Rear gears
I have a totally stock 1993 triple white mustang with an AOD and 2.73 rear gears. The only changes from stock is the removal of the air silencer and maintenance replacements (plug, cap, rotor, wires, oil, filters, etc…). Most of my driving is on local roads up to 50 MPH with occasional trips on the highway at near legal speeds (+/-70 MPH).
My plans for the car are to keep it stock. I do not plan on replacing the heads, intake, etc… However, I have heard that replacing the rear gears with a lower ratio can help to make the car more fun to drive.
The question is about the rear gears. I have been toying with a gear upgrade and was looking at what ratio would be best for the car. Ford sells 3.08, 3.27, 3.55, 3.73, 4.10 and others.
I was thinking about installing 3.55 or 3.73 gears. Does anyone have an opinion on either of these choices?
Thanks,
Kevin
:?:
My plans for the car are to keep it stock. I do not plan on replacing the heads, intake, etc… However, I have heard that replacing the rear gears with a lower ratio can help to make the car more fun to drive.
The question is about the rear gears. I have been toying with a gear upgrade and was looking at what ratio would be best for the car. Ford sells 3.08, 3.27, 3.55, 3.73, 4.10 and others.
I was thinking about installing 3.55 or 3.73 gears. Does anyone have an opinion on either of these choices?
Thanks,
Kevin
:?:
Comments
In reading many Mustang magazines over the years it seems the best combination for auto's are 3.73's. It gives a nice punch but is not running at high RPM'sa on the highway.
Good luck!
Ken
Here is something to consider. Just for theory purposes lets say that at 1900 RPM you are traveling 60 MPH, and also this is what my runs.
With 3.73 gears at 60 mph your rpm will be 2150
With 3.55's at 60 it will be 2050
With 3.27's at 60 it will be 1900
With 3.08 at 60 it will be 1800
You can adjust accordingly for your car to your RPM at 60
I have an AOD with 3.27's, at 60 mph I am running around 1900, if you can believe the tack.
As I said this is theory and the numbers will be slightly off. But it holds pretty true. But with 2.73's and jumping to 3.73's you will see an RPM increase at 60mph of about 550 to 700 rpm. But I must say if I were to change my gears I would go with the 3.73's, but I have also modded my engine. For the last 30 or 40 years 3.73's have been the street rodders choice for an automatic and most stick's.
Good Luck, Jerry
Wit ha 5spd 3.55's are very fun. With an auto I'd run the 3.73's or 4.10s.
Tim
I bet he's still out driving it with a silly grin on his face!!
I was instructed to go a little easy for the first 100-150 miles. Once that was covered I gave it a try with my heavy foot. Now with to much gas it will break loose easily on dry pavement. Before it had a hard time accomplishing that. It pulls hard through first (only for a short time though) then right into second. If my foot is over half way down it stays in second and pulls well into the upper RPM’s till it shifts into third.
I must say that it is way more responsive than when stock. I wish I had done this upgrade the day I purchased the car almost 9 years ago.
Only drawback is that it now runs around 2500 RPM on the highway in fourth. Guess I will have to live with that. Such a sacrifice, but someone has to do it (ha ha). On the pluss side my 10 year old had a big grin on his face when he went for a ride with me. He liked the upgrade.
John, We have spoken about his upgrade before. Since we live relatively close, if you want to give it a try let me know.
Glad you like them. One word of advice, especially with a stock AOD. Do not leave the transmission in O/D mode if you are going wide-open throttle. Letting it shift into overdrive at wot is guaranteed to burn out the overdrive function. That's the biggest weakness of these transmissions.
Thanks for the advice. I remember hearing something about the OD band being shared with second gear (or something like that) and that the band was smaller than it should have been (again - or something like that). So keeping it out of OD at WOT should not be a problem. The gears were $$ enough. I do not want a new transmission at this time.
Anyway, that should not be a problem as the car now pulls hart to at least 60 in third.
Fun for is getting up to speed quickly, not driving recklessly fast. Will have to hive it a full shakedown later today. It is reported to be our first 70 degree day in over 6 months!
- Kevin
Glad you like the gears!! [B-)]