Would 4.10 even be worth my time? I am having a hard time spending the money and then knowing how high my motor will be turning makes it harder. At 80 I would turn 2200 RPMs compared to 2k right now or 2450 with 456. I think the 2200 would be just enough to keep my motor from luging down and causing my bad drone. Right now if I drive with my OD off and the RPMs up around like 22 2300 I dont get any drone while cruising. I dont need anything to steep but just enough so I can pull a camp trailer twice a year and raise my rpms just enough to get rid of the drone. What do you guys think?

 

I find the RPM's on this chart to be a bit on the high side, but it may help.

http://www.4lo.com/calc/geartable.htm

I don't think your RPM's would be 2450 w/ 4.56's and 35" tires. Also, I recommend you put a level at the top of your tire and measure down to the ground to get the actual tire diameter.

 

Hey Bigtruck311: If I remember correctly you mentioned at one time that you installed your 4.88's yourself. Is this true? Sorry to hijack the thread, but I am planning on installing 4.56's in the very near future but I am considering installing them myself to save some labor costs. Btw, I have 35's also and I do tow a lot and don't run very many highway miles.

Ethan, IMO you'd be stupid to spend the money on regearing if you are just going to dump the truck in a year. I have been running my 35's for 2 years now on stock gears while I save up and have not had any issues. Sure, it doesn't take off quick, but I just take it easy starting out and I turn the OD off while I am towing. I have 3.73's currently. If you are going to keep the truck a little longer, though, go get the gears.

 

Do you think I could pull a camper with my truck as is? I know I wont be getting up the hills fast but would it make it without blowing up my tranny?

 

Ethan,
You and I don't live to far apart. If you are heading to Mexico or Cali then I would say it won't be a huge deal. If you are heading north to the high country I would not attempt it without gears.
I tow quite a bit, with 35's & 3.73 I towed an open 18' trailer with a Ranger & 3 quads to Flagstaff and it was not pretty. With 4.56 it is better than it was stock tires/gears, I tow up North with OD on.

 

Yup I am going north, but I honestly plan to sell at 75k and Im at 48k right now but I put on 22 23k a year so I figured to sell in just over a year.

 

Just make sure you have something to monitor your tranny temps and I would try and leave real early in the morning while the temp is below 100 and the traffic is lighter.
I would agree with most if you are only going to have the truck for a year and you rarely tow I would not get gears.

 

I have an edge, would a 200$ fined cover help me or is all the load in the transmisson, not the rear end.

 

All transmission. You would more likely want the finned cover if you had gears due to the increased driveline speed.

 

looking at camp trailers most loaded are around 7k I should be able to pull that right? heck stock I can pull like 9k. Also I heard that our hitch weight can only be 500 lbs some of the camp trailers are like 5 to 600 dry weight I dont know, what my dads camp trailer weighs at all.

 

I have yet to hear of anyone overheating their rear on an F150 yet, so I don't really see the benefit in a finned rear cover. Does your truck have the trailer towing package? If so, then it already has a pretty large tranny cooler, if not it would be a good idea to add one. It would not be expensive to add, you may even be able to find a used one off of a wrecked truck or something. I guess I've never been exposed to a climate like yours, since someone mentioned to drive in the morning when temps are below 100 . I would definately monitor tranny temps if you are in temps like that (here in PA, 85 is a HOT day). I still think that if you turn OD off, you should be fine. Starting out and getting the truck up to speed is the most strain on the tranny, once you are on the open road it should stay cooler.

 

Yup factory tow package with cooler and edge to watch temps.

 

Get a larger tranny cooler, on 37's and 3.73's mine is not sufficient if I were to tow what you are, I'd bog the entire way. I would just purchase one off ebay from a superduty and it should work. I know the lightning community does this, I'm sure the swap is not very involved at all.

 

Is it safe to drive with the over drive off? Ive heard is bad then others say its fine, what is it?

 

this is a good idea. ive done so many long trips in my truck that are 5+ hours, and a lot of the time its 4 hours of straight highway (highway 5, it gets up to 110 degrees outside often) then 1 hour up steep hills, killer on the transmission. this was with stock 3.73 and stock wheels/tires. im guessing that overtime, the number of trips at high temperature just took a toll. my trans broke earlier this week at only 72k. it SUCKED, costed a lot for a new one. im putting a new cooler on my new one immediately to avoid this happening again...

but yes, heat is the enemy. if your going to tow that thing, make sure you set your edge to display your tranny fluid temps. keep an eye on it.