Daniel White

Hey guys,
I just bought an '07 FX2 last week. Loving it so far. I had the exhaust redone and I have a custom PHP Performance tuner with a custom tune coming.

I would love to get some more low end power out of the truck. I have 33" tires and some of the guys on another forum were saying that the best bet if I want more low end grunt is a gear change.

So.... now i've been thinking about doing that. I have the 3.55 LS gears right now. The advice i'm looking for is this...

What gears should I do for the most performance? I am rarely (if ever) towing anything. And I want the most acceleration possible out of the truck. I'm not super worried about gas mileage, but don't really want to have a highway cruise rpm above like 2200 - 2500.

They recommended 4.10 gears. Do any of you guys have like 4.35's or any other gears than stock? Does it feel faster in the acceleration department?

And finally, if someone has advice totally different like a crazy gear ratio, i'm listening to that too.

Thanks for the help!

Especial86

iTrader: (1)

Hey Danny... Welcome!

I'm actually trying to spur a little debate right now on a similar scenario in this thread: https://www.f150forum.com/f4/best-gear-ratio-35s-228513/

I'm basically wondering if a higher stall converter would be the same, better or worse mod to restoring power much like a gear change. I'm also trying to figure out which mod is truly better for your transmission and high speed cruising.

Until these questions are answered, I believe a 4.10 or 4.11 gear would be a very suitable compromise for a final drive gear with good highway efficiency. But I believe the most gears being run by many seem to be 4.56.. Mostly due to availability, and the bigger bang for the buck.. Coming from a 3.55 gear to a 4.11 or 4.10 should be a pretty noticeable mod..

Daniel White

Thanks for that post. Great answer. So you think that doing 4.10 or 4.56 gears would be the best mod I could do for more acceleration for around that price? Lots of people are saying that job should cost me about $800 bucks...

I guess I'm getting into a totally different question now, but if I just had $1200 bucks lying around, what would be my best bet for acceleration mods?

Especial86

iTrader: (1)

Tack on an estimated extra 2k to your $1200 and buy a used supercharger or turbo kit for over 100 extra rwhp.

Since you got a tuner already, gears are probably your next cheapest mod that will offer the best bang for the buck..
But If you save up for a forced induction setup, you won't feel the need for gears as much.. The only problem for you will be the fact that PHP doesn't particularly like to tune FI..
I've got a custom PHP tuned edge CS right now, but I was forced to by an X3 and get tuning from JDM for my own whipple supercharger build. PHP are excellent tuners, and I'm a happy customer, but the newer Edge CS platform is turning out to be a giant waste of money for them, and for us. Its a nice looking programer tho... Lol!

Daniel White

I am saving up for a brand new whipple already actually. I don't really want to buy a used set up for that. I'm planning on running those gears till I get the whipple, then maybe switching back if they cause problems. It's going to take me a year to save up for the whipple.

Especial86

iTrader: (1)

I scored my whipple for dirt cheap, so don't shrug off the used market until you got the cash to buy new.. I weighed my price to performance costs out carefully, and for what I payed, I am a very happy camper ... I hope to see you back here one day with a whipple, and if you do get one, you may want sink that gear money into a fresh torque converter instead.. I ended up spending about $1500 more on my whipple kit for a bigger MAF, 10 psi, bigger injectors, tune and tuner, plus the IAT mod and some hassle free wiring. Oh, and a boost gauge, a wideband AFR guage, and hi flow cats.. I should have if bolted in by next month.. Your truck looks great BTW, reminds me of a truck another member here named "summers" has..

Blown Ford

4.11's are great. My truck had 3.55's to begin with. My street tires are 32" and even when I put the stock wheels/tires at 30" it feels great. Tachs at 1900-2000 rpm cruising 60mph. I sometimes wish I had gone 4.30. I think they would do even better without being to much.

As for the TC. Our stock converter stalls at 2850rpm. Thats pretty high for a truck. My Circle D converter is built to stall at 3000rpm but thanks to the bottom end torque with the Whipple she stalls at 3400.

uzikaduzi

according to tirerack you either had 265/60/18's or 275/50/20's... if you had the 18's 3.84 (if such a gear existed) would but you back to stock gearing but you're 33's weigh more. they make a 3.90 you could use since you're 2wd but 4.10's should be similar to if your truck had 3.73's with stock tires. I doubt you would see a huge difference between 4.10's and 4.30's (it would be very similar to a 3.90 with stock tires) but that's a guess. 4.56's would be similar to 4.10's with stock tires.

I'm interested in the results of Especial's discussion on a higher stall vs re-gearing. I was supposed to re-gear late last week/early this week but the shop lost some people and wouldn't have been able to have my truck back to me by today for a camping trip we're going on. might have been a blessing in disguise if the higher stall TC is the way to go. the shop I was going through thought 4.56's were a better choice to the 4.10's (255/70/17's to 295/70/17's with 3.55's) but with the math 4.10's should still be very similar to stock if i ever go up to 35's and should be somewhat similar to 3.73's if i keep my current tire size. 4.56's for me would put me at 4.05 ratio (with 35's) and i'm thinking that would feel like 3.90's stock and I can still spin my 33.5" M/T's with the stock 3.55's. I'm pretty confident my choice is either gonna be 4.10's or the higher stall TC.

FANGS99

A converter will help with the launch a lot but, gear will help with every gear.