what rear end ratios are you pulling with

[lawrenceb42106]

I have 373 and have had no problems with it. Have pulled the mountains in the west and the east. Have plenty of power.

[Wandering Star]

We got the 7.3 power stroke with the 3.73, been pulling for six years and never had a power problem. Great mileage both ways.
@20 miles per gallon empty as long as I keep the tach down too 2000. with the price of diesel it is worth the effort. Keeps the truck rolling at 65/70. Pulling the trailer getting about 13/14 and the tach running over 2000 under strain.

Jon

[Steve and Brenda]

I usually find that two cheeks per seat is the preferred rear end ratio...

[lwcdg]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Gives me a few ideas and some expectations on mileage.
Chuck

[richfaa]

I have the 4:30 &tow boss hooked up to the V-10 . I wanted to get all the torque I could get out of the V-10. It will pull a house. Don't know how it affected the MPG..don't care..It has pulled everywhere I pointed it with no effort. Never got less tha 8.3 average towing the 3400, @10.5 around town and 13 or so freeway.. Nothing to brag about but it does the job. If I go with the 08 6.4 I will go with the 4:10.

[Fordzilla]

I had the 3.73's in my previous 2 diesel trucks and when I got the dually they asked if I wanted 3.73, 4.10, or the 4.30 gears. I had read about the 4.30 being able to pull a house down and hadn't really had any trouble pulling with the previous trucks with 3.73's. So I decided to go with 4.10's because of more weight of the TV and now I have the option of getting a bigger trailer in the future if I wanted to. I get about 11-12 pulling interstate speeds. A little better if we get off and travel the 2 lane roads and keep it closer to 55 mph.

[sreigle]

Chuck, we tow with the 3.73 axle and have done mountains in Colorado and other states including a 14% two-mile long grade on Utah highway 12. 3.73 is plenty. Our total rig weight is 23,160 lbs, scaled.

If you go Ford F250 or larger you cannot get a higher (numerically lower) ratio. 3.73 and higher numbers only. At least not with the diesel. I'm very satisfied with the 3.73. Plenty of towing power and doesn't sacrifice mpg when solo.

[ols1932]

Steve, my F-250 has a 4.10 axle. Do mean that since I bought mine in '95 that they've changed it to 3.73?

Orv

[sreigle]

Orv, I am questioning whether I was right or wrong on that info. I had just been through a "build your own truck" exercise online to see what the new F350 might cost me this summer and had noted only the 3.73 axle was available. However, I was "building" a single rear wheel F350. I think the 4.10 and 4.30 may be available in the dually. And I think in the V10 SRW. I now will have to research this further to confirm or correct my statement.

Did a little research.
The following link is to a snipped portion of the 2008 Ford Towing Guide. The picture is too big to post directly and I couldn't make it smaller and still be legible. You can clearly see the 3.73 is the only axle available with the 6.4 diesel SRW but the other axles are available with the dually.

2008 Ford FW Tow/GCWR Ratings

[Fordzilla]

That's kind of interesting. According to that I gained nothing going from 3.73's in a single wheel F350 to 4.10's in a dually. They both have the exact same rating for fifth wheel capacity

[HomeOnTheRoad]

What you gained with a dually is payload capacity.

[sreigle]

Ron, the dually does not get you a higher tow rating. But the GCWR is slightly higher and the payload capacity and GVWR are a bunch higher. You can't tow more but you can carry more weight in the truck. If that makes sense.

I forgot to include the footnotes. Here they are..

(1) Super Duty does not offer a fifthwheel hitch as a factory installed option
(2) Available with F350 SRW model only
(3) Available with Tow Boss package only

[Fordzilla]

I understand. I was just thinking(it's dangerous when I do that) that the dually had a higher rating then the single rear wheel. I'm still happy I went to the duals and the 4.10 pull real hard everywhere we have gone. We don't travel full time so we don't frequent the mountains but have traveled quite a bit and we get as good of mileage as we did with our '04 with 3.73's when pulling.

[Montana_1953]

4.10 is what I run because I gas and four speed
Fully loaded I am running 18,000 lbs and nothing else will run in 4th gear on the flat , and I hate towing in 3rd all the time.
(been there, done that , replaced a couple transmissions on smaller engines I had before)

I would consider a 3.73 (or inbetween ) if you have gas and the allison tranny and my opinion is that 3.73 or higher if fine for most diesel powered TV

Just another opinion.

[Art]

From the signature you can see a 4.10. My dually sucks fuel but fortunately I don't use it for a "pleasure vehicle." The dual wheels offers the best stability that I ever had (use to tow a 32 foot TT with a Suburban)and the 4.10 gives me the added torque and HP to climb any mountain that I will ever need...here in the northeast and in the west.