What gear ratio for a 4spd Toploader ?

Stangninjak

Member
Apr 16, 2004
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I am going to do my rear end with a new 3rd member. Going with a true trac posi, and I was wondering what gear size/ratio would work with a Toploader 4spd ?

Street car/cruise, that see the track as well sometimes.

As always thanx in advance !
 
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Stangninjak said:
I am going to do my rear end with a new 3rd member. Going with a true trac posi, and I was wondering what gear size/ratio would work with a Toploader 4spd ?

Street car/cruise, that see the track as well sometimes.

As always thanx in advance !



Well I can tell from expericene as I have a toploader in my 65 and have used both a 3.55 open and at 3.80 trak loc now. I use the car to cruise and trips to the local track about 40 miles away. I love the 3.80 gear and only picked up about 200 rpm at 60 mph. Around town it's great, ***however*** if you plan on doing much freeway driving go w/ a 3.55 or lower #. The worst part of my trip to track is the 20 miles or so on the interstate. I'm doing
60mph at 3050 rpm 25" tires and about getting blown off the road by everyone...Car did pick up over 2/10's and 1 mph thus far w/ 3.80 gears vs. my old 3.55 open unit. I will say that I have a t-5 to go in car once i get all the parts together and can not wait to do that swap for driveablity at speeds over 60 or so...fyi this is w/ 8" rear
 
fasttback said:
3.25 - 3.89 depending on tire size and tolerable rpms on the freeway. Try a search, there is a lot of posts on this subject.

Heh thanx Fastback. I found a ton of info when I did a search. Heh I did not realize there was that much stuff on this topic ! have my answer, thanx again.
 
One more variable you need to consider-- what Toploader? Wide or Close ratio? With a wide ratio, 3.50's are perfect for street and freeway. With a close ratio and a less than torquey motor, you'll need to step up to 3.70-3.90's, to compensate for the close ratio's taller 1st gear.
 
D.Hearne said:
One more variable you need to consider-- what Toploader? Wide or Close ratio? With a wide ratio, 3.50's are perfect for street and freeway. With a close ratio and a less than torquey motor, you'll need to step up to 3.70-3.90's, to compensate for the close ratio's taller 1st gear.
hey D.Hearne. I think its a wide ratio..if so the I will be happy with 3.50's where on the case do i look ? I going to do the refresh kit in it as well.
 
I'm just getting ready to order my wide-ratio Toploader to go along with my 9" with a 3.50 gear and TrueTrac differential. The wide-ratio/3.50 combo is exactly what David Kee (quite the expert from that I hear) recommended for my performance-oriented, street-driven project.
 
Hey thanx all for the reply's. 3.50 it is then ! I am pretty sure it's a wide ratio..

Thanx D.Hearne for the location info. I will ramp it up tonigt and take a look to make sure. With the 3.50's and some posi action, my 1 wheel peels will be a thing of the past !

As always this forum supplies great info :SNSign: