switch back to OEM gears

[Bruce Wayne]

Hi, My MM was purchased with 410 gears in rear. I do a lot of highway driving and am wondering if it would be a good idea to switch back to original 355's ? since they were included when I bought the car. I don't know if the car has a tune, but It sure goes good, and shifts between !st and 2nd is very abrubt. What would I need to do to switch back? Most of my driving is long distance highway, and I am thinking I could save a bit on gas. Any suggestions, comment appreciated.

[guspech750]

You would need, new or a good set of used 3.55's, an instal kit for the gears, bearings etc, new fluid and a tune for 3.55 gears.

If you'd like. I have a set of 3.55 gears with about 60,000 miles on them in perfect shape you can have really cheap.


Sent from my iPhone
Eaton Swap + 4.10's = Wreeeeeeeeeedom!!

[Blackmobile]

I think he stated he got the original set with the purchase of the MM.:cool4:

[SC Cheesehead]

Unless the majority of your driving is highway at 75+, you're not going to see much of a difference. While I was still NA, I tracked my mileage closely both before and after installation of my 4.10 gears, and the overall average varied about 1/2 mpg.

[fastblackmerc]

I don't think you'd be happy doing backwards.

[CBT]

Hi, My MM was purchased with 410 gears in rear. I do a lot of highway driving and am wondering if it would be a good idea to switch back to original 355's ? since they were included when I bought the car. I don't know if the car has a tune, but It sure goes good, and shifts between !st and 2nd is very abrubt. What would I need to do to switch back? Most of my driving is long distance highway, and I am thinking I could save a bit on gas. Any suggestions, comment appreciated.


I don't think the savings would be worth it. You'd have to be traveling crazy amounts of miles to make a significant noticable difference in savings. Have one less donut in the morning and boom, savings, done.

[Merrill]

What is your current MPG. I have a bone stock car no tune, with 114,000.
Hwy trips gets 25.5 to 26

[tbone]

I don't think the savings would be worth it. You'd have to be traveling crazy amounts of miles to make a significant noticable difference in savings. Have one less donut in the morning and boom, savings, done.


+1 ^^^
It would cost a few hundred bucks to swap out. You can buy an awful lot of gas for that. But, if it still makes sense to you, then you probably also drive a Prius.:)

[ctrlraven]

For the difference you see in gas mileage you're better off making sure your tires are properly inflated, avoid carrying any extra weight in the car and keep it cleaned and waxed. For most when switching from 3.55 to 4.10 gears they see on average of 1-2 mpg decrease so factor in how much it would cost to put 3.55 gears in compared to how long it would take for them to pay for themselves in gas saved.

It's basically the same principle of buying a hybrid compared to a gas efficient vehicle. On average it takes years to make your money back when you buy a hybrid.

[RF Overlord]

I don't think the savings would be worth it. You'd have to be traveling crazy amounts of miles to make a significant noticable difference in savings. Have one less donut in the morning and boom, savings, done.


+1 ^^^
It would cost a few hundred bucks to swap out. You can buy an awful lot of gas for that. But, if it still makes sense to you, then you probably also drive a Prius.:)^^^what they said^^^

[dohc324ci]

Labor, parts (xcal, gear kit) and reflash for gears? It's going to cost you at least 1k for all that work. Is it worth it? That's for you to decide but I wouldn't factoring costs associated.

[tbone]

It's basically the same principle of buying a hybrid compared to a gas efficient vehicle. On average it takes years to make your money back when you buy a hybrid.

I don't think you ever get your money back on a hybrid. By the time you get even close on gas "savings", (10 years or more) the batteries are shot. Who in their right mind wants to shell out many thousands of dollars for new batteries? When was the last time you saw a Honda Insight? I'll bet they were thrown out as soon as the batteries died.

[dohc324ci]

It feels pc to buy a hybrid/electric car...ford fiesta is claiming 40mpg on a combustion engine.

[tbone]

If you are really worried about mileage, buy one of these!

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQf8hNv_2KUB sdEF1uPOqAQr6YVsZiUdYzPDkjtovc hgXm1n2RIwQ

70 mpg on this hog!

[ctrlraven]

I don't think you ever get your money back on a hybrid. By the time you get even close on gas "savings", (10 years or more) the batteries are shot. Who in their right mind wants to shell out many thousands of dollars for new batteries? When was the last time you saw a Honda Insight? I'll bet they were thrown out as soon as the batteries died.
7-10 years to break even. Batteries are usually good for 7yrs or 100k miles. I have seen some hybrids with over 100k miles but they are less than 7 yrs old.

It feels pc to buy a hybrid/electric car...ford fiesta is claiming 40mpg on a combustion engine.
I'd much rather buy a fuel efficient car then a hybrid.

[dohc324ci]

^^makes too much sense for 13k for a 2013 entry level Ford Fiesta 29/40mpg vs a hybrid x brand. It's backwards to me the hybrids should be cheaper than a combustion engine then you would see folks buying them. If you look at the details hybrids costs much much more.

[SC Cheesehead]

7-10 years to break even. Batteries are usually good for 7yrs or 100k miles. I have seen some hybrids with over 100k miles but they are less than 7 yrs old.

I'd much rather buy a fuel efficient car then a hybrid.

We bought an Escape Hybrid for my wife back in '06 when the tax incentive was in place, that helped, but still was a 4-5 year payback when I ran the numbers.

She's got around 110K on it right now, and still going strong, we're hoping to get 10 years out of it, but we'll see.

+1 on an efficient gas-powered vehicle, that'll be her replacement next time around.

