What gears is everyone running with 5.0???

Ok, so long story short (I have a discussion in the axle forum on this) I can't decide what gears to run with my 88 Ranger. 350 RWHP 5.0. C4 transmission good to 500 HP. 35x12.5x15 BFG KM2s. Explorer 8.8 rear, Dana 35 up front. MOSTLY street/highway use. Have not had cam ground yet or torque converter built yet (they want my cam numbers).

One member recommended 4.88s minimum but highway driving with hose would SUCK. Another recommends 4.10s because my motor already has a lot of ass behind it and would be well suited for street/ highway use. My cam/torque converter combo could also be set up to cater to these gears I guess.

What do you think???

4.10 max with no over drive, I'd go with 3.91 if I had to choose.
Dave

Mac that's 2 votes for 4.10s heh. I just don't want her to be a damn slug. Especially after all the money I have into the motor.

410 or 456. Since you have no overdrive, I'd go 410, and it won't be a slouch...

SVT

very good remmy.


due diligence makes for sound decisions. but running your specific combination and these threads past your cam guy and trans/tq converter guys usually brings the combination to best performing. i still dont know if your gonna be carb indefinitely or efi....i prefer efi... they may say 672 gears....or 373 based on the data....and if they dont know because they dont have experience with this combination they will tell you that and suggest contacting or allowing them to consort with others if they are top shelf builders..

running a 5.0 is very wide open....literally endless combinations of the lil monsters. so asking what gears a guy runs is always relative to the build or engine power range as to whether a guy is happy or not.

i have been putting or helping others install horsepower in rangers since the late 80's....


while generally i tend to own several rbvs at any point in time, and oddly enough...usually all with custom suspension and modified non stock powertrains of some sort, i do have one main ride....it is my primary transport for over 22 years and has been v8 powered in one form or another since 1995 when it had a crate cobra saddled to its rails.....we built 3 trucks at the same time, and i learned allot about efi...they were my first efi ranger ext cab projects....

just in good faith so you can have an idea i am not jacking you around i will post up some old and fairly current pictures of this vehicle....its had a low hp diesel since fall 2008 because feeding the small block was biting my wallet way too hard.....you would not believe the miles i have on the chassis and cab/fenders.



i worked the truck to death as well. beat the holy living fawk out of it with no mercy for about 12-13 years. this includes very north of legal and fully loaded speed runs to Cincinnati from Detroit a few times a week periodically over the years to do some custom exterior work down there....only thing that 302 was lacking was a bigger fuel tank....i needed a 60 gallon setup bad...but no room left for it or the weight without going custom bed...




spent allot of time working out the ttb as well....we got that shit poor boy figured around here for multipurpose work.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/ford/1097826-ttb-crawlers-multipurpose.html




shitty steering....




better steering







even with 44 inch tires.....i run it up to triple digit speeds just to see what it would do. no sweat at all. now in high range off road it was lacking a bit for sure....but low range would bitch slap d60 parts into oblivion....and that is very hard on the wallet.









this is pretty close to its current life....but i run 35-37 inch tires on it for street duty of course....with about a 110-120 whp nutless diesel no less.











so i have some experience with this platform.....i average over 50k miles yearly..... the vast majority of the miles i have driven this platform has been with sbf 302 base engines.


i am not here trying to lead people down the wrong path.....

theres even a guy that is convinced my truck dont exist because theres no video of it with a running diesel....

you cant make that shit up.




just give them the specifics....the afr 165's i dont have the best faith in, but with the right lsa to get the cylinder pressurs dialed in to be sloping torque up hard around the 2800 range i would have to say it wont be described as lacking.

and better with svt's attention he can help ya with tuning on the efi if you run that road

Bobby...hahahahahahah....I'm laughing not because I don't believe you..but because that freaking Ranger put a damn smile on my face...she is freaking AWESOME....I hope that in time I will be able to take on projects like that. Sure, I've changed a couple motors and a few trannies, but nothing that amounts to what you're showing me. For instance, my welding sucks. I don't do it enough. I'd love to weld up a bed like that. To me, that's just damn cool.

On a further note, it's not that I don't believe or trust your advice. You have no idea how much I appreciate the time you took out of your day to help another guy out. I'm just curious what other guys are running and how satisfied with their setup they are.

It sucks working an extra 40 hours of OT at the jail (stress x 10) a pay period to be able to build this stuff, and a lot of it I don't know how to do on my own so paying other people to do it for me adds up, i.e. regearing, body work, rebuild on the motor, parts...I only want to do it once. This project so far has cost me WAY more than I ever thought but I've wanted to build this truck for the last 16 years and now I can finally do it, family and all.

Again, I look forward to your advice as you obviously have more than I could ever hope for and I look forward to more as this build progresses. I need to learn how to post some damn pictures. The frame is almost all done and painted, she looks so purty with the Duff suspension lift! All I have to say is Eastwood Extreme Chassis Black in satin. Almost looks like powdercoat and is tough as nails.

By then way, I have ALWAYS wanted to run "doors" like that. Can you make me a set? I'll pay you too.

Oh I almost forgot....why don't you like my AFRs? Mustang guys kill for those heads!!!

not that i dont like them....consult with your cam guy first.... see what he thinks. with stock stroke they could be ideal...


i like afr, awesome products for the money.....for a 302 cube the 165 are a good match....if you end up going with more stroke they could get tricky. little tight. basically though a 185 is a 65 with bigger valves....not sure if the hp goals will work good with a 4x4 truck application....but if your open to the drivability aspect you will do what ya have to.


i prefer the trickflows with a stroker...but they have tweaks...and because they are usually cost effective bought used and available.

but 310-330 crank power is easy to do with 3 bar 40's and decent upper. so its the way i stayed....no need to spend the money on aluminum heads and a daily driver work truck....and 5 kids....

but boy i sure would have liked to do it.

Fresh HO 5.0 with GT40p heads, Explorer Intake and cast manifolds, through a single in/dual out Flowmaster 40, M5ODR2 5-speed transmission. 3.73 gears running about 2700RPM at 75 mph. with 31s. Gas mileage sucks at around 14mpg. Still trying to improve that mpg--TPS not helping me.

Elutheros said:

Fresh HO 5.0 with GT40p heads, Explorer Intake and cast manifolds, through a single in/dual out Flowmaster 40, M5ODR2 5-speed transmission. 3.73 gears running about 2700RPM at 75 mph. with 31s. Gas mileage sucks at around 14mpg. Still trying to improve that mpg--TPS not helping me.

Click to expand...

Lower gears, or taller tires...

SVT