4.10 vs. 3.73 Gears

[Putz]

I went to look at a 1500HD with a 6.0 and 4.10 gears. Can anybody tell me what the difference in gas mileage is between the 4.10 and 3.73 gears. I would just like a comparison of highway driving. Is it 1-2 mpg or is it more than that?

 

Thank you,

 

Aaron

[joeman2199]

Imo, it really depends on the speed your doing, the higher you go the more the 4.10s are going to hurt you... if your going up mountains and alot of around town and towing 4.10s may help you. i run 3.42 and in town i have plenty of power, and at 80 mph im runnin at around 2000 rpms and i have gotten up to 22.5-23 mpg on the highway. so 3.73 would be in between

[foghorn23]

I've had two NBS Silverados, one had the 3.73 the other 4.10. My 01 (current truck) has the 4.10. I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC where most of the roads are hilly, curvy and two lanes. My 01 averages around 17 here at home. Very few traffic lights but no open roads either. My 99, which had the 3.73 averaged around 16. The current truck will stay in overdrive much better than the 99 and I assume that's where the extra MPG comes from. I have however had both on the interstate and the 99 would average around 21 and the 01 around 20. So, like joeman2199 said, it just depends on where and how you drive.

 

Vroten

 

BTW: Both trucks were Automatic 5.3 L Z71 Extended cabs.

[OUMike]

Has anyone ever tried doing something like 3.45? Do they even make a ratio like that for these trucks? I have a 94' and was thinkin' about doing something like this. I had originally considered 4.10s, but I was afraid of hurting my mileage.

[s3gulit]

Ive got the old body style 96 silverado with the 5.7L and 3.73 gears and i get anywhere from 20-24mpg, plus it'll put on a nice smoke show

[Shotgun]

Go with the 4.10's and you won't regret it especially if you even plan on increasing your tire size or towing. The 4.10's give you about 2,000lbs. more towing capacity. The difference is about 300 RPM @ 70MPH. I bought my truck with the 3.73's and regretted it from day one. I just changed them to 4.56's.

[rtbrick]

The lower gears (higher numerically) will give your truck more throttle response and make it much more fun to drive. While I have not added new gears to my truck yet, I have in many vehicles in the past. I've never been one to worry much about gas mileage. If I did I would have a 2WD regular cab S-10 or import. I had an 1987 IROC 5.7 once and the gas mileage question seemed to come up constantly. My answer was "I didn't buy the car for the gas mileage!." I never did know what the mileage was and I only checked the mileage numbers on my truck once since 2000. The gear upgrade will be nice.