4.88 gears opinion on driveability

[emanting]

Hello,

I'm looking at a 200 that has had a 4.88 gear swap. My intent is to drive from Michigan to Alaska. Do the 4.88 gears affect highway cruising?

 

[gaijin]

What size tires?

 

[emanting]

What size tires?

35's

 

[Heckraiser]

Should be perfect.

 

[clrussell]

I bought my 200 with 4.88. 6 speed trans.

I’ve put almost 100,000 miles on it.

I’ve had it on 33s and currently 35s.

I have absolutely zero complaints. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

[emanting]

Is there any difference at highway speeds? Higher RPM's ?

 

[Heckraiser]

With 35's, you'll have *slightly* higher rpm at a given speed than stock tires and gears, but not enough that you'd really notice. 4.88 is the perfect gear set for 35-37" tires. If you plan to keep the 35's, I would consider this perfect. If your goal is a more stock cruiser and you think you'll want to go back to 31-33" tires, then maybe hold out for a different truck. Or if you're handy, you could probably trade+cash for someone's stock diffs.

 

[emanting]

If I dropped down to 33's, would that still be ok?

 

[clrussell]

If I dropped down to 33's, would that still be ok?

Mine was great on 33s.

Towed 4500 miles in 10 days that way.

 

[TeCKis300]

I assume you have a 2008-2015 6-speed cruiser?

You'll be 10% over-geared with 35s, with some requisite efficiency loss, but generally is fine. 4.3s are more ideal and too many subscribe to the more is better. There's a balance.

33s will only make is worse with higher RPM and windage losses. Though aero and tire rolling resistance is a factor too, perhaps more significant to MPG

Here's a reference and tables

Thread 'Definitive 200-series Gearing Reference'

Feb 21, 2018

EDIT: Expanding tables for 8-speed and 40s

So I had a little time this morning to put together a chart combining transmission gearing of 6-speed vs 8-speed, diff ratios, and tire sizing into an overall gearing reference. Hoping this will be useful for those trying to understand how their changes are going to effect overall gearing of the setup.

EDIT: Adding additional reference info
Few notes:
1) Yellow and Red denote marginal to poor ratios for the setup
2) Even with 37s, the 8-speed first gear gearing is better than the stock 6-speed gearing with 31s!
3) The 8-speed has...

• TeCKis300
• Replies: 68
• Forum: 200-Series Cruisers

• 

 

[emanting]

Ye

I assume you have a 2008-2015 6-speed cruiser?

You'll be 10% over-geared with 35s, with some requisite efficiency loss, but generally is fine. 4.3s are more ideal and too many subscribe to the more is better. There's a balance.

33s will only make is worse with higher RPM and windage losses. Though aero and tire rolling resistance is a factor too, perhaps more significant to MPG

Here's a reference and tables

Thread 'Definitive 200-series Gearing Reference'

Feb 21, 2018

EDIT: Expanding tables for 8-speed and 40s

So I had a little time this morning to put together a chart combining transmission gearing of 6-speed vs 8-speed, diff ratios, and tire sizing into an overall gearing reference. Hoping this will be useful for those trying to understand how their changes are going to effect overall gearing of the setup.

EDIT: Adding additional reference info
Few notes:
1) Yellow and Red denote marginal to poor ratios for the setup
2) Even with 37s, the 8-speed first gear gearing is better than the stock 6-speed gearing with 31s!
3) The 8-speed has...

• TeCKis300
• Replies: 68
• Forum: 200-Series Cruisers

• 

Yes, looking at purchasing a 2013. I'm concerned with increased highway noise due to higher RPM as my wife is going with me. Dont want to substitute one drone for another

 

[TeCKis300]

Ye

Yes, looking at purchasing a 2013. I'm concerned with increased highway noise due to higher RPM as my wife is going with me. Dont want to substitute one drone for another

Noise shouldn't be much of a concern. I've towed on trips thousands of miles using 4th gear at highway speeds and that's much higher RPM. The 5.7L is silky smooth and refined at what will only be 200-300 RPM higher in 6th with 4.88s.

 

[clrussell]

Noise shouldn't be much of a concern. I've towed on trips thousands of miles using 4th gear at highway speeds and that's much higher RPM. The 5.7L is silky smooth and refined at what will only be 200-300 RPM higher in 6th with 4.88s.

This ^^^

My 200 is not any louder at 4,000 rpm than it is at 2,000

 

[linuxgod]

Mileage takes a hit on the highway but without a trailer I’ve had not issues cruising 95mph in 6th gear with 4.88s on 35s. Wind noise from my roof rack is worse than the engine noise.

If you tow I have slightly different opinions