i know nothing about gears but my buddys dad's coworker is willing to sell me 4.56 gears for the 8.8 for 100 bucks under 3,000 miles on them *hes getting 4.88's* and there yukon gears. my buddy and his dad can help me install them i just have a few questions. im not on the highway to much.

1. Will this make my truck faster...or just feel that way?

2. i know in the city i should gain MPG what about highway?

3. is anything special needed to install?

4. are 4.56 gears too much?

97 F-150 4.6L 2WD CAI/ E-fans/ Longtube headers/ cut-outs /dynomax bullets/ 265/75/R16 BFG A/T's

 

the 4.56's will be kinda low for your needs. But it wouldnt be horrible as long as you dong hit the interstate often.

Really for you, id say 4.10's or 4.30's

but i dont recommend buying USED gears they already have a wear pattern and wont mesh exactly the same in your diff.

SO heres what id do, if you want to run 4.56's id swap rear ends with him... its much easier than opening a diff and taking gears out.

 

he already has the gears out and his 4.88's in his axle. really within only 3,000 miles they can have a wear pateren? can't we adjust my diff to mesh right?

 

yes they will have a wear pattern, as soon as the diff heats up the pattern is set.

You can try them, but ill tell you i had horrible luck with 2 sets of used gears. I wont ever make that mistake again.

 

what happend with your last 2 sets?

i blew my 3.55 to all kinds of peices doing a brake torque....had low fluid and held down the brake and smashed the gas and the back end of the truck picked up a lil then BOOM and in the same spot the back end would hop under 30mph.....1,100 bucks later i have a new 3.55 from ford....wish i knew my buddy when i blew my rear diff up.

Thanks for the info....what about the whole being faster thing? will it just feel faster or will it truely be faster?

 

you will have more bottom end power. you will lose *some* power in the upper range, however, bear in mind that trucks are meant to have more bottom-end grunt than upper, you're not building a racecar to rev at 9000 rpms, right?

4.56's are generally used w/ a 35'' tire. on stock 30-32'' tires, generally 4.10's is as low as you want to go, really.

 

my lil 4.6 needs all the bottom end power it can get....i think ive my 4.6 rev to 9,000 some parts of the motor might be coming apart. no this isnt a racing truck just looking for a lil help getting it off the line without having to go to 3,000rpm's all the time to get it moving.

Yeah i know alot of people are saying i should get 4.10's but this seems like a pretty good deal to me yukon 4.56's for 100 bucks.

Thanks again guys.

 

4.56 is awfully low for you shifty, but you could rock em for awhile. You should be looking for 4.10's but 4.56 isn't extremely more then that, ya know ? And I know that shyt you tow and haul, so it might help.

You gunna weld up that diff while your in there ???

city MPG MIGHT increase slightly if any

highway will decrease.

with your truck, I would buy a master install kit. All new bearings and what not come with em. Check out ringandpinion.com or whatever it is. Randy's ring and pinion's wedsite. Good guys over there, dealt with em a number of times.

 

Ford replaced my whole rear end about a year ago so everything in there is only a year old....i blew it up and ford wrote down that ever thing in the diff was destroyed and replaced.

Yeah with all the times i put 2,500-5,500lbs in the bed 4.56's will help out with that

nahhh i like my tires to last my buddy welded the diff up on his truck it was funny id hear the subs *he had a bronco with 2 12's* then the exhuast *super 44's* then when he would turn into my drive way...err.err.errr.errr *weled diff* lol my LS works fine i get both tires everywere.

 

My truck had 32K or so on it when I changed out my gears. The only thing I bought for it was the gears, oil, crush ring, and pinon bearing. I've got almost 60K on it now.

You have to press on and off the pinion bearing and I didn't want to take a chance of it being damaged.

I agree 4:56's are a bit steep for your 265 tires but I can see where your coming from if you can get them for $100.

And yes your truck will be a lot quicker.

 

I'd go ahead and do it, it'll give you an excuse to throw on some meatier tires in the future. I'm not too sure how the gears being used are going to affect you, but Cecil does have a point. Pretty much from the word go, your gears are going to have a wear pattern, it's metal going against metal.

 

Yeah my buddys got a press to do all that fun stuff. Glad to hear my truck will be alot fast off the line thats what this lil 4.6 needs

As far as meatier tires go i dont 4 wheel the truck because hey i dont have 4x4 so i have no plans on lifting it or putting bigger tires *because i cant without a lift* So my 4.56's will just be for my 265 size tire.

Again thanks for all the info guys

 

ringpinion.com

Someone should just copy everything there and make it a sticky. Randy answers everything about gears.

 

So i was talking to my buddys dad the other day about gears and what not... and he told me that if going to 4.56's did drop my 0-60 time by 2 full seconds he would hand me the keys and title to his 2001 7.3L Ford Excurtion.....do you think my truck will really drop 2 full seconds going from 3.55's to 4.56's? i hope so thatd be fun

 

The guy with the ranger is keeping his 4.56's so i dont get them im on the look now for some 4.10's anyone know were i could get some?