Anybody with low gears drive on the freeway?

My Ford has stock 4:10? 4:11? gears so it revved pretty good the hot minute that I drove on the freeway. It seemed like it wanted to get hot after I pulled off and got stuck at a light. Anyway, do y'all run on the freeway very long with low gears? Anything I should know or think about? The car is low as hell and has a small block chevy with a mechanical fan, and stock drums and bias plys.

I was thinking I may see about changing the gears (if thats feasibile $$$ wise) to lower the rpm at 65 mph, and it wouldn't hurt to not burn out so easily at every light.

edit: I get mixed up about what is high or low gears

 

im running 3:54's in my 52 chevy truck with a sbc it cruises good down the highway and still lights them up when i want it too

 

You mean low gears? I drive my 58 Chevy with 373's seems like a good mid-range to me. We drove it from Columbus and back at 8 mpg. My 54 has 290s (temp) and I get 20. Thats with the motor that was in the 58. Kinda shows you what a difference gears make huh?

But! My 54 gets hotter quicker than my 58 did. Especially when pulling our teardrop. somtimes a taller gear will make the motor lug more and heat up.

 

Stuff to think about? sure...think about how much fun it is! it's a blast driving a car with gearing like that, although it might get a bit tiring hearing the motor scream after a few hundred miles. And the gears probably do make it run hotter.

At least with that kind of gear you don't need to work the brakes hard to slow down

 

but is it good to run a sbc chevy at 3500 to 4000 rpm for hrs (driving a few hundred miles)... its seem awful hard on it

 

Just about blew mine up on the way to the Primer Nats! My 9" has four somethings,in it. It was turning about 3500 plus!!!Slddnmatt is giving me a 301 center. That should solve my problem. I'm gonna find him another spare.
Burnouts are over rated! In a custom,that is...

 

It's hard on it, but hey, it's a hot rod....you gotta make sacrifices....

a few hundred miles won't wear it out, but you wouldn't want to drive it that way cross country more than once a year

 

My '32 has 4.11 rear end with a flathead and '39 box. Once I get above 45 mph, it sounds like it's getting ready to come apart. I have a '40 rear end with 3.55 gears that I'm going to put in when I rebuild the car. I just have 3 other cars to finish first.

 

The word that comes to mind is Gearbound. I can't hardly wait to get rid of my 4:11s and replace them with 3:23s. I miss driving fast. If I keep the 411s I might as well run bias plies again! :-(

 

I am looking for a set of 15" basica solid steelies (6" wide) to replace the 14's on it now.. so I can put taller tires to help out.. I figure any increase in diameter will help... the 14" I have now are pretty short


Any Seattle Area guys have a pair they want to get rid of a pair.

 

My 32' had 3:00 gears. No problem cruising at 80 mph. My 51' has 3:50, good street/strip gear but it has a 2:88 first gear in a 4 speed. My 65' Chevy has 3:42 but the 6 speed has a 3:78 first gear and a .76 overdrive. Kinda best of both worlds.

I had a 68' Vette with 4:88 but it was a street race car only driven at night. On the freeway, I would keep it around 55 mph.

 

my 32 has a 3.89 gear and an overdrive ******. the longest trip i have driven it was 11 1/2 hours in one day at about 80 mph, no problems.
leave the gear like it is and throw in an overdrive ******. now you will have the best of both worlds.
dan

 

You need to make a decision as to what the main purpose/use of the car will be and what you are willing to sacrifice to get it. My 55 Buick ran 4.56for may years and highway drving was tough, but it went everywhere, I had a 20 mile trip to work (eachway) almost all of it was highway, the motor was singing along at 60-65mph, but no problems. It also went to Boston, New Jersey, New York, and plenty of other places with out any fault. If you think a small block does not like high rpm for long distances, try it in a Nailhead.
THe car I built for the wife however, runs a 327 CHevy, th350 and 3.36 gears. THis car loves highway speeds, 65-85 is its sweet spot but running closer to 100 for a while is no big issue.
With the 3.36 the tires spin a little on launch but don't burn up too bad, so it is a very good combo for me. In a lighter car such as yours, similar gearing should do you well.

 

I have 3.73 gears in my truck with a SBC. It runs 160 on the highway and 180 in town. It also has an overdrive ******. On the way to the HAMB drags I figured I would see if I could find the sweet spot where it liked to run. The last 20 miles it liked to run 95 mph.
My truck also gets better fuel mileage than my Dodge Durango. If you keep your foot out of it and run 70 it gets around 19 MPG. My Hoy Rod is sure a lot more fun to drive. Keith

 

200R4,
700R4,
5-speed
6-speed.

Automatics are quite inexpensive....do you homework
411, I'd use the 200r4.

