Worth the switch to 4.30s?
in the coming months we will be purchasing a TT that will be just a hair under 9,000 lbs. loaded. My Excursion has 3.73 gears, which I'm told are not ideal for the V-10's power band. Is it worth makin...
Forum Discussion
Hemling wrote:
I think I need to refine my question / premise that I am operating under. I intend to tow in 3rd, exclusively. Is the reason that people use higher numerical gear like 4:30 and 4:56 ratios so that they can remain in OD longer without dropping to 3rd as much, or for increased power in the 1:1 ratio (3rd in my trans.)? I don't intend to make use of OD at all. I just want to know from those who have experience if I can expect my Excursion to hold 3rd reliably or if the 3:73 ratio is going to make it want to grab 2nd. If that's the case, I will put in 4:30s and be done. I don't care about OD.
Changing the axle ratio effectively changes all ratios in the trans. Each gear is that much more efficient at transferring power. It's not about towing in O/D, but more about the effiecent use of power! You may have a hard time with a good headwind with 3.73's. My trailer is 11.5ft tall so it's pushing a bigger sail through the air than a 10.5ft tall trailer.
Either way, I would never want to tow my setup with 3.73's! Again. Yes it will do it but it will struggle. I know this for a fact because I towed with 3.73's and 4.30's. When I had 3.73's I had to run at 72 in 3rd to get the RPM's in the powerband. If I ran it at 65 it was to low in the powerband and it wasn't producing the power it needed. The 4.30's put the engine in the proper RPM's, this allowed me to run it at 65 or 70 if I want to. Yes 300 rpm will make a huge difference!
Why do you not want to use O/D?
