>From: Tim Roller
>starwolf@bewellnet.com
> The difference between gearing ratios is the ability to do the job they
were designed for. For instance, the gear ratio of 3.21-gives good to great
fuel milage on the open road and in town if the vehicle doesn't have to
stop often,and you have an adaquate engine with enough horsepower to not be
bogged-down with just the weight of an empty vehicle(as in: 5000 lb.truck
vehicle and having only a 4-cylinder engine to pull it along. It just won't
work without a lot of labor for the engine and you probably won't get more
than 25mpg. On the other hand, with a 318 dodge engine with 3.90 gearing
you won't get great gas milage, probably around 12 city and 19 highway, but
you can pull a 25 foot trailer to your favorite camp site. I have the
3.55's in my '95 SLT and they seem to be in my opinion, combined with
V-8,4-speed automatic, to be the best all-around gears. So it depends on
the circumstances:
3.21: open road high milage,low RPM, very light(loaded bed only)towing,or
just plain high speeds for top-end
3.55: excellent all-around gears, very good empty bed,no towing milage,able
to tow up to 2 tons without problems(keep speeds down),able to(empty or up
200lbs. in bed)cruise at 70-90 mph
3.90: very good to excellent gears for towing,climbing trails(4x4
models),good racing gears for those Saturday night races,only draw-baacks
with these gears is way-lower gas milage,much higher RPM's on the open road
at speeds
these gears do have a particular purpose for what you want to do-just
remember that the lower the axle ratio the better the milage,lower RPM's at
a given speed, but lousey towing capabilities
the higher the ratio, the better towing capacity,but not as good milage,
with higher RPM's but they do make good gears for kicking-ass on the track.
hope I've helped some- do go with a V-8 because the power to weight-ratio
is awsome.
----------
> From: DAVID A DI SANTI <Dave_Di_Santi@prodigy.com>
> To: dakota-truck@buffnet.net
> Subject: RE: DML: Re: Dakota puchase questions
> Date: Thursday, November 27, 1997 9:51 PM
>
> I am kind of mechanically illiterate, could someone explain the
> difference btw 3.90, 3.21 and 3.55 which is best for what.
>
> Dave
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