3.31 gears at 40,000 lbs gross.
Just to give a bit of a feel for how different gear ratios would behave while towing I locked out 10 then 10th and 9th then added them back again while travelling on a straight stretch of road w...
Forum Discussion
ShinerBock wrote:4x4ord wrote:ShinerBock wrote:4x4ord wrote:
Yes the F450 has 4.30 gears. Reread what I wrote Shiner and think about it.
I did, and I still don't see what a 4.30 geared F450 has to do with the 3.55 and below taller geared trucks I am talking about. The closer you get to a gears sets maximum tow rating, the more gears you would have to drop when towing to keep the stress off the trans. The 22k you stated is within what a 4.30 geared F450 is rated at. As it gets closer to its 30k limit, then I would probably start dropping more gears when towing to keep the stress of the overdrive clutches.
Actually, I would likely keep it in 9th if I were towing 22k with an F450 and drop it to 8th at around 25k, but that is just me. In a 3.31 geared truck, I would drop it to 9th around 12k and down to 8th around 15k.
I'm pointing out that if the overdrive clutches are "grenading" in 3.55 and taller geared trucks just think how hard the F450 with 4.30 gears would be on the overdrive clutches. With 3.31 gears I'm at about 1800 rpm in 8th gear at 65 mph. As soon as I hit a hill that requires some effort I'm dropping into 7th and my overdrive clutches are never part of the equation. The 4.30 equipped truck will feed foot to the floor torque through its overdrive gears all the way down to 2000 rpm in 8th gear..... 55 mph. I'm thinking if the overdrive clutches of the 10r140 can't handle 37" tires on an F350 SRW they sure as hay aren't going to take the abuse of an F450 towing a heavy trailer.
But that is what I am trying to tell you. Shorter (4.30)geared trucks put a lot less stress on the trans than taller (3.31) geared trucks and therefore....... You know what... our right. Who am I to question someone of your expertise...... I am sure all of the burned up and grenaded overdrive clutches in our nine Ford dealerships and our fleet with tall gears was just a fluke.
Carry on, and forget I said anything...
I obviously don’t know the stats but could it be that 999 out of a thousand Powestrokes are equipped with either 3.31 or 3.55 gears so the likelihood of coming across a 4.30 equipped truck with problems is not very likely?
