it's a big help. Bill out does himself with the helpful tools like that.

[Jackpine]

Yup, he does, doesn't he? (Bill, that is). Glad I could help.

- Jack