Finding a happy medium?

[Cody Ray]

Year: 2001
Engine: 3.0L V6
Transmission: 5R44E Automatic
Drive: 2wd
Current gears: 3.73
Current tires: 235/75R15
Future tires: 31x10.5x15"

This will be a prerunner and DD. Monday-Thursday will be a mix of highway and street driving. Weekends will be off-roading. The gear calculator says that 4.10s will bring me back to stock drivability. I drive like a grandma during the week but plan on driving like a bat out of hell off-road. Mpg is important to me so my question is this, with the above information, would you run 4.10s or 4.56s gears?

 

[4x4junkie]

4.56, especially since you have an auto trans (taller OD gear). The 3.0L need a little RPM to perform at it's best. There should be little to no MPG penalty either vs with the 4.10s.

 

[dla]

3.73 - 4.10 is a 10% change. To 4.30 is 15% and to 4.56 is 22%. In my opinion, 4.56 is too much for your application. 4.30 would give you more "pep" and 4.10 will put you at stock performance.

 

[legoms013]

3.73 - 4.10 is a 10% change. To 4.30 is 15% and to 4.56 is 22%. In my opinion, 4.56 is too much for your application. 4.30 would give you more "pep" and 4.10 will put you at stock performance.

No such thing as too much with the 3.0L. Very rev happy lil motor.

4.56's, especially since one day you may want to run a little larger than 31's, then at least you WON'T be running 4.10's. To me a gear change one size up (3.73's to 4.10's for example) is hardly worth the time, effort, and results. If your gonna do it do it for real!

I went with one ratio more than I really needed, (3.73 to 4.88) and that was the best decision I have ever made. Especially since I may run a larger tire in the future. Always think with the end in mind. Good luck

 

[Cody Ray]

At most I would run 33"s which with the 4:56 gears which would be close to the stock ratio. Really wanting to keep unsprung weight down and stick with a very common tire size.