newbie and confused

Wmoses actually I have a 4speed.it's a 4.8 v8 truck. Is that going to be a problem?

l believe that it was a Canadian truck based on the transmission temp. being in Celsius. That would mean that the speed was 100km/h which is just over 60 mph.

OpenRangePullen_Ford wrote:
4.8 V-8 with a 4-Speed(?), Thats a lot of work on the engine and Trans, think above the new rear end and consider a new tow vehicle. Here's a video I found on YouTube with a 1500 4.8 pulling a 4700 pound TT, Seams stressed out even with 4700 pounds 2011 sierra 4.8 towing 23 Foot RV
Good Luck you'll need it :S

Maybe it's my eyes, but was he pulling at 100mph???????!

gmw photos wrote:
So bottom line is, it sounds like you are pretty happy with your set up ?

'My friend' is very pleased with the upgrade. :) Said that it was well worth the money spent given that the truck is a daily driver AND changing the truck was not an option. At the time of the swap the sales associate / enthusiast at 4 Wheel Parts asked why stop at 3.42? Why not go to 3.73 or even 4.10? The reason given was that (a) it was a daily driver so fuel economy while not towing was very important , (b) keeping to rms low when driving (towing or not) is less irritating and tiring, and (c) going up to the higher ratios does not result in the same percentage gain as going from 3.08 to 3.42.

Real world result is that the truck does a fine job of pulling the trailer which is nominally 7000#. Pulling is done @ 60 mph, cruise control, and tow haul mode - set it and forget it. Occasionally speed up to 75 mph to pass something slower but because the rig is tire speed limited to 65 mph the rig is slowed back down to the comfort speed of 60. Mileage has not changed much when towing - still around 10 mpg - despite the trailer jumping from 3800# to 7000#. Engine revs while towing did not change either - mostly less than 3000 rpm, and often around 2700 rpm. Shifting down causes revs to jump to 3500 rpm or so, max. When not towing revs are about 200 rpm higher @ 65 mph and fuel economy has dropped almost 1 mpg.

As for the OP's truck - hopefully it is a 6-speed since the lower gears are needed to pull off from a standstill. I think that he will be fine with a 1-Step change in the rear gear.

wmoses wrote:

gmw photos wrote:
Wayne,
Share it with the rest of us ? Maybe we can all learn from someone who has actual experience in changing out the rear gears, etc.

thanks.

This thread may shed some light. :)

Hi Wayne,
Yes, I remember that thread, and followed it at the time. That's a good one with some things for the OP to read through.
So bottom line is, it sounds like you are pretty happy with your set up ?
With the six speed auto ( I am assuming the OP's truck is a six speed ) I would think that for normal highway use between lets say 40 to 65 mph, a guy should have almost all driving conditions covered with third through fifth ? Yes, I could see steep pulls in the mountains in second if he has a trailer that is 5000 to 5500 pounds. My experience has been that in the overall miles of a trip, there are relatively few miles driven that are that steep though.

gmw photos wrote:
Wayne,
Share it with the rest of us ? Maybe we can all learn from someone who has actual experience in changing out the rear gears, etc.

thanks.

This thread may shed some light. :)

wmoses wrote:
OP - PM me if you have any specific questions. I have actual experience in this issue. So much material in this thread I am not surprised if you are even more confused than when you drafted your original post. ;)

Wayne,
Share it with the rest of us ? Maybe we can all learn from someone who has actual experience in changing out the rear gears, etc.

thanks.

OP - PM me if you have any specific questions. I have actual experience in this issue. So much material in this thread I am not surprised if you are even more confused than when you drafted your original post. ;)

rubsal70 wrote:
@miltvill really 6-7mpg??? I usually get 14-17 without towing. That seems awfully low.
@handye9 well when we go out tent camping or to the coast and rent a home for vacations. We usually don't buy anything until after we have settled in. We take clothes, fishing rods, empty coolers, (tents, sleeping bags, camping stuff when camping), empty buckets and that is it. When we plan on going with our TT we will try to limit also like when we go any other times. I won't need to add water cause they have it at the sites and also dump stations are at sites. I will take the payload seriously though and probably go to a weight station.
@larry and gmw photo how much of a difference would I see in my mpg if I go to a 3.73 or 4.10
You guys are right I will not be towing everyday. I will do towing maybe about once a month at the most and summer twice a month but that is it.
Thanks for all the help I appreciate and I am learning a lot.

Regarding gas mileage, it's probably fair to say that it's typical to see the gas powered tow vehicles use "almost" double to double the fuel compared to non towing.
Example in my case, pulling this Funfinder with the Nissan Frontier ( 4.0L V6 gas, six speed manual ) I get between 17 and 23 mpg non towing, and between 9 and 14 towing. The overall average for a long trip with the trailer is always right around 12.3 to 12.5.

Here's a another real world example for you to chew on: we also have a one ton dually ( Ford powerstroke diesel ) with 4.10 gears. It gets 9 to 11 mpg all the time....does not matter if it's empty or pulling the 35', 13,000 pound horse trailer, or the 14,000 equipment trailer loaded with hay.
You will need to simply accept that towing and good gas mileage just do not go together.

As for the difference in fuel mileage if you were to switch from a 3.23 to a 4.10, I am going to make "guess" here ( and I stress this is just a guess ) that your towing mileage is probably going to be about the same with either gear. Your non towing mileage is probably going to be from one to three less with the 4.10. Probably about one to two mpg worse in city use, and two to three worse on highway cruising empty. Those are my guesses.

@miltvill really 6-7mpg??? I usually get 14-17 without towing. That seems awfully low.
@handye9 well when we go out tent camping or to the coast and rent a home for vacations. We usually don't buy anything until after we have settled in. We take clothes, fishing rods, empty coolers, (tents, sleeping bags, camping stuff when camping), empty buckets and that is it. When we plan on going with our TT we will try to limit also like when we go any other times. I won't need to add water cause they have it at the sites and also dump stations are at sites. I will take the payload seriously though and probably go to a weight station.
@larry and gmw photo how much of a difference would I see in my mpg if I go to a 3.73 or 4.10
You guys are right I will not be towing everyday. I will do towing maybe about once a month at the most and summer twice a month but that is it.
Thanks for all the help I appreciate and I am learning a lot.