4.10/4.30/4.56 Which route to go?

[ultravorx]

Hey guys, with the advent of a nice tax return, i will be doing a stage one kit finally!!! Im just not sure which route to take for gears. i can do 4.10/4.30/4.56 Im leaning heavily on the 4.30's I do quite a bit of highway driving, since my GF lives about 130 miles away. I do want a nice pickup off the line as well. I think the 4.56 would be a bit overkill, especially for highway driving. I typically stay at 75-85 while on the highway. And i occasionally open it up on the long Rhode Island straightaways on 95. Im just loooking for some input from you guys.
Thanks,
Frank

[duhtroll]

Just my personal opinions-

I was torn between 4.10 and 4.30 because I also do lots of hwy driving (80 miles per day average).

I got 4.10s, and the RPMS did go up about 250-300 - most noticeably at hwy speeds. At 70 MPH I am right around 2100-2200 RPMS, but I normally drive 75-80 on the way to/from work. I have noticed a MPG drop of about 2-2.5 with the change. I am not what I consider to be average for that as many owners have stated no noticeable MPG drop.

Some owners have mentioned they get better MPG when staying around 2200 RPMS consistently, and since at 80 MPH I am about 2500 maybe that is the reason for my loss in MPG (only averaging 18-20 on the hwy). So if I would drive more responsibly I would see better mileage, and it's my own dang fault, but if I had stayed with the 3.55s I would be able to go 80 and get 22-24 MPG consistently. I made that trade and I still think it was worth it for the extra off-the-line boost.

So, long story short, if you do a lot of highway, 4.10s are the way to go. If you don't care about mileage, get 4.30s. I think 4.56s are a bit much for someone who does mostly highway.

Just my 0.0199999 cents,
-A

[Paul T. Casey]

And i occasionally open it up on the long Rhode Island straightaways on 95
Please explain? Where are these? :rolleyes:

[Logan]

I run 4.30's and cruise at 80 most of the time on the highway, drives fine. 4.10's are almost as good performance wise but are a bit easier on the gas mileage.

4.56's are too much IMHO...

[TripleG]

Weel I'll go with the chip first as stated in on of the last replies iIf you got the the time and money to invest. I have the 4:10 gears ,chip, plugs, Reinheart exhuast, manifold and dynomax mufflers and the cars is just supper. I got 22 miles to a gallon going to the Hooters meet in long lsland.

Bye the way had a great time at the meet. Now if we had some good weather in New England I get the MM polished and looking the way it should unbelieveable.

[ultravorx]

And i occasionally open it up on the long Rhode Island straightaways on 95
Please explain? Where are these? :rolleyes:
THe straighaways are near exit 2 rest stop, coming into RI. Usually when im driving up at night, or leaving back to CT, these areas are pretty empty, and i have some fun. Also where there is the "Measure mile begins" sign also is nice to open up, providing not too many cars are around.
Frank

[Paul T. Casey]

Yeah, that's what I thought you meant, I was kinda kiddin' around, being a RIer. You know, that state that will fit inside the greater Houston metro area. Be careful ova theya though, the State Police barricks is right there in Richmond and they like to patrol the first three exits, also the bridge just north of Rte 102 is a popular radar hangout!

[Paul T. Casey]

Almost forgot, see thread "Shameless plug." That's stock rear gear with a flash, like Smokie said.

[ultravorx]

Yeah, that's what I thought you meant, I was kinda kiddin' around, being a RIer. You know, that state that will fit inside the greater Houston metro area. Be careful ova theya though, the State Police barricks is right there in Richmond and they like to patrol the first three exits, also the bridge just north of Rte 102 is a popular radar hangout!
I always pick up radar blips near the 102 bridge, i even once got picked up over there, but they didnt pull me over until 10 miles later. They said they couldnt catch up to me :lol: but they were in a suburban or something like that. I didn realize its 55 there, they clocked me at 80. $70 ticket only though, so i was kinda glad, now i REALLY watch myself in that area. Just last visit a guy was doing about 90 there, a few seconds later he had company and was pulled over. I learned my lesson!!!
Frank

[junehhan]

I'm also looking into a possible gear swap as well, except that i'm torn in between 4.10's, and 4.30's. IMHO, I think 4.56's would be too extreme, especially since I do a bit of driving and don't want my gas mileage to go down the tube that badly. I am leaning towards the 4.30's since a 300rpm increase at highway speeds isn't too bad............

