Gear Swap, Ball Joints... What a job!

[cartmanea]

Well, I finally tackled the gear swap while I was home for Christmas break this year. Took out the 3.73s and the crappy Ford Limited Grip and got the 4.30s and a TrueTrac put in. Also replaced all four ball joints (pretty sad shape) and all the front end seals. It took a little longer than expected, but I'm sure liking the results. Low end is MUCH better now and I think my town mileage will show a nice improvement.

I've been babying them for a while, but today I got into it fully for the first time... wow! There was a Dodge Hemi with obnoxiously loud dual exhaust which I left in a cloud if black smoke. I wasn't going to drive it hard yet on the new gears, but he taunted me about 3 lights in a row so I had to put him in his place

For anyone thinking about doing your own gears... I would not advise it unless you are VERY proficient. I spent about a week on the floor of a poorly heated shop and would not have been totally against paying to have it done, which is NOT like me. It wasn't fun at all, but I'm glad I did it now. I'll try to get some pics posted soon.

[robert smith]

I would be very interested in how the highway rpm's have changed.

This has been a area of interest to me, but I am undecided as to which way I want to go, we have a E450 6.0, rv.

Gear vendors overdrive unit or rear end swap, what do you think?, the object is a few more miles per gallon.

[JBakerFX4]

Gears are a job, no doubt. Have to be done right or it's not going to work right.

[cartmanea]

Well, the 4.30s are 15% lower than the 3.73s, so RPMs cruising at 65mph went up from 1750 to 2000.

[Raul@Stealth Automotive]

what size tires you running?

also your lucky you got the 4.30's now... precission gears which is one of the only places that made 4.30 gears for our trucks just went out of business about a month ago.... i still have not found a place that makes a good set of 4.30 gears

but i have some. with my 37's at 70mph im at about 2100RPM

[cartmanea]

I got Yukon gears from Randy's Ring and Pinion. From what I've read they are good gears, although the pattern on the 10.5 was a little difficult to get setup correctly. Tires are 35s now and the next set will be 37s.