Re: Spider gears front and back, general info needed

[Tom Mandera <tsm1@domain.elided>]

On Sat, 24 Jan 1998, daniel.r.felix.1 wrote:

> My girlfriend is starting to look at trucks, she has decided that she
> needs her 5'1" body to be able to look down on most everything.:)  Anyway,

Hmm.. my 5'3" fiancee' drives an 85 Honda Civic.. and my Scouts only on 
occasion.. (though, truthfully, she should be behind the wheel of a 
'vette the way she drives.. )

> My question is this: do the gear ratios in the front axle have to match
> the gear ratios in the back exactly??  The guy said the rear had 4.11's
> and the front had 4.10's.  Is this close enough it won't matter, or is it

I think this is actually quite common, being off a thousandth or two.  I 
think it comes down to gear ratio availability on the Dana 44 front end, 
and the Ford 9" rear end.. (or the D60 rear in an older Ford).

I've heard of some folks doing this ON PURPOSE.. the idea is to let the 
front "pull" just a little more than the rear "pushes".. how much of a 
difference does it make?  Beats me.

You won't have any problems on hard or soft/slick surfaces in 4wd.  Most 
of us probably break the "equal front/rear" rule just by not having all 4 
tires inflated *exactly* the same, with *exactly* the same amount of wear..

Fudge Factor.. :)

-Tom