How much difference do gears REALLY make?

monkeyman08880 · Nov 9, 2004

Where can u find the 3.55 gears (websites)?

nosaj122081 · Nov 9, 2004

You pull the whole pumpkin outta the rear end housing first... Once its out, you tear it apart and put the new gears and bearings in and either reuse or replace your differential. But it requires some specialized tools and more likely than not some experience at it to get it perfect. I had an old drag racer buddy that has a machine shop assemble mine for me, I took him the gears, the rebuild kit, the locker, and my core pumpkin, and he charged me 100 clams to put it together and set the gears up, did a hell of a job, doesn't whine at all.

You won't find a 3.55 set for a 9", they don't make 'em, but they make a 3.50 set that can be bought from just about anywhere, Summit and Jegs both sell gearsets from various manufacturers. IIRC the 3.5 gearset is about the least expensive one they sell.

taylor4g63 · Nov 9, 2004

I bought a whole, webbed, 3.55 pumpkin with an auburn posi in it off ebay for $450 shipped or so for my 8 incher. One of the best investments i've made for my car (except for the gas milage, EFI is next to help with that though).

reenmachine · Nov 9, 2004

monkeyman08880 said:
Where can u find the 3.55 gears (websites)?

http://www.currieenterprises.com/

66stangmeister said:
probably another dumb question maybe, but once ya get the pumpkin open...how exactly do you change the gears? is that an adjustment or is there new parts involved? never messed with gears before so i don't know much about it.

Most people just replace the whole pumpkin with a professionally rebuilt one and use the old one for a core. The whole swap can be done in a few hours if you've never done it before and have a couple of jack stands and basic hand tools. A good hand could probably do it in an hour.

blue66tang · Nov 9, 2004

how can i post a vid?

blue66tang · Nov 9, 2004

The vid is with my 8" 4.11 limited slip diff, and 4 people in the car.
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/Hosting/showimage-fr-main.wtdr?i=Mzk4MjQ1NnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE=
The pic is the same rearend a couple days later, thanks to a hard 2 gear shift and yet again 4 people in the car. http://forums.stangnet.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=23967

Now i have a 9" 4.30 gears and detroit locker. Havnt driven it enough to tell you if i like it though.

guess the vid link didnt work.

Mosse · Nov 10, 2004

Can´t view your video.. It needs a password...

I´ve been driving my stang like a thief lately, and noticed that my auburn isn´t smoking both wheel.

I don´t now if I´ve smoked the plates or what.. Are there tougher options with reasonable price for 8"?

cornholio · Nov 10, 2004

3.25's, if you are looking for a "kick in the pants" is still too conservative. Compinsate for you tranny (overdrive?) and your wheel size (16" or higher go for more aggresive gear). You mentioned not to much highway time. If so sneek a better gear in there (i.e. 3.89) for sure/no doubt. If you do 3.25's you will be changing them again, that is again if you are looking for the acceleration it sounds like.
Best bet, find a 9" out of a 77-80 Lincoln Versaille. Direct bolt in with disck breaks, no mods needed to mount, zero. Just need to shorten you drive shaft by about an inch and a half or so. It will never,never,never, break.
Good luck.

66P51GT · Nov 10, 2004

cornholio said:
Compinsate for you tranny (overdrive?) and your wheel size (16" or higher go for more aggresive gear).

Wheel height has no affect on gear selection. Tire height does however.

Example
A typical 245x45x17 tire has a 25.68" tire height. (17" Rim)
You can purchase a 26x9.5x15 slick that has a 26" tire height. (15" rim)

mdjay · Nov 10, 2004

I didn't see the trans you have but I concurr for the 3.55 gear being a nice street gear. You don't want to go much higher unless you have a 4-5 speed and a good high rev'n motor...

mdjay · Nov 10, 2004

Oh, don't go with the limited slips. I can't tell you how many people call with (only one wheel is spinning) after 3 mos!!!

