Working with 3.55's?

[Pele]

I'm looking at a truck and being that I'm only gonna spend $7000 MAX I'm kinda limited on my selection... It's probably gonna be an OBS and most likely an IDI, but I could find a Powerstoke if I looked really hard.

And Lo and behold, I did find a Powerstroke for $7k... With 300K miles on the clock... And it's got the 39 axle code, which means 3.55's.

Biggest thing I'm ever gonna tow is a tag trailer with my track car on it.
Curb weight of the car is 2500lbs, fully loaded with fluids.
Add in spare tires, transmission, axles, maybe a couple jerry cans of fuel and I'm looking at maybe 3000 lbs total.

Tandem axle trailer weighs, what, like 2000 lbs? (I ain't spending the coin on aluminum. They get stolen too much... I'll probably build the darn thing out of bedframe angle iron and some nasty looking 2x8's.)

So I'll be towing 5000 lbs max on the weekends during the summer...

Winter time, I might look into a 7ft wide plow if we get anything like we got last winter on the East Coast. Nothing big and I'd only be doing my own driveway.


Do those rear end gears limit me that badly? Or can I just kick the transmission outta overdrive and consider myself safe? What is the max towing limit on 3.55 rear end gears?

 

[freebird01]

ive done that on my 16' with a little red wagon

and you should be fine...ive towed up to 7,000# on my trailer with my 88 f250 idi 5spd w/ 3.54 gears and didnt have much trouble. would i want to do it all the time...no but once in awhile...hell ill try most anything once

 

[Pele]

I figure I'll keep a set of tires on wheels that I'll specifically get undersized. It's small wheels that effectively lower (numerically higher) the rear end, right?

 

[freebird01]

Technically yea...but i got 285's on my truck and really have no issues

 

[Brianedwardss]

Unless you are towing a whole bunch of weight up a bunch of big hills, 3.55's will be fine. Locking it out of overdrive while towing with the 3.55's is a good combination. Your R's won't be super high and your tranny temps will stay lower. 4.10's are obviously the better choice, but not any reason to buy a truck in worse shape. I've had 4.10's, 3.55's, and now 3.31's on my truck, and the giant hill on hwy 224 near me, I've pulled my 4,000# flatbed the same mph with all of 'em. A good IP and Injectors made the most notable difference.

 

[freebird01]

Technically yea...but i got 285's on my truck and really have no issues