Road manners H41 or H42, which is better?

For road travel I'd go with the:

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cruiser_guy

cruiser_guy

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I was having some issues with the H42 tranny in the '55 and I found out that it was due to one spacer that I forgot when I put it together 4-5 years ago. The H42/transfer was in rough shape when we got it so I'm not totally upset.

Anyways, I went looking for parts today and all the parts I found were worse that what I already had. Finally one guy offered an entire tranny, and being that I'm in Guatemala, it is an H41.

The question I have is that the only parts that were bad was the tranny output shaft where it rides on the roller bearings in the input shaft and a syncro ring. I think the missed spacer caused the input and output shafts to rub together. All the gears are OK. What would you do? Put it back together as an H42 or an H41? The '55 will be primarily for road travel, no rock crawling and only dirt/gravel roads, no heavy duty off road stuff. Is the H41 just as good as the H42 or should I stay with the H42 because the H41 is too low geared to be decent for on the road?

I have to pull both trannies apart as I need the case from the H42 due to the mounting configuration so the dismantling and reassembly is no different either way.
 
both have a 1:1 fourth, so no change.
first is noticibly lower in the 41, with second being alittle lower and third only slightly lower, than the 42.
 
The only reason I'd choose an h42 is road manners. With the h41 you have to shift before the other side of an intersection and 2nd is too high to skip 1st like you would in an sm420/sm465.

That said, if you ever plan to do any kind of four wheeling, I'd take the lower gears. It's not just better for crawling, it's better uphill, downhill, in sand, in mud...
 
Hi All:

Having run both the H42 and the H41 in the same rig with the same tires, gears, etc. I have to say that the H42 is definitely more "road friendly."

That said, the H41 is not as bad as the SM420 or 465. If you are running 35s with 4.1 gears you might find the H41 a nice compromise.

Regards,

Alan
 
I currently run a 41 with 3.70 r&p and 35s. This is a great transmission, especially off road. Like Fast Eddy said, on the street first gear is just a little push off the line and then its time to switch. But you gotta switch no matter what transmission you run. Third gear is very close to the 42's third and fourth is identical so on the highway you'll be running the same RPMs. So... I'd go with the 41.
 
Once I switched from an H42 to a H41 into my FJ40, I started driving it less and less on the street, and started driving my swb45 with the H42 more. DEFINITELY more road friendly.

I just spent 15 days expedition-style wheeling my lwb45 with the H42 and only missed the extra-low gear once or twice. My current dry weight [without camping gear] is 5300 lbs.

Unless you're going to rockcrawl, or pull an even heavier load, I think the H42 will be fine.

That said, there may well be an H41 in my 45 by Moab '07!

Best

Mark A.
 
mark, what size tires were you running on the 40 and 45?

if you were building a fj55 with 2F and 35s to run mostly on road and gravel would you still opt for the H42?

thanks....:)
 
I am running an H41 with 4.10 gears and 38" tires on the street and it seems to be fine. The tall tires help. If I were to step down to 35's for street I am sure the engine would peak a good bit faster. I guess it mainly depends on your other gearing and tire size. A stock rig with 33's and 4.10 gears would suck on the street in my opinion.

Jeremy
 
Sounds like the majority opinion is that the H42 is preffered for street driving.

Would that change with 33" tires and a 3.7 axle ratio?

With the comments so far I'm thinking that the FJ45LV should get the H42 as it will not be lifted or have larger than stock tires and it already has 4:11's in the axles.
 
I'm presuming you do lots of dirt roads, and little technical 4 wheeling in your trips to Central America. The H42 should be fine. I have an H55 which is sort of like an H41 with an overdrive. The first gear is very short-as in leave the light and shift half way through the intersection.

However, if you could get an H41 for the same or cheaper, then the nod would slightly go to the H41, just because it gives you more options in the end.

In everyday driving, I would consider the transmissions to be the same, just that the first gear is lower on the H41, meaning once you are rolling, you won't notice any gearing differences.
 
I've driven both and shifting wise, they feel the same smooth toyota.

I was running the H41 with 29" tires and 4.10's so it was pretty low. If I knew it was mostly street driven and 33's...I'd probably go with the H41 as you never know when you might need that little extra bit of low.
 
BELMONT148 said:
I am running an H41 with 4.10 gears and 38" tires on the street and it seems to be fine. The tall tires help. If I were to step down to 35's for street I am sure the engine would peak a good bit faster. I guess it mainly depends on your other gearing and tire size. A stock rig with 33's and 4.10 gears would suck on the street in my opinion.

