Which gears???

[Perry]

I have a 1994 Explorer 4 door and just added a 5.5 superlift with 33" tires.
My question is what gears should I go too so I can have my power back?????
Our trip to Nebraska was not good. Couldn't get it into overdrive without it shifting ALL the time.
I have 3.73 gears now (stock)
What brand should I look at??????
No plans for lockers.

 

[Dignan]

4.56

 

[Gofast]

4.56 is the norm like Dignan stated. that puts you real close to the 4.10 ratio with those big tires.

Gerald posted a link that had some good calulators in it.
http://www.4lo.com I think....

Anyway, I decided that 4.88's were for me. I'm covered that way when I go to 35's too. According to that site, with 33's and 3.73 gears when I'm showing 65 on the speedo I'm really doing 78 mph. Might be part of the reason you had trouble staying in OD. your final drive works out to about 3.05 if I remeber the calc's right.

See Ya in Ouray!

 

[riffman]

Now...im no expert, by any means...but a buddy of mine just said that if i went to 4.56, then i would probably have to stop pretty frequently to cool off. What does that mean? did this used to be true, because i saw that people on here have 4.56's and haven't complained (or at least not out loud )

So basically what im asking is ......huh? hehehe...any help would be wonderful!!

 

[Perry]

Thanks for the help.
Looks like the gears are the next thing to do.
Are there better brands then others??

 

[Gofast]

Riffman, Cool off?

He may be referring to the higher RPM's since you currently have 31's on your truck. But if you go to larger tires the effective ratio is dropped back to what most people consider streetable. The key is to watch your RPM's. It's not good to run for long periods of time at 4K plus RPM's. Builds up engine heat, and some vehicles will pump most of the oil to the top of the engine causing sever stress to the lower parts ( Crank & Rod bearings ). However if you keep an eye on Temp gauge and Tach you should be fine with the higher gears.

I Plan on 4.88's, this will put my ratio around 4.10 with 33's and when I go to 35's I'll drop a little bit more. The link that I got from Gerald had some good notes on it about selecting gear ratios. Give it a look.

Happy Trails

 

[Guerilla Biscuits]

Does that mean I have 3.73 since I am stock?

 

[Ray Lobato]

William,
You have to look at the tag on the door jam (drivers side door)and under "axle" there is a 2 digit number or letter/number, ie 45, or D4. That will tell you what gear ratio you have. Post back what that is and we can tell you what you have.

 

[Guerilla Biscuits]

45?

 

[ntrpriz]

45 = Open Diff 3.55. That means you should have better mileage but less torque than the 3.73's, simplistically speaking of course.

 

[Guerilla Biscuits]

I think I was wrong. I have a 46....I got confused coming inside the house and going upstairs.

 

[Dre]

What is D4?

Now I'll probably throw everybody off a bit with my few cents here. I was almost ready to start a new topic but since we are on the subject, here we go. At this time I got D4 axles (is it really 3:73 l/s??) and no lift but I'm running 31X10.5's. In a few days I'll be putting a lift on and hopefully bigger tires later on. I'm thinking about 33X12.5 for off roading. Now for street driving I'll be putting my 31X10.5's back on. What would the best set-up be then? With my very limited knowledge here I would keep my limited slip since that's what it probably is and change gears to 4:10. Am I thinking right? Would lockers help a lot?

Thanks and sorry for interuption. Hopefully more guys would benefit from this.

 

[Guerilla Biscuits]

Dead Link Removed

That should be more help than I am. I'd say 4.10 sounds right....but who am I to give advice?

 

[Perry]

Now where to buy

Now that I need 4.56 gears to get back closer to stock, where is a good place to buy them???????????
I checked with the local 4X4 shop and they said $500.00 to install and $750.00 for the complete set.
I don't know if that is a good deal or not.

 

[Guerilla Biscuits]

I don't think you have to goto a 4x4 shop....I bet you could get a better price elsewhere.....once again.....I am not one to be giving advice.

 

[Ray Lobato]

William,
46 Axle code= 3.73 open diff.

 

[Dre]

4:56 gears are up for grabs. Rick has those. Grab them since I'll go 4:11 anyway and won't need those.

Later,

 

[Char]

Perry,
We do have 4.56 gears. I'm not sure if they are out of the axles yet, but should be soon if not. We are going to 35" tires and we will be running 4.88s. Rick said they should bring us back to where we were with the 31"s and 4.56. Hope this helps. You can send Rick a private message and he can give you more info.

 

[riffman]

http://www.4wheelparts.com has the ford 8.8" ones for 170, and the Dana 35 IFS for 170. However they don't list 4.56 from dana. I know they could get it though.

thats only for the parts. Im spoiled for labor. I simply fix my mechanics computer to put the stuff on for free!! I like that arrangement!!!

 

[Dre]

find me one

mechanic with a computer that is. I would love to work on his computer and tell him that it needs parts when it actually doesn't, heh, heh!! this way I can get even at least.