4.10 or 4.56?

[michowski]

I have a 93 ranger with 3.73 ratio in the axle now with 31" tires. For next year im either planning on getting some 33" tires or another set of 31" tires. Right now I would like to get a little bit lower of a gearing and im not sure on which I should get. I plan to do some good offroading next spring/summer like every other weekend but I also wanna keep my truck good enough to drive highway since it is a daily driver as well. What would your guys opinions be on what to do?

 

[Hahnsb2]

I really like my 4.10s with my 31s, they're just right. If you do go to 33s you'll want 4.56 or 4.88, Id choose 4.88 personally.

 

[Ranger44]

4.56's or lower

 

[JFA_Spyderman]

Depends on the engine. With my 4-cyl i went with 5.13s for my 35s, but i wouldnt be afraid to run 33s with them. Give me a little more power too.

 

[michowski]

I got a 3.0L. I was looking at the gear chart and for more power with 33's I should get some 4.88. Any idea were I can get these tires?

 

[Ranger44]

Get some BfGoodrich AT's or MT's

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

with the 3.0's high powerband, gear on the low (numerically higher) side. 31's with 4.56's would give you excellent around town get-up-and-go, a good off-road crawl ratio, and you'd still only be turning around 2500 RPM on the highway in overdrive (at 65mph).

 

[michowski]

I was looking at the fab and off-road shop for the 4.56 gears and it says (4.56+ Requires modified cross shaft Part# F7/XSM for open & factory limited slip.) Were can I get that cross shaft at?

 

[Hahnsb2]

Your 3.73 axle should already have a notched cross pin... Notched crosspins are deffinatly weaker than a full cross pin. Another alternative is grinding the ring gear slightly to allow a regular crosspin to work, its a pretty common procedure, I did it on my rig, it doesn't effect gear strength at all.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

the replacement crosspin is designed to clear the much, much thicker 4.56 ring gear, and allow it to be slid out far enough for the axles to be pushed in and c-clips removed. i dont see how someone could grind the ring gear down to fit without destroying the gear

michowski, type that part number into yahoo search. enjoy

 

[Hahnsb2]

the replacement crosspin is designed to clear the much, much thicker 4.56 ring gear, and allow it to be slid out far enough for the axles to be pushed in and c-clips removed. i dont see how someone could grind the ring gear down to fit without destroying the gear

michowski, type that part number into yahoo search. enjoy

It's common. It doesn't hurt the gear at all, you only take away a tiny bit of material from the edge of the gear that isn't even in contact with the pinion. I would MUCH rather grind the ring gear a bit and run a full pin that run a weak notched crosspin.

 

[michowski]

Thanks sludge. I doubt I will do this myself and probly will take it in to have a pro do it. Ive pulled my motor, changed timing, heads, bearings, had the whole front end apart, but gear mesh I dont know if I want to mess with that. Thats somethings thats gotta be exact and it can take some time to do to get it perfect. Not sure. I just wanna purchase everything I think and pay someone the labor to install these front and rear.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

it may be common somewhere, not here. grinding even a non-contact part of the gear creates a stress riser.

the cross pin is only notched in the middle, where there is almost no sheer force. the area that supports the spiders is just as stout as the stock pin.

you have 4.10's...the 4.56 ring gear is thicker still and would require even more grinding than you did.

edit: your very wise to take the gears in to have them set up. it takes a few special tools and a lot of patience and precision. if you are interested in learning how to set them up yourself, i would advise having someone who knows what they are doing help you the first few times.

 

[Hahnsb2]

it may be common somewhere, not here. grinding even a non-contact part of the gear creates a stress riser.

the cross pin is only notched in the middle, where there is almost no sheer force. the area that supports the spiders is just as stout as the stock pin.

you have 4.10's...the 4.56 ring gear is thicker still and would require even more grinding than you did.

Half the length of the crosspin is notched, it IS weaker. I wouldn't trust a notched pin myself. Maybe Junkie will weigh in on this, Im pretty sure hes suggested grinding the ring gear before too.

 

[Todd]

I would say 4.56's would be a good choice if you plan on going to 33's down the road.

As for the cross pin issue I just had to deal with this while setting up my 4.88's in my 8.8. That ring gear was thick and the amount I would have had to grind off to fit a full cross pin would have been large. So I just notched the cross pin myself. But for me strength of the cross pin is not an issue as I have a welded rear end thus no load is applied to the pin. Its only purpose it to hold the shafts out to keep the c clips in the side gears.