you have almost 30 more hp and like 40 more torque and you have 3 more cylinders to help. I’m going with what the countless Toyota and Jeep guys say. And my experience also. I had 410s and 35s with ford 4.0 and after going with 513s. I would never do anything less for a 35 and bigger tire. I wish I would have went with 538s in my ranger. But that’s my real world experience. People don’t gear down when they need to and they get use to the shitty performance and idk just deal with it. I know I was one of them. I was only going to go with the d35 because I could regear it and throw a lunch box locker in it and run for the summer but since Covid killed 513s for TTB d35s it looks like I’m gonna have to get creative on what I do.
My truck weighs over 6k at cruise weight. So...keep that I mind. That 30hp....isn't enough.
Did you have the limiter raised on the 4.0?
I was taking this as a daily driver jack of all trades rig with maximum fuel economy as the goal...so maybe I am way off...
If driving on the road is the main goal...one really needs to be careful. But since you have done both the 410 and 513 with the same setup then your preferred is an exact known. So that is awesome for baseline.
Under gearing is a constant....most won't deny that.
I have gone too far with gears a few times and lived by the deeper the better for a long time .
I have this same conundrum with my bronco. For cruising ... the 410 gears are almost too low with 33 inch tires. Fine with 35 or 36s.
But 70 mph is about as fast as it needs to go anyway so it's more then livable.
I went with the 33,s for road tires as i still had 410s
getting the snow rating on pavement in a 35in 15 rim for street duty was a 400 dollar difference... with a much lower run life.... So I was happy to settle on 33 for my spare driver.
I was glad we did not get to putting the 488s in it .. or I would have been screwed. Need that cash for the t56...
Of course ..
Off road those gears are way too high with 36 inch tires...making me wish for 513s when in moab.....but a doubler will correct that. For the money a doubler makes more sense.
I had 488 gears with a 300 plus hp in my ranger for some time... Even on 37s, they were way too low for hi-way driving...on 33s it was hell .
33s are cheap when your wasting rubber daily driving freeway.....not as cheap as military 37s....but military tires suck in the snow.
...and that was with an aod.. 456 gears were also too low...but better as long as I had 35,s. I would be married to 37s in my ranger if I had 456 gears.
Can you drive a vehicle equipped with that 5 cyl engine? Any of those you have talked with online close enough to go check it out? I know it was real popular in the mid 2000s in my area....mostly jeeps and old landrovers.
I still think 456 gears will allow the most usability....unless your gonna run heavy like me....and if that is the case.... probably want more engine anyways.
I know I am looking forward to seeing it going down the road.