gearing

YOU HAVE ALREADY ANSWERED HALF the question before you even knew what to ask ! ..Ok 3.42 gears , what is the tire DIAMETER ? measure it .. then we must assume an automatic trans , overdrive of course ... cachick cachick cachuck .... answer .well here it is. IF you switched gears to a 3.73 ratio .. thats about one third of one turn out of three turns to make one turn of the axle .. from a 3.42 ... not much diff there ...especially when you figure in the overdrive , which makes living with basement gears liveable .. next ... how= many miles each year towing boat trailer loaded with boat only - miles driven each year when not towing trailerwith boat only / wait thats a negative number .. ahhh yes .. forget about the whole thing , or buy a bigger boat ... !!!! PBN

AT 3000 rpm with 3.42 gears and a 27 inch tire , mph is about 70 .. with 3.73 gears and the old 16.5 LT tires ,3000 rpm was about 60 mph or so ... with 4.11 gears and the same 16.5 tires .. 29.5 inch tall (I think ) 3000 rpm with 4.11 gears is a snails pace 55mph . it's just like driving in second gear with the 3.42's ... PS whatever the gear chosen , make damn sure the tranny cooler is twice as big as it calls for ... PBN

The truck is really only used to pull my boat or tow my 5000 lb camper. Its not a daily driver. I live in the appalachain mts so I've got a lot of hills to deal with. The 3.42 gears struggle with some of the hilly terrain with the camper. I have a trans cooler. Guess I should just buy a truck with a tow pkg but I dont tow more than an hour at most from home. Thanks for the info.

you could install 4.11's but fuel mileage will drop 10 to 15 % , given limmited mileage driven each year that would be cheaper than a new truck . one more thing though , 4.11 's are fun !!! It will spin the wheels off the rims !! PBN