3.55 gears?!?!?

[bluexplorer1]

hey everyone,

i just want to start by saying that this place is awesome! i just registered yesterday and i already have a million ideas about how to mod my '00 xlt 4x4 4.0 sohc X. i have a question though about my gears. i looked at the little tag on the inside of the door and found the axle code and looked it up in one of the "useful threads" here, and found out that i only have 3.55 gears and an open diff. i thought that having 3.73 or 4.10 gears were supposed to be the best for street and offroad applications. is 3.55 enough? how is this beneficial to me? any answers to this thread would be greatly appreciated and thanks again for all of your previous posts in the past that have given me so many ideas.

blu

 

[unclemeat]

If you have a lower axle gear ratio (numerically higher) you will feel like you have more power (gas pedal). The lower gear ratio makes the engine rpms higher. The drawback to lower axle gear ratio is less fuel econemy. A 3.55 is fine for 29-inch tires. If you want to increase tire size then a lower gear ratio is required to compensate for the larger tires. If you do a lot of heavy towing a lower axle gear ratio is better.