gear ratio

[puty72]

I have an 89 ranger 2.9 4x4 with 4.10 gears in the rear. The rims are 15inch. well anyways i love my acceleration but at high speeds say 55mph it screams at like 3500 rpms. I was wondering wat would be a better gear ratio so i can still get good acceleration but not run at high rpms on the highway.

 

[Ranger#1]

3:73

 

[LittleHorse]

I have 3.73 in my 2.9L 4x4 Bronco II and it feels gutless. But I haven't driven one with 4.10's so it might not be that much worse.

Was 4.10 a common ratio for manual transmission RBV's in that time period?

 

[martin]

What size tyres are you running?

 

[fastpakr]

3500rpm sounds a lot higher than what you should be seeing at 55mph with 4.10's. Are you sure your tach is right? 4.10 is a great gear ratio for a 2.9 truck.

 

[puty72]

my tires are 215/75/r15 and as far as i know my tach works cuz it idles at 800 and shifts at 4grand

 

[fastpakr]

Auto or manual? If auto, are you sure your torque converter is locking and it's shifting to o/d?

 

[88rangerboy]

At 55 mine only tachs 2500 with 4:10's. But I also have 31's so I'm not sure if my speedo is right.

 

[puty72]

my is auto i bought the truck a year ago and never really took notice to the problem till this past winter and since you mentioned it it feels like its still trying to drag on 3rd gear but i have it set on od instead of drive like when i go up hills it wont downshift

 

[fastpakr]

Sounds like you've got a trans issue, not a gearing problem.

 

[puty72]

alright do u have any idea if its something major or i just have to deal with it for now cuz im doin a 5.0 swap in the summer and im gunna replace the tranny anyways

 

[puty72]

well i just opened it up all the way down the highway and it shifted into every gear smoothly and even shifted into overdrive smoothly so i have no idea why it screams so much at cruising speeds. im pretty sure my speedometer is correct cuz i havent got pulled over yet and my tach might be off . It just feels like i have to be on the pedal alot to do the speed limit but other then that the truck runs great but yet again my gas pedal feels real stiff any i had my dad drive the truck and he said that isnt normal. i have only owned 1 vehicle before this and it was a car so i thought the stiff pedal was normal for a truck

 

[fastpakr]

Hmm...

Lots of questions come to mind.

If you disconnect your throttle linkage, is it still stiff?
If the engine is off, how hard is it to spin the fan?
Have you been tracking your gas mileage?

 

[Beanmachine7000]

Yeah, 3500 rpm should be like 85-90mph...

 

[puty72]

when i spin the fan it turns a little bit... and when i disconnected the throttle cable from the throttle body and hit the pedal is still the same