by Shdwdrgn » Tue Dec 22, 2015 4:15 pm
@Rickalicka18 -- I'm with these guys, don't even bother going from 3.42 to 3.73. I was nervous as hell when I contemplated swapping gears, dropping all the way to 4.10's seemed like such a huge jump, how could that possibly work for me??? I ended up writing the gear ratio calculator just so I could see for myself the differences between gears, tire sizes, and RPMs. After looking over the numbers for months I came to realize that while it *sounds* like a big leap, it really isn't.
Case in point -- after swapping my gears, I had to take a long trip. Over 800 miles each direction across two states, I averaged around 90mph (shhh don't tell anyone!). My engine stayed within a comfortable range (somewhere around 3000rpm when I pushed it) and I had no troubles with the trip. Most of my driving is in rush-hour traffic, but there have been no problems with getting out on the highway whenever I need to, and the vehicle is a lot more responsive when I need it.
By the way, if you look at the gear calculator, you'll notice that the difference between 4.10s and 3.42s at highway speeds is less than 350rpm. So again, as already mentioned, don't even both swapping 3.42s for 3.73s. One other thought occurred to me -- perhaps you think you need to do a gear swap because 4.10s aren't available? The 4.10s were a stock option, and because you have a 2006 you actually have more availability than I did.
GT5/G80, 265/70-16, PCMforLess + personal tuning, quad headlights
Self-made steel front bumper / pushbar / skid / CAI / lightbar