[BillyGman]

It isn't really gonna matter weather you do 4.10's or 4.30's cuz they're just so close in ratio you're not going to notice any difference in acceleration, and there's only 150 RPM difference at 70 MPH between the two.

People want everything. Gas mileage and a real fast car. But you can't have everything. So some people end up compromising and either get a little of both, or neither one depending on how you look at it.

IMO, if you were concerned about gas mileage, then you should've bought that 4 cylinder economy car that was sitting next to the Marauder in the dealer's show room. You're not gonna have it all. Remember that. But to try and help you out here, I'll tell you that w/the 3.55's, I got 17 MPG city(just like the window sticker said). And w/the 4.10's I got 15 MPG in the city. Now w/the 4.56's I get 13.5 MPG in the city, but I also have the fastest N/A Marauder on this board. I'm reving at 2700 RPM's at 70 MPH in O/D. To me that's no big deal. I can still bring the car up to 100 MPH in a heartbeat, and you'll see by my signature that I have the fastest trap speed on the board of any N/A Marauder too. Sometimes I still bring her up to 120 MPH because she can still do that w/the 4.56's, but it's rare that I do that. You don't need to dothat to have fun w/this car.

Case & point, you can't have everything. These are big heavy cars, and changing from 3.55's to 4.10's will make a small difference in acceleration as long as you chip it also.If you don't chip it, then forget it. Because it will NOT make any difference at all(been there done that). But even w/the chip, it isn't gonna be a night and day difference. It will mean a .50 sec reduction in your ET at the track. But a half second reduction in the quarter isn't going to feel like a major difference when you jump in your car and drive down your street, unless you get into a race w/that guy that you came close to beating a couple weeks before that. Because now you'll either keep up w/him, or beat him by a car length. The one thing that I'll say is for certain is that if you ever think that you'll supercharge the car, then don't put the 4.56's in, because you probably won't be able to use all the power off of the line anyway if you do. But then again, I wonder if nyone can really use all the off-the-line acceleration w/the 4.10's when they supercharge their car.

So it depends what your priorities are, and what exactly you want thecar to do. For instance, if you want the car to burn rubber from a dead punch well into second gear, then you'll have to get the 4.56's, stallion torque converter set at a stall speed of 3,000 RPM's, and the Kooks headers along w/their complete exhaust. That's what I did. But I don't know what you're looking to accomplish w/your car, so that was just an example. But just remember, you can't have it all. It's either one thing, or the other w/a car this heavy.

[ultravorx]

It isn't really gonna matter weather you do 4.10's or 4.30's cuz they're just so close in ratio you're not going to notice any difference in acceleration, and there's only 150 RPM difference at 70 MPH between the two.

People want everything. Gas mileage and a real fast car. But you can't have everything. So some people end up compromising and either get a little of both, or neither one depending on how you look at it.

IMO, if you were concerned about gas mileage, then you should've bought that 4 cylinder economy car that was sitting next to the Marauder in the dealer's show room. You're not gonna have it all. Remember that. But to try and help you out here, I'll tell you that w/the 3.55's, I got 17 MPG city(just like the window sticker said). And w/the 4.10's I got 15 MPG in the city. Now w/the 4.56's I get 13.5 MPG in the city, but I also have the fastest N/A Marauder on this board. I'm reving at 2700 RPM's at 70 MPH in O/D. To me that's no big deal. I can still bring the car up to 100 MPH in a heartbeat, and you'll see by my signature that I have the fastest trap speed on the board of any N/A Marauder too. Sometimes I still bring her up to 120 MPH because she can still do that w/the 4.56's, but it's rare that I do that. You don't need to dothat to have fun w/this car.

Case & point, you can't have everything. These are big heavy cars, and changing from 3.55's to 4.10's will make a small difference in acceleration as long as you chip it also.If you don't chip it, then forget it. Because it will NOT make any difference at all(been there done that). But even w/the chip, it isn't gonna be a night and day difference. It will mean a .50 sec reduction in your ET at the track. But a half second reduction in the quarter isn't going to feel like a major difference when you jump in your car and drive down your street, unless you get into a race w/that guy that you came close to beating a couple weeks before that. Because now you'll either keep up w/him, or beat him by a car length. The one thing that I'll say is for certain is that if you ever think that you'll supercharge the car, then don't put the 4.56's in, because you probably won't be able to use all the power off of the line anyway if you do. But then again, I wonder if nyone can really use all the off-the-line acceleration w/the 4.10's when they supercharge their car.