Jeremy
Click to expand...
At 2720 RPM (Good Cruising rpm), on my F engined truck, I should be at 65mph with 4.11 and H42 tranny. That is plenty fast enough for me! That is also lower rpm than my 1995 Pathfinder runs at 65 (3100)!

Acording to my spread sheet at the same RPM you will be doing 75mph! :eek:
 
I think I got it up that fast a couple of times going to Wilmington. It takes a while to get there though. 38" tires, can you say overdrive in every gear. ;)

Jeremy
 
BELMONT148 said:
I think I got it up that fast a couple of times going to Wilmington. It takes a while to get there though. 38" tires, can you say overdrive in every gear. ;)

Jeremy
Click to expand...

I've got 37's and SM420 and 4.10's. She likes to ride about 2500-2600. Not sure where it is, but around other vehicles it seems 65-70 :D I did have her up to 3100 once :D and shes gets there pretty fast :grinpimp:
 
BELMONT148 said:
Three words for ya, V8 and SLOW DOWN. 3100 RPM's is 83 mph. I don't know if I want to run that fast in a 36 year old open-top, doorless vehicle.

This video comes to mind. :eek:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N309xX663cY :eek:

Jeremy
Click to expand...

oh you don't have to worry about me running 3K rpms in 4th. I can't afford gas trying to push this beast through the wind and I know it's not the smartest thing in the world. I should have highlighted the word "ONCE"

usually the max is 2600 RPM's. which i figure around 65ish. She cruises even better at 55 but you get a lot people all over you at that speed.
 
cruiser_guy said:
I was having some issues with the H42 tranny in the '55 and I found out that it was due to one spacer that I forgot when I put it together 4-5 years ago. The H42/transfer was in rough shape when we got it so I'm not totally upset.

Anyways, I went looking for parts today and all the parts I found were worse that what I already had. Finally one guy offered an entire tranny, and being that I'm in Guatemala, it is an H41.

The question I have is that the only parts that were bad was the tranny output shaft where it rides on the roller bearings in the input shaft and a syncro ring. I think the missed spacer caused the input and output shafts to rub together. All the gears are OK. What would you do? Put it back together as an H42 or an H41? The '55 will be primarily for road travel, no rock crawling and only dirt/gravel roads, no heavy duty off road stuff. Is the H41 just as good as the H42 or should I stay with the H42 because the H41 is too low geared to be decent for on the road?

I have to pull both trannies apart as I need the case from the H42 due to the mounting configuration so the dismantling and reassembly is no different either way.
Click to expand...

First, I'm not so sure that swapping H41 parts into an H42 case is doable.

Second, you don't mention whether you're using a diesel engine or other. For a diesel the H41 is very nice on the street as the lower first gear gives a much better start offline.

So many responses discussing the high speed/fourth gear use. The two transmissions are both 1:1 in fourth gear as Brian said in the first response, and both transmissions will give the same performance.

Say what you will, I know that if I were driving in any area of south America or below the US border I know that I'd very much like to have the lower ratio afforded me by the H41 transmission.
 
honk said:
First, I'm not so sure that swapping H41 parts into an H42 case is doable.
Click to expand...

It looks like the parts I need are the same in both trannys so that's not a problem and the case I have is from a BJ60 I think (it has the belly mount on the tranny case). Actually the first gear of the H41 is only about 3/8" larger in diameter (alot less then I expected).

honk said:
Second, you don't mention whether you're using a diesel engine or other. For a diesel the H41 is very nice on the street as the lower first gear gives a much better start offline.
Click to expand...

All of my 'Cruisers are powered by a turbocharged 3B diesel.

Cruiserdrew said:
However, if you could get an H41 for the same or cheaper, then the nod would slightly go to the H41, just because it gives you more options in the end.
Click to expand...

The H41 is the ONLY tranny I can get here!!
 
cruiser_guy said:
Sounds like the majority opinion is that the H42 is preffered for street driving.

Would that change with 33" tires and a 3.7 axle ratio?

With the comments so far I'm thinking that the FJ45LV should get the H42 as it will not be lifted or have larger than stock tires and it already has 4:11's in the axles.
Click to expand...

33s and 3.7s are a bit much to ask of the h42. It will lug in traffic in all gears. If that's the route you're headed, that kind of 'load' is as significant as the others I was speaking to, and I'd shift my vote towards the h41.

:cheers:
 
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