New Guy Thinkin Bout A Gear Swap...

[hawk5858]

First off, gotta say I've been coming to this forum for advice for a while now and i think it a great site.

 

LOVE my silvy, but.....it's so dang weak off the line! As you can see I've already done the basics thinkin this would help the issue. I just thought it was a heavy truck with the small V-8, so just a few basic mods to help out with performance right??? Not so much!

Mods: K&N CAI, Flowmaster dumped and superchips programmer.

These didn't really do much for my low rpm range. (can't even power brake it)

 

Now, I wanna go from the 3.23's to 3.73's. Found a good, reputable shop that will do it for $800. 90 day warranty on parts and labor. On the highway, at 70mph, my rpm's are right at 1700-1800. From what I can tell with the online ratio calcs, this is right at the minimum rpm of 1800 for cruisin speed, maybe cuz of the slighty larger 22" wheels?? I have never towed anything with my truck (yet) and 90% of my driving is city since i'm in residential construction.

 

Sooo, should I or shouldn't I make this switch??? Will it void my 100K pwrtrn warranty?? MPG gonna go down the tubes being that I do mostly all city driving??? RPM's gonna be too high on hwy, too loud in cab of truck?? Is it enough "bang for my buck" to justify performance wise???

 

I know it's not really practical or necessary, but i plan on keeping this truck for a long time and just want my truck to have some low-end balls!!!! Any and all opinions appreciated!! Thnx guys.

[georgerosen06]

this is just my opinion but i think you should invest in a cam and a set of headers...im not a speed freak or anything but i have thought about a lot of options and for the money i would say get a cam set of headers..

[svensk]

If your set on gears go with 4.10's instead. You will be much happier for the money.

Dump the super chips and get a custom tune after the gear swap. Your truck will haul bawls.

[Woodcutter]

Now, I wanna go from the 3.23's to 3.73's. Found a good, reputable shop that will do it for $800. 90 day warranty on parts and labor. On the highway, at 70mph, my rpm's are right at 1700-1800.

 

$800 seems like a fair price for gears -- at least you only have to do one axle. Don't worry about rpms at cruising speed being too high, I have 3.73s and stock tires and at 70mph it's between 2100-2200 rpm. At least this would give you power to pass in OD.

[huero626]

IMO, for a gear swap I would go with 4.10, that's what I'm going to install in my truck. Also go with a custom tune way better than any hand held programmer out there.

[C & A s Dad]

I cannot answer your warranty question but I would agree with the above replys on the 4.10s. I have 4.10s in my Yuk XL and I tow a 6500 lb camper. Even if I did not tow and had to buy the truck again, I would order it with 4.10s. With your 4 spd trans and lock up convertor, your hwy rpms will not be too high and you certainly will not have any more noise. You will likely see an improvement in your city mpg but could see a little drop in your hwy mpg especially if you spend much time over 70 mph. My Yuk XL is averaging around 18.5 with mixed driving. It will get 20 on the highway as long as I keep it under 70. Move above 70 and the mpg begins to drop.

 

Last but not least, you will feel a trendous difference in the acceleration and useable power. The 4.10s help the 5.3 run in it's sweet spot meaning it will be much more responsive.

 

With the city driving you said you do, I would have to respectfully disagree with the earlier poster concerning the headers and cam. Not that you may not want to look into this later, but the gears would be my first change.

[2000DV4.8]

If you do mostly city driving, go with the 4.10s. They will help you off the line (both acceleration AND fuel economy), since it will give the engine more of a mechanical advantage, which will really help turn those heavyass 22s.

 

I wouldn't do it for fuel economy, but if you can keep your foot out of it, you should see your city mileage go up slightly.

[DofD]

Pretty much what the other guys said. Go with 4.10s and a good custom tune (Blackbear). Then if it's still not performing the way you want, look into a cam.

[hawk5858]

4.10's huh?? So would those require a larger housing or anything like that? Think the price would stay the same? All it is is more teeth on the gear??? The more noise I was refering to is on the hwy, just having the rpm's like 500-700 higher than they are now when cruising. The dumped Flow resonates pretty good as it is when the truck downshifts....

 

As far a cam goes, for sure that would void my warranty right? And I'm kinda thinkin that all the power in the world (to an extent) wont help if I cant get it to the ground right??

 

4.10's are tempting tho...I'm really afraid it would be undrivable on the hwy????

[C & A s Dad]

No larger housing needed. Price should be very clost to the same.

 

The engine noise difference should not even be noticable at all unless you are concerned about the exhaust note from some type of custom exhaust.

 

Many people drive trucks with 4.10s every day. Again, my Wife's Yuk XL has 4.10s and I am running the stock 16" wheels and tires which keep my gear ratio much lower than yours, and my RPMs higher due to the 22s you have. Providing the outside dia is larger than my 16s and I am sure they are. Her truck would sit and cruise at 80 to 85+on the interstate all day if I had a notion to do it.

 

The best thing you could do is find someone you know with a truck with 4.10s and drive it.

[DofD]

Running 4.10 on the highway is fine. The RPMs will be a little higher, but with probably no noticable change in tone from the exhaust. The theoretical top speed at redline would be lowered though. As for voiding the warranty with a cam, maybe, maybe not. Probably only the certain items wouldn't be covered under the warranty (ie: cam, valves, etc).