[dohc324ci]

We bought an Escape Hybrid for my wife back in '06 when the tax incentive was in place, that helped, but still was a 4-5 year payback when I ran the numbers.



That was a government subsidy to try and stimulate the adoption of hybrids. Its funny how come the more affluent are usually the ones able to purchase hybrids? Lots of folks in the Bay Area can afford to buy one of these. Cali is the largest consumer of the Toyota Prius.

OK back on topic; lots of highway driving? perhaps some tips from members to squeeze the most out of your setup?

1. Inflate tires/check regularly
2. Cruise Control
3. Lose some weight on your heavy right foot
4. Regular maintenance such as air filter, spark plugs, OS sensor, fuel filter etc...
5?

[guspech750]

That was a government subsidy to try and stimulate the adoption of hybrids. Its funny how come the more affluent are usually the ones able to purchase hybrids? Lots of folks in the Bay Area can afford to buy one of these. Cali is the largest consumer of the Toyota Prius.

OK back on topic; lots of highway driving? perhaps some tips from members to squeeze the most out of your setup?

1. Inflate tires/check regularly
2. Cruise Control
3. Lose some weight on your heavy right foot
4. Regular maintenance such as air filter, spark plugs, OS sensor, fuel filter etc...
5?

5. I'm sure we all can personally lose some weight and save gas ;)


Sent from my iPhone
Eaton Swap + 4.10's = Wreeeeeeeeeedom!!

[dohc324ci]

5. I'm sure we all can personally lose some weight and save gas ;)


Sent from my iPhone
Eaton Swap + 4.10's = Wreeeeeeeeeedom!!

5. Acutally this is really important to saving fuel. Look in cab/trunk and remove uneccessay items.

[Bruce Wayne]

Thanks for the reply's. My other MM, (I don't drive a prius and would't own a foreign car smartie) seems to rev around 2000 rpm at 120 kph. This daily winter driver which I am referring to, shows about 2500 rpm on the tach at the same speed. I drive about 800 km per week mostly highway, and just wondered about the higher rev's maybe adding extra gas mileage and wear and tear on engine components.

[CBT]

Thanks for the reply's. My other MM, (I don't drive a prius and would't own a foreign car smartie) seems to rev around 2000 rpm at 120 kph. This daily winter driver which I am referring to, shows about 2500 rpm on the tach at the same speed. I drive about 800 km per week mostly highway, and just wondered about the higher rev's maybe adding extra gas mileage and wear and tear on engine components.

Well yeah, it stands to reason higher rpm's will wear parts out faster. I have many many many times typed this statement on this very website: It's not the miles, it's the rpm's! :burnout:

[Green96]

shifts between !st and 2nd is very abrubt.

The shifting is probably from a couple of things. If you have 4.10s and you do not blow up the motor before it shifts at wide open throttle then you have a tune in the car. The tune probably increased the line pressure in the transmission increasing shift firmness. You may also have a j-mod. This is a transmission modification that involves the drilling of the separator plate, and the removal/changing of springs in the trans. The common thing is to remove the 1-2 accumulator spring giving a very hard shift from 1-2. I personally prefer a drilling only j-mod leaving the springs in place. This suites my needs in a daily driver better than the hard shift, but to each his or her own. If you want to soften it up a little from 1-2 have a good transmission shop put back in the 1-2 accumulator spring.

[mrjones]

Another thing you can do to take a tiny bit of the sting out of the gears is go to a 255/55 rear tire next time it's time for rear tires. Of course, anything requiring premium fuel ain't EVER gonna be cheap to drive.

[ctrlraven]

Another thing you can do to take a tiny bit of the sting out of the gears is go to a 255/55 rear tire next time it's time for rear tires. Of course, anything requiring premium fuel ain't EVER gonna be cheap to drive.

255/55 with 4.10s is 4.04 effective rear gear
255/55 with 3.55s is 3.50 effective rear gear

[Richy04]

I don't think you ever get your money back on a hybrid. By the time you get even close on gas "savings", (10 years or more) the batteries are shot. Who in their right mind wants to shell out many thousands of dollars for new batteries? When was the last time you saw a Honda Insight? I'll bet they were thrown out as soon as the batteries died.

I bought mine at the turn of the century (honda insight) 260K miles and if I spent 2k on it, that would be it. Still turning 50 mpg and getting stopped often for speeding. I bought mine when nobody wanted them, brand new and half price. Best move I ever made. I have it ten years, never let me down.

[71cyclone]

We bought an Escape Hybrid for my wife back in '06 when the tax incentive was in place, that helped, but still was a 4-5 year payback when I ran the numbers.

She's got around 110K on it right now, and still going strong, we're hoping to get 10 years out of it, but we'll see.

+1 on an efficient gas-powered vehicle, that'll be her replacement next time around.
At Metro transit in Washington D.C.metro area, a fleet of hybrid busses were purchased from Newflyer, this added roughly 175 thousand to the price of the standard clean burn Cummins powered bus,[ 400 thousand ] .The fuel savings was barely 15% [ non hybrid 4 miles per gallon city milage] the only advantage is brakes,they were lasting 60 thousand miles plus with minimal ware vs 15 thousand for non hybrid/ Suburban milage was better on brakes .. The Allison electric motor hybrid unit [trans] Cost 140 thousand , versus 30 thousand for a Allison b400,
Now mind you the Federal gov requird Metro to buy these busses. in my book these are not cost effective and maintenance is questionable ,plagued with electrical gremlins.:shake::shake: