rear gears and rearend combination question?

hey guys,im probley going to put a s-10 rear in my '36...and i was wondering(since im not a good motor guy) if the stock gears will not be good enough(stock s-10 gears,that is,1995 s-10)?if not,what is a good gear ratio for a s-10 rear,being pushed by a stock to mild,460 big block.this is not going to be running down the drag track every weekend,just a lil' playing every once in a while.is there another rearend that would work better under a '36 sedan??thanks fellows

 

There are several calculators on this page that might be helpful.
http://www.ringpinion.com/Calculators.aspx

 

S-A designs publishes a book called "Auto Math". The formula that will help you is in that book. Tires, gears and trans ratios are all considered.

 

Looks like you're gonna have to figure out what gears you have in that rearend before you're gonna get any help here

Also see if you can figure out what type of rearend it is, if it's a 8.5" 10 bolt then it should be strong enough, but if it's a 7.5" 10 bolt then it would be too weak for a motor that big.

You can figure out the gear ratio by counting teeth on the ring gear and pinion gear, and dividing, or you can estimate by turning both axles exactly two revolutions (or one axle exactly two revolutions, and the other axle held still), and count the number of turns of the pinion yoke. If it turns 3 turns it's probably a 3.08 ratio, if it turns 3-3/4 turns it's probably 3.73, etc.

 

is it a 4x4 rear, or a 2wd rear?

 

sorry to be so green at this part of the build.it is usualy the part that i turn over to someone else,,but im gonna' try it.....i have a few rears that im looking at in the local classifieds and ive got to narrow down my search if this is possible to go with the s-10.

 

Here's one way to start to decide what ratio to use...first, you need to know some basics like the rear tire size, what type of transmission you'll be using (especially whether or not it's overdrive), how wild the engine is (cam, etc) and typical driving speeds.

Usually if you're running a non-overdrive transmission, with tires about 28" tall, and you want to keep cruising RPM down, a rear with a ratio around 3.00:1 works out pretty well. A bit higher will give you better off the line performance, but you'll hear the engine winding up higher when you try to go 75 mph or so on the freeway.

With overdrive, the same setup would work with 3.50 to 3.73 gears.

If your engine is kind of wild and makes a lot of power at higher rpm and runs pretty crappy at lower rpm, then you want a higher ratio rearend. If you have a small engine, then you need a bit higher ratio than if you have a large engine, because large engines have more torque and won't be lugging at low rpm.

 

great info squirrel,thanks for the help and information...that give me something to work off of.....

 

2wd s10 rears are only 54" wheel to wheel. you need a 4x4 rear which is 59". you can get 3.42 and 3.73 gears. also if the tag on the glovebox door has a gt80 on it then its a posi.

 

That's a cool website! Only works with IExplorer though .. I do Firefox.