65fastback2+2 · Nov 10, 2004

rhurley said:
what year explorer is best for this? Anymore additional info on this installation? Is it fairly easy to install? Can it handle a 500hp application?

thanks
-andrew

65/66 the rear end is 2" wider. You can compensate this with different backspacing wheels and it wont make much of a difference.

67/68 it is a direct bolt in.

All you have to do is reweld the spring perches.

Just get one outta a 96-98 Explorer/Mountaineer 5.0. They have been shown time and time again to match a 9" in performance.

66P51GT · Nov 10, 2004

I thought the Explorer RR had an offset pinion. So, you have to shorten only one side to get the width correct and center the drive axle.

cornholio · Nov 10, 2004

Your example goes from a street tire to a tall slick. My reply was directed towards a street application. A 285x45x15 wheel/tire next to a 285x45x17 wheel/tire and the difference is approximately 1.5 inches. Same tire, with different wheel.
Your statement is correct but I don't believe applies to the owners original post in regards to a street application.

Route666 · Nov 10, 2004

If you change tyre height to compensate for diff gears, you may as well do neither, as one will give you more leverage in every gear, and the other will remove it from every gear. The only way to not have to compromise with big ratio diff gears is OD like you said.

Route666 · Nov 10, 2004

cornholio said:
Same tire, with different wheel.

But it's not the same tyre, one is a 15, and one a 17. Sure you changed the wheel size, but only to fit the tyre to the car. Wheels do nothing except provide an interface for the tyre to mount to the vehicle. Sure they look good, but that's subjective and unimportant to the function of the vehicle.

66P51GT · Nov 10, 2004

This is going way off topic here...

cornholio said:
Your example goes from a street tire to a tall slick. My reply was directed towards a street application. A 285x45x15 wheel/tire next to a 285x45x17 wheel/tire and the difference is approximately 1.5 inches. Same tire, with different wheel.
Your statement is correct but I don't believe applies to the owners original post in regards to a street application.

My example was just that. I only used these tire sizes because I know the dimensions off the top of my head. It was not meant to compare a racing tire to a street tire. So with that in mind another example would be a 285x35x18 tire which also has a tire height of 25.68". In your example... there isn't even a tire made that is 285x45x15, nor would a 285 have a prayer to fit on a '65.

Route666 said:
But it's not the same tyre, one is a 15, and one a 17. Sure you changed the wheel size, but only to fit the tyre to the car. Wheels do nothing except provide an interface for the tyre to mount to the vehicle. Sure they look good, but that's subjective and unimportant to the function of the vehicle.

True if you ingore weight, sidewall height, and vehicle purpose such as performance street, drag, autocross, or open track. The only non performance categories are bling & show.

Route666 · Nov 11, 2004

66P51GT said:
True if you ingore weight, sidewall height, and vehicle purpose such as performance street, drag, autocross, or open track. The only non performance categories are bling & show.

Weight is a side-effect, if wheels weighed nothing everyone would rejoice because the wheels PURPOSE isn't to have weight, it's to mount the tyre to. If it is lighter good, but weight is only a side-effect of it being there.

Sidewall is not a property of a wheel, it is of the tyre. A bigger wheel just allows you to have a smaller sidewall and maintain the same overall height.

What I was getting at was that the tyre is what changes leverage, not wheels. More importantly though not to use taller tyres to combat higher diff ratios.

I see your point though, ultra-light wheels won't work in 4WD or heavy load capacities, and tough steel wheels wouldn't be the best for racing. I was looking at the wheel from a pure design view, ie, the theoretical wheel - no weight and unbreakable.

one2gamble · Nov 11, 2004

someone needs to hook me up with a nice nine inch on the cheap

66stangmeister · Nov 11, 2004

same here d00d, lol. how much those those usually run? I have a 9 inch at the moment, but it's not posi trac. which annoys me

How much difference do gears REALLY make?

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