will be running some 315/75/16's on the truck soon.

currently have 3.73's. FAIL i know. but i will be regearing asap.

what gearing do you guys suggest? what brand? when i buy them will i need to specify that i have a LSD in the rear? dont know much about gearing other then they need to be upgraded for larger tires lol.

school me please

 

4.56 or 4.88

do you drive more high way or city?

 

Go either 4.56's or 4.88's. Depends on what kind of driving you do. If you're in town stop and go traffic a lot and wheeling, then 4.88's. A lot of highway, I'd say 4.56's.

 

highway mostly. but city driving here and there.

 

How often do you wheel? A lot of crawling/slow stuff or faster styles of wheeling?

 

**** you could call this thing a mallcrawler now lol. i only hit the dunes every now and then pretty much. and dirt roads to go shoot and camp and whatnot. no crawling anymore. i wouldnt dare flex it with that big of tires and only 3" BL haha

 

4.56 or 4.88s would be fine. Personally I would go with 4.88s if you plan to keep the 35s.

 

Then I would go with 4.56's. But I can't really give you the best input because I've never experienced it. I would listen to Brian because he's been there. He's had the 4.0 with 4.88's.

 

did it feel close to stock with 4.88's? ive never been able to feel a comparison.. so have no clue what it slike

 

4.56 is ideal for 33's from what I hear as far as being close to a stock gearing on a 3.0 with 4.10's stock. So either will probably feel more peppy since your moving from a 3.73. Given since you have more power anyway i'd opt for the 4.56 for better hwy mpgs.

 

4.56 = better for highway use
4.88 = better for city use

If you plan to keep 35's then I would go with the 4.88's. Nevertheless, if you ever intend to go back to 33's then I'd go with 4.56's. You would get the most power with 4.88's.

 

Also...

4.56 would be closest to stock gearing. I would go with Yukon gears. What L/S do you have?

 

just the stock LSD. trac loc or w/e the hell ford calls it. lol

 

Ty, Maybe it's just me but I have the feeling that after a while you'll get tired of the 35's, maybe not, you never know, but to be safe I would just go with 4.56's incase you ever do decide to go back to 33's.

 

what ply are the tires and how heavy are they?

 

You have the 4.0 so I would think 4.88 would be to much gear for 35s. 4.56s should be all you need since you have a 4.0, if you had a 3.0 it would make sense to have 4.88s.

I've always read that 4.10s is closest to stock gearing for 33s and 4.0
and 4.56s is closest to stock gearing for 35s and 4.0

 

Well my sport trac came stock with 4.10s and 255/70R16's, roughly 30" tires. 4.88s with 33s was geared lower than stock, but I went with it because I got a front diff with 4.88s and aussie installed for cheap. It worked fine for me even as it was, Oregons freeways are 65mph and it cruised at 75mph just fine. Around town, towing and offroad it was awesome, the acceleration was great. I got a solid 14mpg no matter what, no increase on the freeway because of the higher rpms and roof basket. In my opinion, it would have been perfect all around with 4.56 gears and 33s, or 4.88s and 35s.
Although the Sport Trac is a little heavier, and mine was an auto. As Zach is hinting, heavier tires will turn better with deeper gears (4.88) and most 16" metric tires are E rating (heavy).

So.... To repeat myself, I would go with 4.88s if you plan to keep 35s (your truck would look sick with small fiberglass fenders btw), or 4.56 would work fine with 35s, and great if you switch back to 33s.

You shouldn't need to specify that you have a limited slip, you will keep the carrier, just replacing the ring & pinion gears.

Use this calculator to see what brings the truck back to stock based on what your factory tire size was. Then you will want a lower gear (higher numbers) to compensate for the extra weight (rolling mass) and drag of the bigger tires. Also keep in mind that a lot of the 4.0L sohc 4x4 rangers came stock with 4.10s (how they should be) so you might even use that as a baseline.

 

gotcha! well im aiming more towards 4.56's just because 90% of my driving is on the highway. have a 20 mile commute to school 3 days out of the working week. and i live a bit from all my friends so its all highway to get to their houses as well.

im hoping i can come up on some used 4.56's in the classifieds.

 

Man I wouldn't focus so much on used gears myself. You are still going to need an install kit, and pay for the labor for them to be setup. The price of the actual gears themselves is a relatively small part of the cost, might as well go with new and have piece of mind. Talk to a gear shop first because a lot of shops won't warranty any work if the parts are not bought from them.

 

Unless you find a complete front diff with gears already in it, then you can save a bit and install it yourself. I did this, but then found out the pinion seal was bad and the gears were not properly set up after I installed it. In the end though, I would have almost been better off buying all new and having it done right.
Lesson - used differential parts can bite you in the ***.

 

Okay one more post for you to think about. Your engine RPM at 70mph is only going to be about 160RPM difference between 4.56 or 4.88 gears.

Approx 2495 at 70mph 4.88
Approx 2332 at 70mph 4.56

 

ill keep all that in mind. thanks man

 

I like my 4.88's and 35's

 

4.88's won't work with a Torsen L/S. I'm not familiar with a trac loc though.