I have looked all through the forums and on internet and keep coming up with same questions but not a lot of answers.
I have a 2005 f150 fx4 supercrew 3.73 gears with 37 inch tires looking to upgrade gears. my question is 4.56 or 4.88? I have seen a lot of people say I would do one or the other but never give a good reason why. The truck will be mainly used as a daily driver some hwy every now and then may see mud and trails but nothing to extreme and may pull a boat or a small camper from time to time. I am new to the forum so don't beat me up to bad if you feel like you have answered this question before but I just cant find a good answer. I understand 4.88 will pull better but sacrifice hwy RPM's. will the 4.56 pull what I need and give me HWY speeds with lower RPMs but enough power to get around town and play in the mud. I am sure neither will greatly affect gas mileage good or bad. Please I need some good advice before spending that much money. Thanks

 

4.56 will give you plenty of pull. 4.88 will just give you a lot more low end to overcome a lot of extra weight and rolling resistance.

RPM wise the 4.56 will be equivalent to have a 3.95 gear ratio with stock height tires.

4.88 will be equivalent to 4.22 gears with stock height tires.

3.95 might sound really low but you have to consider the weight and rolling resistance of these tires compared to stock tires. 3.95 is not that much when all things are considered which is why most opt for 4.88 gears.

 

thank you that helps out a lot. I think I will go with the 4.56

 

BassAckwards explained it well in my opinion. All I will add is that I have 4.56 and run 35" tires, absolutely love this combo. If I went up to 37" tires I would opt for the 4.88's. Just me on what I prefer is all.

 

Well I was leaning toward the 4.88 until I talked to some people running them and they told me they have to be easy leaving red lights not to spin the tires and that they run 3500rpms at 65 on interstate. That's why I think 4.56 will be better suited for my driving.

 

I really doubt they run that many RPMs if they are actually running 37s. The math doesn't even add up on that.

4.88 and 4.56 aren't even that big of a difference so you would still be in the same boat.

My friend has 5.13 gears on his chevy with 37" tires and doesn't even run that many RPMs.

 

Well crap that just puts me back to square one again lol. I'm just going off what I've been told unfortunately I have no real world experience with this so I just don't know. But thanks guys your input means a lot the world is full of misinformation so that's why I brought the question to you guys. I just don't want to spend all the money and be disappointed.

 

I just had the 4.88's and really like them with my 37". I'm normally around the 2000rpm range and it feels like stock. With gryphon I average about 14-14.5 mpg.

 

Ur really not gonna feel a diff. But for pulling and mud go 4.88.