Gears

[ConElite]

What gears actually do and what the number means is a ratio. say you have a 3.42 gear, that means 3.42:1, or 3.42 rotations of the driveshaft for 1 rotation of the axle. When you change gears you are changing the rpm at a given mph. Higher gears(lower number) like a 2.73 will lower your rpms at a given mph(great for gas mileage, top end runs, etc) where lower gears (higher number) like a 4.10 will raise the rpms at a given mph(great for drag racing, short track road racing, etc.) I agree that if you have a 3.42 gear, keep it, its a good street gear, and not worth the money or trouble to step up to a 3.73(you'll notice the drop in gas mileage more than the performance gain).
As far as Rustangs go, I used to be a Melvin, they need to stretch their rpms as much as possible with the 4.6, so 4.30 gears are not out of the norm for serious street/strip mustangs. Where the lt and ls engines do like to rev, they have very good torque.

Thank you for lesson In Gears 1o1.

When I was talking about the Rustangs is b/c they always run boost, only way to make them go. ha ha ha. With the S/C boys they need a High numerical gear to keep that engine rev'ed and at peak Boost. With Turbo you would want a lower Gear to keep some load on the engine in order to spool up the turbo's. In Holmes'es case, He just wants something to mess around in. For him I would leave it as is or Go to a numerically lower gear to get better gas mileage b/c he's riding a bike to work to save money on gas. ha ha ha ha ha

[DHolmes]

I have 3:42 rear slip differiantiol , is that 3:42 gears

[Christopherrr]

I have 3:42 rear slip differiantiol , is that 3:42 gears

Where did you find that...if so, yes you have 3:42 gears with LSD.

[DHolmes]

the guy's mod list,Is that stock on the ride or after market, whats LSD

[Christopherrr]

3.42 was the numerically highest gear ratio offered by GM. If it was a mod that he listed...it could be that it was an upgrade from 3.23s.

LSD is stands for Limited Slip Differential. GM coins it as Posi for Chevy and Safe-t-Trac for Pontiac.

LSD defined

[Joe 1320]

Actually.......

because these rear ends were taken from the S-10 pickup, there are ratios from GM that go all the way up to 4:10 but not in the f-body.

Automatic trans cars got 2.73 standard or 3.23 if the performance gear ratio option is checked. Only manual transmission cars got the 3.42 except 93 where a 2.73 rear was standard and that was because of different ratios in the t-56 trans.

[Christopherrr]

Actually.......

because these rear ends were taken from the S-10 pickup, there are ratios from GM that go all the way up to 4:10 but not in the f-body.

I stand corrected, I meant f-body by the way.