Quote:
Originally Posted by BIG10
It may be gutless, but would be okay for cruising back and forth to work. IMO.
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That's why I own two trucks. The one with 4.10 gears loaded down with landscape maintenance equipment and the other with 2.73 gears the is my car that also happens to be a light duty (5k gvw) truck.
My custom deluxe weights 3850 pounds empty on the local scrap yard scale. The 4.3/th350/2.73 drive line is perfect with an empty pickup in the mountains of NE PA. Gutless no way runs better than any 305 empty but put a 600 pound lawn mower in the bed and your wings get clipped. My fuel mileage is 17 between fill ups which equates to about 20 highway mpg.An overdrive 4 speed transmission would not be of much benefit in NE PA but if I was a flatlander I could easily achive 25 mpg highway with 4.3/700r4/2.73 combo.
My 1992 had 3.08 gears from the factory with 4.3tbi and a 700r4 and I WAS getting 25 mpg highway with a 500 pound motorcycle in the bed b/4 the 4.10 swap.
PS I just wanted to add that the smaller diameter of the tire the better the fuel mileage. I just went from 225/70/15 to 235/70/15 on the rear axle and at just a half inch taller the truck is working harder to rotate those slightly bigger tires.