410 or 454?

["guest@endurance.net" <guest@endurance.net>]

K S SWIGART   katswig@earthlink.net

After thinking about my last post while on the train, I want to clarify that it was not meant in any way as a criticism of 
Marlene’s husband, but rather that if a gearhead was 
recommending a 350 rear end (which I already knew wasn’t going
to work for me because I had already tested it out driving up
the Interstate with the trailer empty), that I probably hadn’t
given enough information, for somebody who knew what they were
talking about to make a recommendation.

So, here are the details, recognizing that the major motivation
for getting the “new” truck is for the Duck’s XP camping trip
(where we have been repeatedly informed that we should count on
getting stuck in the mud :)).  But it is not the only thing I
will be using the truck for (considering I will have to drive
the rig for 1500 miles down I-40 to get to any of the promised
mud holes.).  Although pulling the horse trailer IS the only
thing I will be using the truck for. (I will be keeping the old
truck for all the other hauling hay, cutting wood, moving the
refrigerator, etc. and I have a 4 rat passenger car for driving
around town and any other long haul trips that does not require
hauling heavy stuff).

I do want something that I can go anywhere in, but included in
that anywhere is “down the freeway” and I am concerned that the
4WD guys that I am having change the differential gearing are
thinking more along the lines of mud hole than Interstate.

The “new” truck is only 15 years old, instead of 30 years old,
like the “old truck” that I have been using for the last 10
years.  It is a Ford F250, 4WD, extra cab, 5-speed manual
transmission, with a 460 cu. in. gasoline engine in it.  

It currently has a 350 rear end in it, and I have to be going 50
to 55 mph to put it in 4th gear if I don’t want to lug the
engine (and lugging the engine is not something you want to do
to a 15 year old gasoline engine, especially not when it is
loaded with a horse trailer), and I have to be going over 65 mph
to get it in 5th gear. If I put it in 3rd gear going down a
grade, I still have to ride the brakes, whereas if I put it in
second gear, it tops out at about 15 mph, so yes, the difference
between second and third gears is pretty substantial...so maybe
the gear splitter IS the way to go???.  First gear is a compound
granny gear, and so used only if I want to climb a tree :) 

The camping trip I am planning this week-end will entail 50
miles down the Interstate, 50 miles up a fairly windy road with
a 7000 foot climb, and 15 miles down a dirt road (and the
opposite on the way back, so I don’t want to be riding the
brakes for 50 miles down the 7000 foot, windy grade).  

This is the kind of thing that I will want to be able to do
regularly with the truck and trailer.  But I will also want to
be able to go 500 miles up the Interstate too; and I don’t want
the truck’s max speed to be 50 miles per hour.

Since I have already made the appointment to change the gearing
to a 454 (I don’t say “rear end” because I have to change both
the front and the rear differentials), I am interested in
knowing if anybody else has this gearing in their differential/s
and if so, is it excessively limiting for going down the highway
(considering some of the answers I have gotten so far, which are
suggesting higher rather than lower gearing, this might be the
case), and for those of you who have experience with the
410...is that going to get me out of the Duck’s mud hole?

A gear splitter is probably not in the budget before the XP (nor
was a new truck that is actually new), but if the 454 with a
gear splitter is the best way to get me to next year’s Rocky
Mountain Ride (assuming I can get the management together), and
I just have to go slow to get to St. Jo, I will probably go
ahead and have them put the 454 in.

But if somebody tells me, “no way, you will find the 454 way too
limiting on the highway” (understanding that here in California,
it is illegal to drive your truck and trailer rig over 55 mph no
matter how fast everybody else is going and no matter how fast
your truck CAN go :))...then I will probably change my mind and
go with the 410.

Who knows, if I go ahead and have them put in the 454, I may be
a day late getting to St. Jo. but am the only one to get to the
end of the ride as everybody else with their higher gearing is
still stuck in the mud somewhere in Kansas :).

kat
Orange County, Calif.