4.30 Gear Owners, Any Regrets?

[Driving Diesel]

For those of you towing with 4.30 gears, is it worth it? Or is the MPG and RPM hit not worth the extra power when towing?

[powerdome]

4.30's will be WAY too high of an RPM to take it down the interstate, and 60mph will be some pretty high rom's as well. 4.10's will work just fine and the motor is still screaming louder than i want it to

I wish i had 3.73's

[SmokeyWren]

Originally Posted by Driving Diesel

For those of you towing with 4.30 gears, is it worth it? Or is the MPG and RPM hit not worth the extra power when towing?

Folks could give you a better answer if they knew what you're driving and hauling and towing. From other threads, I see you're talking about:
'07,F250,6.0,CC,SRW,A/T,3.73. ...close to the 23k GCWR... stock 20" rims.

For grossing near 23k with those almost-35" tires, you need at least 4.10 ratio. And if you ever tow in hills or mountains, then you'll wish you had the 4.30 rear end.

When unloaded with 4.30 gears and your tall ties, 70 MPH will be about 2,150 RPM. That's less RPM than "normal" F-350s with 4.10 ratio and 17" stock-size tires.

So for your load when towing with your truck, I'd insist on the 4.30 rear end.

But you were also talking about upgrading to a DRW tow vehicle. That's a little different because of the shorter tires on the DRWs. 70 MPH with stock-size tires and 4.30 gears on a DRW will be about 2,300 RPM. That's only about 100 RPM more than if it had 4.10 gears. I suspect your loaded to 23k MPG will be slightly better with the 4.30 gears than with 4.10, but your unloaded MPG will be slightly less. But towing a 14k 5er is serious business, so set the truck up for towing and let the unloaded MPG fall where it may.

[lincster]

I tow a 16,000lb 5er 90% of the time when driving my truck.
I have the 4.30 gears in my dually.
There are only a couple of hills I have to climb on my normal trip.
I am glad I have the 4.30 gears and not the 4.10s. At 2300rpm, the motor runs well there.
I don't worry about mpg as I bought this to tow and with the height of my 5er, it is like I am towing an open parachute anyway.

[dmd]

Originally Posted by lincster

I tow a 16,000lb 5er 90% of the time when driving my truck.
I have the 4.30 gears in my dually.
There are only a couple of hills I have to climb on my normal trip.
I am glad I have the 4.30 gears and not the 4.10s. At 2300rpm, the motor runs well there.
I don't worry about mpg as I bought this to tow and with the height of my 5er, it is like I am towing an open parachute anyway.

That is when ya need 410 or 430.... Most of us can get by with 373 with
normal driving and some towing. If you drive most of the time unloaded
and tow the TT on vacation, then the 373 are usually just fine.. Towing
16k almost all the time is a complete different story..