differentia gears

[1996DANGERRANGER]

alright, i got a 4.0 4x4 ranger 5-speed. i at best get 19mpg(i think cause my tires are 31's so my speedomter is messed up) but i want to put in like 3.55:1 cause i never tow or race i just want mileage. so my question is can i even change my gears to 3.55 and where can i get them???

 

[Hahnsb2]

What gear are in it now?
I'm willing to bet if you have 3.73s you're gonna get worse mileage with 3.55s with those 31s..

 

[merace19]

You will lug the engine more and waste even more fuel with those gears. Your best bet for fuel mileage is to keep the tires are max PSI, the air filter clean, tune up the engine, change oil, and the skinniest tire you can get,.

 

[1996DANGERRANGER]

the tires are 265mm wide. but right now i got 4.10s....do you think 3.73s would be good enough to get the tires rollin and ge better mileage??

 

[Hahnsb2]

While I prefer 4.10s with 31s, 3.73s isn't bad, my buddy's 4.0 will do 21mpg freeway with 31s and 3.73s, no guarantees what will happen to your mileage, but I'd keep the 4.10s..

 

[Gotta_gofast]

The cost to regear is going to be more than the little money you'll save every week at the gas pump.

 

[merace19]

If you lived near a person wanting those gears and you just swapped basically for free then it might work. But not worth it if you have to pay someone for the swap, unless you put like 400k miles on truck

 

[LittleHorse]

differentia sounds like some little known, rare terminal disease

 

[merace19]

Its when one eye can see farther than the other. it the "differentia" in perspective....

 

[1996DANGERRANGER]

haha mistake in speeling my bad, but i've decieded that im goging to do the coils spacers and put some blocks in the back and i think that i can run some 33's( and yes i know it wont help for mileage but im lookin into a supercharger so ill get better mileage and the tires will compensate for it)

 

[merace19]

but im lookin into a supercharger so ill get better mileage and the tires will compensate for it)

No it will not......... You want better mileage get a honda.....

 

[-Nathan-]

Sorry buddy, while a supercharher is bada$$, it will definetly NOT result in better mileage.

 

[1996DANGERRANGER]

why not? its forcing more air in so the fuel burns better and therefore should get better mileage

 

[LittleHorse]

why not? its forcing more air in so the fuel burns better and therefore should get better mileage

no, it's forcing more air in so it can get more fuel in. It makes more power and burns more fuel.

There are two ways to get more power from an engine.

The first is to actually make more power. This requires you to burn more fuel. Usually done by forced induction like turbo and superchargers, different camshafts, head porting, oversized valves, and other serious internal engine modifications. This will ALWAYS increase fuel consumption.

The second is to make no change on the gross power made by the engine, but to increase the net power by decreasing the power losses. This usually involves decreasing pumping and frictional losses, like special bearing surfaces, smaller piston skirts and special piston coatings, lighter components, windage trays, and things like freer flowing exhausts and intake. They can increase gas mileage assuming you drive exactly the same, but most people like to hear that exhaust so they drive it harder and end up negating whatever mpg increases they might have picked up. It's almost an unconcious reaction.

 

[Hahnsb2]

This will ALWAYS increase fuel consumption.

Negative. Often times an otherwise stock engine that has been turbocharged will see an increase in fuel mileage, or at least not drop... Supercharger, probably not, being that it's crank driven.