I am preparing to bite the bullet and go for dual ARB's in my 93 Auto. It has factory 4.88's now with 32's. Although not a rocket, it's adequate in the power department. At 65-70 on the highway I'm at about 3000rpm.

My plans include a maximum tire size of 33" for the foreseeable future (until SAS). This rig sees alot of road miles and I don't want to see the cruising speed rpm to go much higher.

I want to waste as little money as possible along the way to the final result (SAS'd w/35's). I already realize that my front ARB in the IFS diff won't transfer over to the solid axle. With the above in mind, should I just stick with the 4.88's until I move to the next level (SAS)?

 

cebby i would recomend just wiating till you do the solid axle swap since you will be kindof wasting your money on the 5.29's for the front ifs you got now. the 33's should not make that much of a difference on the power lose ince you got 32's already. just my 2 cents. you will definitly want the 5.29's when you get the 35's and sas

 

I was under the impression that factory 4.88 V6 third members can't be regeared (edited). The third members are unique and won't allow different gears.

Here's some reading. http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showt...hreadid=143618

I think we're stuck with 4.88s.

Edit, some more reading:
scroll down to the second to the last post.

Steve

 

I thought Fly had 5.29's in his...

 

I take that to mean if your rig came with 4.88 you are stuck with them. If you have some other stock ratio you can re-gear to 4.88 with aftermarket gearsets or whatever other ratio you want. I don't know if this is true, But its how I interpret the above statement.

 

So I couldn't buy Cebby's 4.88's for instance? Wow - that sucks.

 

Sorry, after re-reading my post it didn't sound quite right, I've edited it. But, yeah, what Matt said. Those of us with the factory 4.88s can't regear.

 

Is 4.88 not low enough for you guys?

What about the fronts? Sounds like that only applies to rear axles.

Cebby, put an ARB and 4.88s in your front, then when you go straight axle i'll buy the whole front diff.

 

I was hoping to buy factory 4.88's off someone who went with new gears but apparently I can't use them. I'll have to shop aftermarket gears - I'm thinking of adding a 1.5" body lift and 285/75r16 someday when I add ARB's and regear.

 

You are at the front of the line.

 

Take your time with that SAS. There's no way I can buy it this year.

 

You've got a minimum of 2 years to save, unless I have an unexpected windfall... The SAS doesn't happen until it gets retired from DD status.

 

From the posts it sounds like you will have to replace both axles to regear and go SAS.
This may sound like a strange suggestion, but depending on how hard you use the truck off road, why not put in a lunchbox locker like the EZ, but put it in your front axle. You would then have at least three wheel drive, but daily driving wouldn't be affected with locking hubs. If you find you don't use the four wheel drive on pavement (I rarely use mine even up here in Maine) you could probably get away without either ARB until you swap out the front end. If worse came to worse and you needed a front tire driving, you could even just lock one hub for a short period on pavement. Anyone ever tried this and know why it wouldn't work? I've been accused in the past of thinking too far outside the box, so maybe I'm missing something.

 

If you are alreading running 4.88s, I'd stay with them. If not, skip the 4.88s and move to the 5.29s.

 

I'd definitely keep the 4.88s for now.

I have (had) 32s with 4.56 and it was fine so I imagine you must be ok for sure.

I'd start looking around junkyards for cheap 3rd members and buy up a couple. This way you can take your time and get a good price and start having them geared and ARBed for your SAS.


Good luck,

Warren

 

I have 5.29's

I had stock 4.56's

The problem is the stock 4.88 carrier is made to handle the thicker gears. I am pretty sure that Detroit has a different PN for 4.88 and then all the rest. The stock 4.88 carrier will only take stock 4.88's. Stock 4.88's will only fit the stock carrier, IIRC.

My advice:
Get a rear ARB and stick with 32's and 4.88's for the time being. Wheel the tar out of it and then you will be ready to go whole hog in a couple of years. If cost is a concern, then breaking open the front diff will hurt bad. If you pop it open, you ought to regear it.

I did not want to suffer with 33's on 4.56's with the auto so the dual ARB's made a lot of sense when I regeared.

I will not be back to look at this for a week, so I hope that made sense.

 

Death to old, no-longer-necessary polls and the people that vote in them!

 

Ha! I didn't even see the thread date. Oh well, I said keep 4.88's anyways, because 5.29's would increase the RPM's too much at cruising.

Funny thing is, this thread got me thinking about where all these people are now. Cebby still doesn't have his SAS and who knows what happened to that idea and I wonder if jx94148 still needs the differential .

Oh wait...jx94148 isn't even registered anymore

 

My rigs changed a little since I last posted up as well. It's now got a fire breathing SBC 350 auto transmission, doubled up 1 ton t-cases that are triple sticked. 1.5 ton drivelines, Dana 60s locked front and rear with 5.38 gears and 35 spline axles and a few other gadgets. Coming soon, custom MPFI system from www.affordablefuelinjection.com. We just waiting on a backorderd manifold. Combing this with a vortec head swap and this will easily put me over the 400Hp level.