Rear Gear Ratio?

[LedFloyd900]

Recently discovered my rear end in my '92 V6 4x4 is going out...nice grinding and growling noise. Now forgive me if this is a stupid question, but how do I know what ratio I have? It's mostly an off roader so I'll be getting one from a salvage instead of spending $760 for a rebuild. For some reason my gut tells me 4.56's but I don't actually know, and I really know nothing about rear ends so I don't know what harm is done by putting a different ratio in. Any info is appreciated!

 

[KidVermicious]

Unreliable ways to determine gear ratio - axle code on the vin plate, paint color on the flange, spin the wheel and count driveshaft revolutions.

Reliable ways to determine gear ratio - pull the third and count the number of teeth on the ring and pinion.

Seriously, you know you're going to replace it anyway, so yank it out and know for sure. Putting the wrong ratio in will cause a mismatch with the gears in your front diff, which will lead to wicked funky steering and extra stress on drivetrain components when you're in 4WD. It wouldn't be the end of the world, some guys run it that way, I had 4.10 in front and a 4.30 rear for a while and didn't like it.

 

[Bad_Vision]

If your lucky the pinion will have the factory paint on it and they are color coded. Otherwise your door sticker has the code. If you don't have ether of those then you will be left to count teeth.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Hyde802]

Cliky here. Tells you how to read your door code.

Gearratiosanddiffs