Today I took my H55F-converted 62 for its first long drive from Snohomish, WA back home to Spokane Valley, WA. LOVE IT. It's a joy to drive again. I'm shocked at just how much power the A440F robbed from the engine. I knew it was a lot, going in, but to experience the difference is really something else. I still have the 31" tires on and of course the stock 4.11 diff ratios, so my tires are essentially too small for my new gearing. What's interesting though, is that my odometer is spot on, with only a error factor of 1.004 (multiply the odometer reading by 1.004 to get true miles traveled). I calculated this based on what it read versus my GPS after 192 miles of the trip. The speedometer is off by quite a bit though, by a factor of 1.214. I suspect once I have 33" tires on the speedometer will be fairly close to accurate (closer at least) but the odometer will then read even lower than what it should. Going to have to double check the speedo driven gear to see what tooth count it has. I REALLY don't want to split the case to change out the speedo drive gear after the guys at @torfab sealed it back up so nicely to stop the leak. Not sure what I'll do about that if it turns out the driven gear is actually not the stock late 60 series ratio. Might just say "fuggit" and spend the money for a Speedhut GPS speedometer so I won't have to split the tcase lol.
The 62 with the H55F also handled the hills beautifully and had no issue holding (anyone with knowledge of central Washington is familiar with this) the steep canyon hill between Orondo and Waterville in 4th gear the whole way up, easily maintaining within the 5MPH threshold above the speed limit.
I definitely need to get the 33" tires on it as soon as I can though. At 70 MPH (per my GPS) my engine was running 2700RPM in 5th gear. Downshifting to pass was not an option because I would red line before hitting 70 MPH in 4th gear.
As far as fuel economy? I was shocked at how good it was considering how high my engine was running for almost the entire trip. From Snohomish to Leavenworth, WA (up over Stevens Pass, about 92 miles) I got 16 MPG even, and from Leavenworth to Spokane Valley (192 miles to the station I refilled at) I got 15.5 MPG. I'm curious to see if my fuel economy goes up, goes down, or stays the same with 33" tires. On one hand there's a LOT of level distance across the West Plains in Eastern WA where my engine will run lower RPMs to maintain speed, but on the other hand I expect I'll be shifting down to 3rd to get up the pass and the couple other steep inclines across the state.
Overall I LOVE LOVE LOVE the H55F and am only kicking myself for not doing it sooner. I still have to troubleshoot my cruise control and wire it in to my clutch safety switch (which I also am going to wire up. The shop didn't wire it in, but I didn't specifically ask them to, but I'm thinking I'll go ahead and do it just for safety's sake) and figure out why the hell my 4WD light still isn't coming on when I'm in 4WD. It stopped coming on immediately before the conversion and is still not working, BUT, I do know 4WD is engaging. What's weird is that it comes on for a couple seconds (as it always has) when I shut the truck off. Also want to bend the tranny shifter and the HI-N-LO shifter on the tcase (twins ticks baby) to more comfortable positions. Just a few tweaks to do, but I'm fricken giddy over this conversion.
The 62 with the H55F also handled the hills beautifully and had no issue holding (anyone with knowledge of central Washington is familiar with this) the steep canyon hill between Orondo and Waterville in 4th gear the whole way up, easily maintaining within the 5MPH threshold above the speed limit.
I definitely need to get the 33" tires on it as soon as I can though. At 70 MPH (per my GPS) my engine was running 2700RPM in 5th gear. Downshifting to pass was not an option because I would red line before hitting 70 MPH in 4th gear.
As far as fuel economy? I was shocked at how good it was considering how high my engine was running for almost the entire trip. From Snohomish to Leavenworth, WA (up over Stevens Pass, about 92 miles) I got 16 MPG even, and from Leavenworth to Spokane Valley (192 miles to the station I refilled at) I got 15.5 MPG. I'm curious to see if my fuel economy goes up, goes down, or stays the same with 33" tires. On one hand there's a LOT of level distance across the West Plains in Eastern WA where my engine will run lower RPMs to maintain speed, but on the other hand I expect I'll be shifting down to 3rd to get up the pass and the couple other steep inclines across the state.
Overall I LOVE LOVE LOVE the H55F and am only kicking myself for not doing it sooner. I still have to troubleshoot my cruise control and wire it in to my clutch safety switch (which I also am going to wire up. The shop didn't wire it in, but I didn't specifically ask them to, but I'm thinking I'll go ahead and do it just for safety's sake) and figure out why the hell my 4WD light still isn't coming on when I'm in 4WD. It stopped coming on immediately before the conversion and is still not working, BUT, I do know 4WD is engaging. What's weird is that it comes on for a couple seconds (as it always has) when I shut the truck off. Also want to bend the tranny shifter and the HI-N-LO shifter on the tcase (twins ticks baby) to more comfortable positions. Just a few tweaks to do, but I'm fricken giddy over this conversion.
