My truck has an open rear end with 3.55 gears. I had been planning on getting an LS and re-gearing several months ago but put it off because of the economy and the fact that my truck was going along fine. However, today's snow has really shown how terrible my truck drives in the snow. Backing up is nearly impossible, especially in my apartment parking lot that seems to never be plowed.

I have just passed 25,000 miles on my truck in 13 months. 85% of those miles were highway. I would like 4.10 gears but I don't think this would be wise due to all the highway miles I drive. What are your guys thought? How bad of a mpg hit will I take? I currently average around 17 mpg. I will be calling my shop tomorrow to set up an appointment to get the rear end redone.

BTW I drive an FX2 super cab w/ the 5.4L

 

I wouldn't think it would suffer that much, 1-2 MPG's. The city mileage would go up since it take less effort for it to get up to cruising speed.

 

Your not puttin' all those miles on in the snow, right? Just throw some sand bags in the back and deal with it. imo

 

an LS wouldnt hurt but good tires and some weight will do more for you...

 

no, but I want the limited slip... the open rear end makes me very sad... plus the truck is a slug off the line so steeper gears would be nice. I guess my main question is... 3.73 or 4.10 gears because I am an avid highway driver.

 

3.55 to 3.73 is pointless you would need to go 4.10 if you want to actually feel a difference.

 

I have the 3.73/ls and can go anywhere I need in 4-6 inches in 2wd. Cruising down 90 I will get 17-18 mpg doing 75-80. If I had the chance though I would jump to 4.10 It couldn't hurt mileage that much.

 

Hmm ic... I only had problems today when I had to turn and get moving quickly so I didn't get rear ended by oncoming traffic. That and parking in my parking lot. We got about 3 inches of snow today and my truck was crying like a baby. Basically rendered reverse useless today. I guess that settles it... detroit tru trac and 4.10 gears here I come

 

We got 3-4 inches today also, actually from the same front that is hitting you. I took the truck to the store to get milk and found out that my 325 Nittos really suck in wet snow, even with the LS rear I could hardly go anywhere but a flip of the switch to 4wd solved that problem. As soon as I got home I swapped my wheels out for the stockers w/Goodyear AT/S.

As for your situation I would get a LS installed, then get another set of wheels to put some snow tires on for the winter. Also 4-500lbs of sand bags would be a good thing. If you swap to 4.10's from 3.55's I would guess that you might see a 1-2 mpg drop on the highway, both will probably stay about the same or maybe better in the city (as long as you aren't rodding on the gas all the time).

 

one of these days i'll have me 4.30 gears

 

What kind of tires are you running? That could be a big factor. My stock General Americraps SUCKED!. Last year I upgraded to some 285/70/17 Toyo OpenCountry A/T's and have had excellent traction in all types of weather.

 

I have the stock pirelli tires that come on the 20 inch rims. They still have a very generous amount of tread left. I just put on my new S&B intake so I have been a little heavier on the gas lately but usually I drive gingerly. On the highways I cruise at 75 mph so I was just a little worried about the 4.10 getting those rpms too high.

I really don't want to buy new tires just for winter. The LS is nice because I do some light "offroading" when my job calls for it, but basically my truck is a street queen. Tomorrow I plan on ordering a tuner from PHP and as well as a lightning style exhaust from either magnaflow or the roush offroad, I cant decide. That coupled with my new ls 4.10 gears is about as much performance modifications my truck will be seeing. After that the 2/4 lowering kit will be put on.

 

I have 4.10s in my truck with the factory LS. It is great in the snow with just a couple sandbags.

I have driven vehicles with open diffs in the snow with the one wheel drive, per-say. It's funny when you got good traction on one wheel, but ice under the other and all you do is sit there and spin and spin.

Having an LS is nearly equivelent to having an open diff rear and a open diff front on a 4x4 setup... because you are really only going to have 1 tire in the rear and 1 tire up front. True 4x4 is when you've got a LS in both the front and rear diff...

 

Personally, I wouldn't go any steeper than 3.73's with our 4 speed auto, especially if you're an avid highway driver. At 120 kmh/70 mph? I'm reving at 2100 rpm already. LS would certainly help, but even LS isn't all that great in the snow.

The Firestone Destination AT's I have do a fantastic job in the snow, btw.

 

i had those stock pirellis on last winter, absolute junk IMO. i don't find it assuming breaking loose in 4x4, total disappointment in what junk tires they put on these trucks. i got 3.55's and 35's with a ls and am doing super in the snow so far. i've always been a believer in the saying "trucks only as good as the tires it rolls on" some people skimp and they end up learning the hard way. i had 4.10 gears, limited slip, and 33's and it was horrible. i couldn't not spin to save my life. comparing a 4x4 and a 2wd with a limited slip is not a good comparison, i wish ford would have have awd on trucks standard, i loved my silverado with the autotrac feature, helped save some gas and kicked in when needed.