So it depends what your priorities are, and what exactly you want thecar to do. For instance, if you want the car to burn rubber from a dead punch well into second gear, then you'll have to get the 4.56's, stallion torque converter set at a stall speed of 3,000 RPM's, and the Kooks headers along w/their complete exhaust. That's what I did. But I don't know what you're looking to accomplish w/your car, so that was just an example. But just remember, you can't have it all. It's either one thing, or the other w/a car this heavy.

Thanks for all the great info!!!! What im really looking for is good, solid off the line performance, but still have the "go" at higher speeds. Gas isnt that big of a deal for me, considering i had an Avalanche with the 8.1L modded that got me 6 mpg!! :lol: Since i dont plan on blowing the car, i may just do the 4.30's.
Frank

[BillyGman]

4.30's aren't a bad choice. That will still leave you open for more options than I have when it comes to overiding the stock computer settings (which MUST be done if you want better acceleration). Because some chips, and programmer/tuners that are on the market will accomodate 4.10's and some even 4.30's but many will not correct the sppedometer error created by 4.56's(Dennis Reinhart's stuff does though).

Whay I like about having 4.56 gears, is that w/out a Supercharger on the car, I can still get great traction off the line w/street tires at the dragstrip since they use the traction compound on the track. And on the street I could do a decent burnout from a dead punch if I hammer the pedal to the floor all at once, but if I want to get a good 0-60 MPH time of 4.9 seconds, then I just use half pedal off the line for the first 20 feet, and then I hammer it and the street tires will stay hooked up.

[junehhan]

Hmmm.........

I think i'm leaning more towards the 4.10's now, since I see myself eventually supercharging my car. I have no plans of doing so, but i'm can't resist such temptations so easily which could change my plans on a dime.......

[CRUZTAKER]

I am quite pleased with my 4:10's. And let me assure you that you will notice a big difference with just a tap of the accelerator after the change. The 4:10's change on the highway is nearly unnoticable as we have ALL stated.

The big but....? If I had to do it again, I would have done 4:30's.

[MapleLeafMerc]

Thanks for the post, ultravorx. At this point I'm more inclined to try mechanical mods. And thanks Billy for the perspective. With a car like this, I can't start worrying about mileage.

[BillyGman]

you will notice a big difference with just a tap of the accelerator after the change. If I had to do it again, I would have done 4:30's.

Hmmmm, I'm a bit surprised to hear anyone say this from merely a gear change to 4.10's. But I guess it's how you look at it, and what your expectations are. When it comes to High performance, i guess I'm one of those who just can't get enough. :D

[Cobra25]

I've done the stage 1 chip, Denso plugs and 180 stat with the 410 rear gears. A real big difference from stock. On the high way doing 105 my rpm's are at 3300-3400. with plenty left and the gas mileage isn't bad at all. And with the price of gas going up I wouldn't go any bigger than 410's .

[Misduh1sdatpast]

Hello BillyGman, hope all is well. I read your comments on 4.56s i want them for my 03 Marauder, could you tell me what kit you used & the special part needed please. Few questions, will i need to upgrade from stock driveshaft, i have LT headers no cats full stainless exhaust, FloMas40 stock tips, 4.10s & SCT dyno tune, will i need to get the car retuned for 4.56s?

[BackNBlack]

I'm just here to see if BillyGman ACTUALLY responds...

And God Bless & Keep Paul Casey...I hope EVERY day is partly cloudy, low humidity and 52 degrees up there Paul...and the 1320' is sticky and the 60's are QUICK!

[MyBlackBeasts]

Hello BillyGman, hope all is well. I read your comments on 4.56s i want them for my 03 Marauder, could you tell me what kit you used & the special part needed please. Few questions, will i need to upgrade from stock driveshaft, i have LT headers no cats full stainless exhaust, FloMas40 stock tips, 4.10s & SCT dyno tune, will i need to get the car retuned for 4.56s?

Thread is from 2004, not sure if you'll get an answer.