I don't have any performance figures for comparison. I never took any data
while I had 3.55 gears in my 97 Dakota, but I did drive it for almost 3
years like this and can give you a "seat of the pants" comparison. I will
say this, after I had the 4.10 LSD put in, I wouldn't ever go back to those
3.55 gears again! My baby wants to run now! I can feel the difference even
though my computer is still stock. It will get up to 40 mph at partial
throttle much quicker than it did. Where I notice the biggest difference is
on the highway at 60 or higher mph. Before I switched the gears, the engine
would tach at about 1750-1800 rpm @ 60mph. With the 4.10 gears, the engine
now tachs a taste over 2000 rpm. That small difference is huge when it
comes to the way the truck runs. With the 3.55's the truck always felt
sluggish and "lugged" at 60mph. Now it wants to get up and go at 60. All I
have to do is feed it a little gas and off she goes.
IMOH, the 5.2 L V-8 in my truck does not want to run below 2k rpm. I think
the MPI intake manifold design is responsible for this. They are using a
single plane manifold which is typically suited for higher rpm power output.
Most street vehicles use a dual plane manifold for low end torque; race cars
use open or single plane manifolds and operate in higher rpm brackets.
Now all I need to do is unlock the potential of my 318 with some performance
upgrades which I am in the process of researching at this very moment.
Go for the 4.10's....you wont be disappointed, except for fuel economy, but
it wasn't great with the 3.55's anyway! ;^)
Mike
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