 

For what its worth
My 41 Chevie PU runs warm 261 inline,original 4 speed crash box,torque tube, Patricks 3.55 diff and 265 x 70 tyres on 15 in rims can sit on 80 mph all day. 52 Chevie 4 door does the same with mild 235, late model 4 speed,3.08 diff and 215 x 70 x 15in tyres.Both vehicles return about 18mpg and run LPG.
Cheers

 

Tire size makes a heckuva difference.
30" tall tires on my 32 roadster.

The 3.70 diff runs abut 3000 rpm at 70 mph.
So far it doesn't seem to have hurt the big ol 462" Buick engine, but with all the torque it has, I think it would be happier with 3.25's and maybe 3.00's.

I believe the nine inch Fords are more commonly found with 3.00's, but the 3.25 strikes me as a good compromise between performance and spinning up too many rpm's during cruise.

It'll be interesting to see where the gas mileage goes.


Keep in mind you don't want too loose a stalll converter with tall gears or it won't lockup for you.
Converter slippage = heat.


I have a 3.25 diff in my 31 on 32 rails roadster project.
The tires on it are 28" tall.
Looks like it will run about 2800 rpm at 70.

If the 32 had the 3.25's it would run about 2600 rpm at 70.


I'm doing a lot more highway driving since I moved to the Arizona desert.
And been thinking about a higher diff.

Interesting that this question came up today, yesterday I stopped to check prices on diff's.
Seems ok price-wise, but I didn't get one due to the rain.

Like that guy said, I'll be back....

 

4.57 rear in my Comet I run a t5 overdrive and can run with slow traffic on I-10 for 90 minutes to Gulfport and back home. I'd say get overdrive trans that should make a 4.11 useable on the interstate. The Comet runs 3,000 RPM on the interstate at 170 to 180 deg. with a big alluminium radiator.

 

I took a Maverick (remember those?) with 4.64 gears on a 1200 mile vacation back in the 55 mph days. 3700 to 3900 RPM the whole way, loud pipes, you'll go crazy after a while. Had to replace the rocker arms halfway thru, the rpm just ate them up.

 

I have 3.73 thru 4.56 gears in a couple rides, with overdrive!

IMO anything over 3000rpm cruising on the interstate is asking for trouble. Many, many duallys and 1 ton trucks running around without overdrive, and 3000 rpm highway cruise speed from the factory.

4000rpm extended on most engines that aren't modified for special oil return runs serious risk of pumping all the oil up top and starving the mains.

good luck

 

It's not hamb friendly but I have a car with factory 4.11s. It's fun and all around town, but when you jump on the highway and you can't keep up with hondas it's kinda lame. 60 is 3k RPM.

 

Back in 73 during the Arab embargo my only car was a 68 Olds 442 with a 400 cu in, close-ratio muncie and a 4:30 gears. I drove it back and forth across Oregon about six times. I had to carry a 5 gallon gas can, and stop at just about every gas station there was.

It was so much fun in town, that I accepted the suffering on the road. But I finally paid for it when I tried to p*** a truck and the valves floated. I limped home on 7 cylinders and smoking like a Sopwith Camel just gunned down from the Red Baron...

I rebuilt the motor and traded it for a Pinto. I needed three years of no tickets to get my insurance rates down, and the Pinto was invisible to cops.

 

My corvette has a 4:11 posi with a M20 4 spd. Can start out in 2nd gear no problem. Hiway driving is out of the question.

 

I have run low gears on the freeway or hwy.

Last one that was hat way was a non hamb friendly car that had factory 4:10s and no OD. Cruised at around 4500. It wasn't my favorite hwy gear for sure.

You might try to go after real tall tires to raise your overall gearing.

BTW higher numbers lower gear.

 

I ran a 69 Impala rag top with a 427 and 411's in it for about 6 years.
Turned 3000 r's at 70 and loved every minute of it.
But that was then and this is now.LOL I'd like to have an OD if I was to do it today.

 

Yup........411's with 3 speed auto & 352 ford in my 62 ford uni truck. 34 mile 1 way comute to work.......2800 rpm's keeps me in traffic.....

Paco

 

ironically my 4.11s are also in a vette with with a muncie

 

Man its got to be one of my worst auto related peeves.

My 50 Merc had 4.27s. When the OD was non op, it was a really slooow ride. When it was working, smooth sailing. I should add tho that I think the final drive on the R10 OD unit is like .6

Current Merc is SBC/th350 and around 3.90 gears. Not a real blast on the highway.

My 55 Olds was also 350/350 but with 3.42 gears. That thing would pull to the left lane on the highway and run 75 without skipping a beat.

My truck, 350/400....is around 3.55 ish. Nice pull at a light, but cruises well on the highway.

I think for non OD apps, the lowest you want to go would be around 3.55 or so. 3.73 is a tad much for me.

 

I'll be running a stock-ish 350/350 trans turning a 2.79 gear with 30 inch tall tires. Sounds like I may need to be push started at every light.

sigh

 

Yeah but you will be breaking the sound barrier on the highway getting awesome mileage. That (to me) is the hot ish.