This morning I pulled the rear cover off the Dana rear I bought for the Diamond T one ton project, and lo and behold, it's 4.10's, not 3.70 somthings as I thought it was. Darn. The width is good, it's a narrow rear from a cab and ch***is truck, not a pickup rear, which is the reason I wanted this one as opposed to one of the other half dozen one ton rear axles my buddy had to choose from. The truck, a '48 DT model 201, is going to be used to pull our travel trailer, a 25 ft Spartan Manor. I'm using a TBI Chev 350/4L60E, so I do have overdrive. It's going to be a one ton truck, 8 lug wheels, duals, independant front susp. from the van the engine trans came from. My feeling is that 4.10's are too steep for this, even with the 4L60 overdrive trans. I have 17" wheels, 31" dia. tires. The trailer weight is around 5,000 lbs, the truck should end up weighing about the same as a late model pickup. Any thoughts on this gear ratio for this setup?
Wow, that was quick! Thanks guys, I didn't know what the OD ration of the trans was. Glad to know that it'll work! Brian
1850 rpm pulling a 5 thousand pound trailer is too low RPM for transmission longevity. At that trailer weight you want to be turning 2300+. Which means either towing in 3rd gear or dropping the gear ratio to like 4.56
I usually DO tow in third, so it still works. It won't be towing the trailer all the time, I was concerned about the low gears primarily for use when it wasn't dragging a trailer around. The truck has 4.62's in it's original rear end, and I like the Dayton hubs, but I'm concerned the brakes aren't up to modern highway use. That, and no power steering and a miserable ride...
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