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Gear swappers, are you happy with your choice?

T

Tik-Tok

New Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2018
Messages
8
I have a '11 5.3L with 3.42 gears, but it's pretty bogged down on a few mountain hills I regularly travel, towing my trailer. I want to change gears to either 3.73 or 4.10, but can't really decide between them. Tires are staying stock size for the foreseeable future.

So those of you who have swapped, what did you swap to, and are you happy with it? Would you have gone to a different ratio if you could do it again?
 
Off Topic but, how big is your Airstream?
 
My 2002 came with 3.73...
Tows great.... but I live on flat land on gulf coast...
Biggest hill is bridge over mississippi river or overpass.
 
MS03 2500 said:
Off Topic but, how big is your Airstream?
Click to expand...

25' and 4200lbs empty. (5800 gvwr)

I know of a very pristine 31' for only $15g USD if your looking for one.
 
I know from 2009 on there was a transmission change and in the last couple of years of AV production the factory wanted better gas mileage over torque so gears and programming was different from earlier years.
If you have the budget you may want to consider a supercharger instead of or in addition to a gear change to improve towing power Those on the site who have gotten a Magnacharger have very high praise for the increase in towing ability without hurting everyday driving and MPG since the supercharger only kicks in under a load. They do make a model for a 2011 AV too.
http://www.magnacharger.com/
 
ygmn said:
My 2002 came with 3.73...
Tows great.... but I live on flat land on gulf coast...
Biggest hill is bridge over mississippi river or overpass.
Click to expand...

Yeah, twice a year I'm driving in the Rockies. Grades up to 10%.

Vaeagleav said:
I know from 2009 on there was a transmission change and in the last couple of years of AV production the factory wanted better gas mileage over torque so gears and programming was different from earlier years.
If you have the budget you may want to consider a supercharger instead of or in addition to a gear change to improve towing power Those on the site who have gotten a Magnacharger have very high praise for the increase in towing ability without hurting everyday driving and MPG since the supercharger only kicks in under a load. They do make a model for a 2011 AV too.
http://www.magnacharger.com/
Click to expand...

That's $8g Canadian. Definitely not in my budget.
 
Tik-Tok said:
25' and 4200lbs empty. (5800 gvwr)

I know of a very pristine 31' for only $15g USD if your looking for one.
Click to expand...

I think you are a little lite on the gvwr of a 25' what year and model do you have.

No Thanks on the 31' I already have a 31' and 34' and that 34' was a bear to get up mountains.
 
Wow that is looking good for a 1974 must have took a lot of elbow grease.

Since you don't want to go supercharger, try a performance tuner that you plug into the OBD2 port. then you can unplug it when you are not towing.

Changing the gears will be extremely expensive and getting it reprogrammed is a long shot because of the 6 speed tranny.

But you have to remember is going uphill is going to be a slow process. You should try playing with tow mode or even switch it to manual and going with lower gear. Watch the tranny temp while doing this.
 
MS03 2500 said:
Wow that is looking good for a 1974 must have took a lot of elbow grease.
Click to expand...

More than I want to remember, lol.

I did do both tow mode, and mostly had to use manual on some of the hills. I couldn't go faster than 90km/h (55mph) without being way too high in the revs for my likings, and trust me, my eyes were almost glued to the tranny temp. Speaking of which, where the hell is the redline in these trucks? My gauge doesn't have one. What's considered safe?

And yeah, the gear swap isn't cheap, especially up here in tax-land. That's why I wanted some opinions on 3.73 vs 4.10. I think 3.73 would be better, but don't want to regret it. I also daily city drive this, so when I'm not towing, it should give me slightly better city MPG's.
 
Tik-Tok said:
I couldn't go faster than 90km/h (55mph) without being way too high in the revs for my likings, and trust me, my eyes were almost glued to the tranny temp. Speaking of which, where the hell is the redline in these trucks? My gauge doesn't have one. What's considered safe?
Click to expand...

I don't think regearing is going to do much for you other than let you run a higher transmission gear at about the same speed and rpm as you are now.
 
Tik-Tok said:
I also daily city drive this, so when I'm not towing, it should give me slightly better city MPG's.
Click to expand...

If you believe this I think you ought to lay off the green stuff - it isn't going to be recreationally legal in Canada for a couple of months...
 
enoniam said:
If you believe this I think you ought to lay off the green stuff - it isn't going to be recreationally legal in Canada for a couple of months...
Click to expand...

Last gear swap I did in a truck got me 10% better fuel economy in the city.... I mean... it went from 10mpg to 11mpg, but that's still 10%  :laugh:
 
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