which gears? 4.56's or 4.88's?

[Hellz]

so i figured my next upgrade is going to be swapping the gears out.

right now im running stock gears ( 4.10's ) with 37 inch tires.
no lift except slight T bar crank.

so i know 4.88's will bring the H2 to "Stock' with 37s, but would it be better to go witht he 4.88s?

i do not do any hauling/towing right now. maybe some in the future, but nothing more than a few hundred miles if i do. so its more of daily driving, and eventually some off roading.

so whats your opinions?

[Hellz]

so calling around for some price qoutes:

gear ratio doesnt affect price 4.56's or 4.88's.. same price for either

looks like if i have the shop purchase the gears, it will cost between $1700 and $1800 for parts and labor. the only reason for this is for the 1 year warranty.

if i provide the gears, no warranty, but might reduce the cost some.
the best price i have gotten so far is from Burnsville4X4 which is close to me.

i have seen other posts from members that listed price range from $900 to $1200.. are these prices common with providing your own parts?

i still think i am leaning more towards the 4.88s than the 4.56's, but i do plan on running trails at some point, but i will say my H2 will be 90% to 95% a pavement princess.

[DuckTruck]

I would say go with the 4.88's.

As we all know, the H2's are gas pigs anyway. So with mpg not even being an option, the 6.0 motor does well and has plenty of power at higher rpms. Also, you might change to bigger tires and/or wheels in the future (I know I did...35's, to 37's, to now 39.5's).

Thus, unless you are rolling 90+ on the interstate extremely often, I think the 4.88 gearing would be the way to go.

DUCK

[StockStar]

sweet a gear thread! Hopefully Pahrump and Kalantar will chime in. Can't wait to read more responses from you guys.

http://www.4x4offroads.com/gear-ratio-chart.html

[kalantar]

Someone clarify this for me, 4:88's would give you better mpg on the freeway than 4:56's? I upgraded to my 4:56 (with 37s) and doesnt improve my mpg or towing mpg by much, maybe I should have gotten the 4:88s?

Now at 2000 rpm I average 54 mph, what do you stock guys get on 37s at 2000 rpm?

As far as the pricing, I paid I believe $1400 or $1500 with parts, that was the going rate in my area. I would let them buy the parts because if something goes wrong, that warranty will be helpful. I would try to negotitate with them.

[Hellz]

Originally Posted by kalantar

Someone clarify this for me, 4:88's would give you better

Now at 2000 rpm I average 54 mph, what do you stock guys get on 37s at 2000 rpm?

you mean at 54mph you are running at 2k rpm?

ill have to see what i rub at, at that speed, but if you have the 6 speed tranny, that will throw off the results.

i have an 03 with the 4 speed

[HumminNBoatin']

I am running 37's on stock 4:10 gears. I will let you know what mine does tomorrow.

[Hellz]

at 70mph i run at 2200rpm
60mph @ 1700rpm

03 H2
stock gears - 4.10
37 inch BFG KM2 M/T

[kalantar]

Correction, at 2000 rpm I am at 63mph....

[HumminNBoatin']

At 2000 rpms I am running at 68mph on GPS and 65mph on the speedo with 37" Toyo Open Country M/T's on flat ground.

on uphill I am at 2400 rpms at 68mph on gps.

[kalantar]

It shows 68 mph on the speedo, but with GPS mine shows 63 mph.
I thought the point of gears was for the car run at lower rpm at higher speeds? There isnt much of a difference in my mpg...

[H2Much]

I would go the 4.88's for sure. You will regret going the other way if you do because it just won't run the way you would want it to, or the way you would think it would... I did mine just this past December and I also am running 37.5 Toyo MT's, I love it, it runs great. I am also running a Superchips Cortex, which really helps too, it is sharp now. The only downfall is that when you get up to 70-75 MPH, you start to have some issues with it wanting to downshift to 3rd due to lack of power, especially if you are traveling on a road that is not completely flat (slight incline). I am still trying to figure out what to do to get the power back without going the expensive route. Next on the drawing board is intake and exhaust.

[kalantar]

Bump on this thread, what did you decide to do?
Even though the 4:56 gears didnt improve my mpg, I do have to admit it drives better now.. I can hit 100 mph no problem and just seems to shift/drive much better...

Would 4:88s do even better?

[Hellz]

well i think i have decided on the 4.88's... just @ $1800 for parts and labor is the problem.

most places want to buy the parts for me so i can get the warranty. which makes sense...

sucks i can buy all the parts for about $700ish....i just dont know how to install them.. labor is a bitch!

[kalantar]

Bump on this thread. How does the car run on 4.88s?

[Hellz]

hehe i didnt get around to doing this earlier... and currently deployed right now.

so maybe summer of 2012 i will be able to get this done.

i miss driving my H2

[H2Much]

I did 4:88's on mine when I first went to 37's, had to do it to really get the vehicle to ride right. Had it chipped too, ran awesome. Recently jumped to 40's though, really feeling the ceiling on power now. Have been looking at alternatives to bump up the power besides going supercharger; don't really have 5 G's laying around.

Have to go 4.88's for sure though, especially with the 37's, it would just ride the way it should and give you a good power ratio for those big tires. Just my opinion.