This dog is getting new gears.

I've always felt my truck was a bit weak in the hills and occasionally had to use 4LO when 4 high should have been fine. I've also never liked the traction control (braking) for off road use. Even wet grass on a mild incline would require 4WD. I've tried all 3 modes and they all suck when you need more traction.

Went to some 32in tires and now this truck is an old, tired dog. Starting on a moderate incline burns way too much clutch to get going. I'll be switching out the gears sooner than I thought.

I'm planning to get a 3rd member from ECGS with 4.56 gears and a TrueTrac. I keep all 4 on the ground so I'm not too worried about the limits of the truetrac.

I'll do the rear myself and let a professional do the front. Any friendly advice before I get under way?

 

Get 4.88s. 4.56s aren't enough to justify the cost and will be barely lower than 4.10s on stock tires.

 

Yeah. I've been debating that. It's a daily driver, but I do use 4WD on the farm almost weekly. Most of my miles are driven under 60mph. I do usually take one or two trips a year that are around 2500-3000 interstate miles.
There's a good chance I will go with the 4.88 since I spend most of my time in 3rd and 4th gear as it is now.

All I do know is it doesn't work as is. High gears and open diff equals a pretty anemic 4WD.

 

4.56's will be fine up to 33's w/ manual trans If later you decide to run 35's, 4.88's will be the gear of choice.

As for the front locker, go ARB if you choose to go that route.

Hope this helps you.

 

Well.. it's in the 4 cylinder subforum.

 

... yeah, I realized that after I posted and re-wrote the reply. Damn you're quick.

 

It's getting closer. Won't get it in until next Tuesday. Thanks ECGS!

 

What did you end up going with?

I recently got 4.88's and an ARB in the rear from ECGS. Had them build me the 3rd and the clamshell. Front took a little while to install but wasn't too bad. Rear was super easy.

 

It was a hard choice as this is my daily driver. I put all the numbers on paper and looked them over, then went out and drove at certain RPMs to see where I really needed my power at. Plus realistically looked at what tire size I will be running in the near future. Time will tell if I made the right choice, but I know it's going to be better than what I currently have. I really doubt I'll run anything over 32.5 so I went with 4.56.

Currently I have 4.10s and 32s. Factory tires were 30.5. Keeping the current tires and changing to 4.56s would be the same final ratio as keeping the 4.10s and putting on 28.7in tires. I do not like driving over 3,000 RPMs. With the current setup, that is at 82MPH. With the same tires and 4.56s, that will be 74MPH, so I'm losing 8MPH on what i want my top end to be. There are those who say it's not worth it and you won't notice the change if you go from 4.10s to 4.56s. I get that. It won't be a huge change. I don't think I'm looking for a huge change though. Will I notice it? If you went from 32s to 28.7s would you notice it? I'll know in a few days.

What I'm really looking forward to is the addition of the truetrac. Most of the areas I currently drive off road I lose traction in 2Wd and have to go to 4WD. That is where the 4.10s have been killing me. Enough power for 2Wd but not enough for 4WD. I'm expecting to have to use 4WD less and need less power. That's what I'm really interested in seeing if there is a noticable change.

I won't get them in until my next day off work which is Tuesday. For now I'm only doing the rear. I'll plan to do the clamshell in December. I really hope that truetrac is worth the expense since I'll be going without 4WD for a couple of months.

 

Well, after a couple of days driving the new gears, the jury is still out on whether I made the right decision or not. I do think this final ratio is what should come from the factory. It certainly take less clutch starting on an incline than before. For a daily driver that sees some interstate, I think the 4.56s are close to perfect. If this was a weekend rig I definitely would have been better off with the 4.88s.

I did get to try out the truetrac. Because I don't have 4WD I took a different route to my recreation spot and ended up having to do a couple of creek crossings that did not have a trail. It was very nice having power to both wheels. I also tried a hill climb that I've attempted many times in 2wd. I still didn't make it to the top, but easily got 50% farther with the truetrac than ever before. I think I'm going to like this thing.

 

Does the TrueTrac do anything "funky" on the street?? Do you notice it at all. I'd like to get one but I'm concerned about street manners.

 

It should behave like any other LSD and not a locker. Every truck I've ever had came with some type of LSD, so I guess I'm used to them, plus I grew up driving muscle cars with posi's so I guess I expect both tires to have power.