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Old 12-10-2012, 01:25 PM   #2 (permalink)
Slow_s10
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Rusty - '88 Chevrolet S10 base
90 day: 23.72 mpg (US)

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If it was not for the fact that you regularly tow a trailer I would say go for it with the 3.08s but since you do usually tow I would reccomend splitting the difference and finding a 3.42 rear end. It is still much taller than the 4.11 rear end but it leaves enough on the table to manage towing with the 4cyl.

I'm assuming your truck has the NV1500 transmission, in which case the transmission ratios are:

First: 3.96 Second: 2.37 Third: 1.49 Fourth: 1.00 Fifth: 0.83

If you multiply that by your current rear end ratio and the proposed 3.08 you get final drive ratios of:

4.11
First: 16.27 Second: 9.74 Third: 6.12 Fourth: 4.11 Fifth: 3.41

3.08
First: 12.19 Second: 7.30 Third: 4.58 Fourth: 3.08 Fifth: 2.56

As you can see the ratios become a lot higher. If you look at the ratios above with the 3.08 your first gear would be alot closer to your curent 2nd gear ratio than your current first gear ratio. Also by the time you get into 4th gear the ratio is now even higer than your old 5th gear.

Here is how the final drive ratios would look with the 3.42:
First: 13.54 Second: 8.11 Third: 5.01 Fourth: 3.42 Fifth: 2.84

As you can see the ratios are still much taller but first gear will still be a little more usable and by the time you get to 5th the difference between the 3.08s and 3.42s becomes almost negligable. In this situation your new fourth gear would have almost the exact same ratio that your current 5th gear has.

Oh and assuming you have stock sized tires at 55mph your engine RPMs in 5th would be:
4.11: 2350
3.43: 1950
3.08: 1750

But that's just my 2 cents. If nothing else I hope it can at least help make your decision a little easier.
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