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4spd highway driving?


hundo

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I've got a 83 diesel ranger with a 4 speed transmission.. are those trannys built for highway driving? I got her up 65 on the highway, but the rpms seem too high.. I'm too use to my 92 with the 5 spd.. good ol cruising gear..
 


Mightyfordranger

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Depends I'd try and keep it at 60 but idk when red line is for those engines I had an old 70s Ford with a tractor engi e and a 4spd i only got it up to 60 but it was really wound up tight
 

jeremysdad

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My last car (72 Pinto 2.0/3sp auto) would do 70...but sounded like the spring was about to pop me in the eye if I pushed it, not really redline, but...sounded uncomfortable. (Ftr, above 70, if you opened up the other barrel, I made many a modern ricer give me the o_O face. That's the good old 1:1 high gear! lol)

It was created in an era when our national speed limit was 55 mph...

With a baby diesel, and with the knowledge that they never made a diesel Ranger in the US...you may be hitting a redline that it was not meant to pass. :)
 

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There have been diesel rangers in the US, just not many of them. They were offered in the 80's in both n/a and turbo forms.
 

85_Ranger4x4

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Back in the 80's the national speed limit was 55mph so that is what things were designed to run. You might note your speedometer even has 55 circled.
 

adsm08

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Yeah, she can probably do 70, but she wasn't designed to run over 55.
 

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The 4-speed manual didn't have Overdrive(OD) gear, 1 to 1 was the lowest ratio, OD is .75 to 1

So with 27" tires and 3.73 rear axle at 65MPH RPM would be 3,000approx
With OD at 65mph it would be 2,250approx.
 

adsm08

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The 4-speed manual didn't have Overdrive(OD) gear, 1 to 1 was the lowest ratio, OD is .75 to 1

So with 27" tires and 3.73 rear axle at 65MPH RPM would be 3,000approx
With OD at 65mph it would be 2,250approx.
So get bigger tires.
 

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Well my Grandpa had a 83 diesel with the 4spd and he took it to California from Wisconsin twice. I think he pulled a camper behind it one of those times. He said it was one of his better trip vehicles. No a/c no power anything. He almost got 200k on it before the Wisconsin road salt rusted it out to the point of not being worth fixing. That was in 92 or so.

AJ

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85_Ranger4x4

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So get bigger tires.
My truck with 31's and 3.73 turns about 2700 at 60mph. C5 has the same 1:1 as a most non od transmissions.

I can go to a higher gear or bigger tires, I am going with an OD transmission. (M5OD)
 
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