Just call me Sean

iTrader: (1)

and wanted to tell someone who might actually care. Telling the wife is like her telling me about the garden, and the boss only cares if it won't make it to work. It's tough to find someone into cars as much as me.

The most recent thing I did was swap out the rear end. The pinion bearing was going out and the fluid was going everywhere so I babied it and kept dumping in gear oil until I had the money to get one from the junkyard. It wasn't too bad cost wise, only $89 plus tax.

I went to my favorite junkyard and started crawling. I found several 3.55s and several 3.08s. My truck originally had the 3.55, but it also originally had a 4 speed. I swapped in the 5 speed and the 5 speed trucks at the junkyard had the 3.08, so I wanted to try it out. Plus the 3.08 was the best looking, least oily rear out there and the truck I pulled it from looked well taken care of. The rear even had brand new brakes on it, there wasn't even any brake dust in the drums.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I thought I would lose power which I did. I have to keep it in whichever gear I'm using for longer and I have to use a gear lower than I used to. Since they're highway gears I was hoping for better mileage though so we'll see how that goes. Overall I'm satisfied with the new ratio so far, less pulling power but the difference on the truck is noticeable. Saying I'm a bit hard on the truck is an understatement and with the 3.08 it's easier on the truck because of my driving style. I won't be using 5th gear much though since I pull a trailer all the time and I don't go fast enough to use it much. The truck has 31s on it too which doesn't help with the higher ratio.

I may swap back to the 3.55s, I have to use the truck for a while and see which I like better. The 3.55s had great pulling power, probably why I ate up 5 manual transmissions and 3 rear ends. The truck was also faster off the line with the 3.55s but I bet I could top out faster with the 3.08s, not that I would. I kept the old rear and I think I'm going to attempt to change the pinion bearing to see how well I do.

I haven't had a speedometer since the tranny swap and finally found the tailshaft housing I needed to get it working again. The '92-'96 trannys don't have the housing machined for the speedometer gear. Hopefully the tailshaft has the machining to accept the drive gear or I still won't have a speedometer. I'll let you know how it goes.

I had also lost 1st and 2nd gear recently and upon inspection found the shift fork was worn. Working with my no cost repair budget I broke out the welder and built the fork back up with welds. It's still working so it's good for now.

I also lost my clutch master cylinder and had to mess with that. The clutch master cylinder is different on the 4 and 5 speeds and I used the 5 speed one when I did the swap. I decided to try the 4 speed one, which is a much stronger design. It worked great but the 4 speed master cylinder must have a tighter spring or something because the stiff clutch pedal is back.

I was trying to give some information for you guys and was trying to give a comparison between the different gear ratios, but I'm not sure how well I did. If you have any questions just let me know. This is a bit long winded but I haven't been on in a while either so I crammed a bunch of crap in this thread.

dszx13

lotta work!!

TheLoudestSilence

Ahhh why not?? I top my 3.08s out


You sound like me fixing my truck lol.. My alternator went out a couple weeks ago so I threw a old motorcraft 3 wire alternator on it and had to re do the whole wireing harness my hand to add a voltage regulator..

TheLoudestSilence

Wow i just realized how dirty my truck was in that picture lol.. that was when i was bringing it home..

GIJoe4500

If you do a lot of towing, swap the 3.55s back in. With the O/D and 3.55s, cruising down the highway, your MPG will be just fine, and you'll still have the low end power for towing.

Just call me Sean

iTrader: (1)

My alternator went out a few weeks ago too. Junkyard didn't have any so I used one from a Ranger. I could only put in one bolt but it was on there, but it didn't charge. I pulled the voltage regulator off it and fixed mine for a total cost of $6.

I always tow, very rarely do I unhook the trailer. I know my mileage is fine with the 3.55s because that's what I had. I'm looking for better than fine. This was a needed repair but at the same time I wanted to experiment and try the 3.08s. Still on the fence on if I'm going to keep them. I miss the power and the truck is slower, but if the mileage is better then I'll keep them. Won't know for sure about the mileage until I fix the speedometer.

TheLoudestSilence

Yeah.. I had to rig up a bracket to put in the top bolt..

gearhead

Will be interesting to see how the mileage works out. My 2wd, '95 4.9L 5spd has a 3:33 ratio, kinda unusual. Pulls ok to me, my mileage in hilly WV is 15 city & 18 highway empty with a fiberglass cap.

Blown_Tranny

I think the taller gears will actually be harder on your transmission. With shorter gears, it is easier to turn the rear wheels which reduces the stress on the trans. You may need to re-evalulate your driving style lol.