[jocko]

3.73 to 3.42 isn’t a drastic change - I’d submit not worth doing if that’s “all” you’re doing. Different story if you happen to grab a junkyard rear end that happens to have 3.42s in it - no problema, that’d work just fine. I’d also submit that, since you hinted that you didn’t want to do an o/d trans swap “yet” - that also means that you might consider it someday. If that is a future option you’re interested in, I’d keep the 3.73s and save those $ to be used toward the future trans. 3.73 is a near-perfect ratio for an o/d trans, there’s a reason so many of the factory o/d light duty GM trucks came with 3.73s.