Just got 3.55s

Well I have some good news and bad news...

The good news is that I just had 3.55 gears installed this morning. They are exactly what I was looking for. There is a noticeable increase in SOTP feel, but I still have lots of gear for the highway (I drove it about 200 miles home from the shop lol) and top end speed. I plan on a turbo setup someday, so I didn't want a higher ratio. So I guess I'm yet another believer that gears are a must-have mod. I wouldn't go any lower than 3.55s, but they are perfect for me right now.

I was visiting my sister in Adrian, MI for the weekend, so I set up an appointment and Drive Train Specialists in Warren, MI while I was downstate. They advertise in the mustang mags so I thought I'd let them handle the job. I got Ford gears, all new bearings and seals, friction modifier, diff. fluid, and the labor for $600 even. Not exactly a great price, they charged over $200 for the gears and I didn't have time to order them from somewhere else cheaper (spur of the moment decision lol), but the service was great. I waited in the shop while they worked, and the guy at the counter handed me a new copy of 5.0 Mustangs when I sat down. I'd recommend them to anyone that lives near Detroit for service work (just supply your own Ford gears lol). Rear ends are their specialty after all. Now the bad news...

The bad news is that my axles are worn. I won't have money for new axles until next week. Any recommendations for axles other than Ford OEM replacements? Keep in mind I want the same size axle as stock, I dont' want to upgrade to bigger axles.

I think my clutch is going bad also...(see tech section for my post)

Yeah you're right about the the "lower gears" thing. I was thinking in terms of numbers... But just to clarify, I would not get any gears that are a higher ratio (numerically lower) than 3.55s. $100 for axles, not bad at all.

RIO5.0 said:

I ran 355s for a few years...They are nice...amazing how they move the powerband...and 5th is actually a usable gear now...

Click to expand...

Exactly.

Good point John.

The car runs exactly the same as before as far as the power band and shift points go. What it does BETTER now is pull harder through the rpm band, so it feels like I get into the power band faster. And lower rpms are more usable due to the increase in torque multiplication (you are less likely to stall, etc.). But gears obviously do not affect how the actual engine performs. I think that's what ppl are trying to say... And everyone here thought the gear topic had been exhausted to death. HA!!

As for 3.55 being a "weird" ratio, I never heard that before and I think it's a great choice. 3rd gear does not pull "too hard" (is there such a thing? lol), and 4th gear pulls just fine. I suppose if you drag race, you might still have some rpms leftover in 4th gear at the end of a run (meaning you are not accelerating fast enough to hit redline in 4th gear when you finish), but I don't really drag race. I would get 3.55s for a turbo setup definitely. 3.27 seems too low even for a turbo'd car. I plan on a turbo in a few years, which is why I got these. I also think that these are the lowest ratio gear (highest numerically) that you can get speedo gears for that exactly match your actual speed. Which reminds me, I need to order some...

Hope this clears some things up...