3.55s??

[cyaford]

I did a search and didn't have time to filter through the hundreds of "gears" threads, since "3.55" was too short to produce results. I'm thinking of doing what a lot of you have done and upgrade from the stock gear set to 3.55s. I'll be ordering rather soon. From what I've read, I see that many mention that 6th gear is actually usefull now. What I didn't see was anyone complaining or complimenting the daily driving aspects, as far as normal driving. I was also thinking of 3.33s, but I'm not really sure if I'd feel it was worth the swap. I'd hate to waste the money and then spend more and go to 3.55s.

Anyone have any experience with both 3.33s and/or 3.55s? Likes/Dislikes/Regrets?

If it helps, my car is a '97 GTS(year matters!! ) with the factory 17s. Just the usual bolt-ons minus headers. With 449rwhp/470rwtq, my only time at the track resulted in a 11.98@123mph with a lightning quick 2.0 60' time. Obviously, there's more room for improvement. Thanks!

 

[dave6666]

3.73 -->> 3.45 with my 20's. Love it around town now you shift like a normal car not out of 2nd at 70 LOL. Still have 100 more break-in miles to go so I have not quite done the nasty with them yet but I'm glad I put the Giken in too. Def keeps it straight.

Back to the dilemma of choosing gear ratios I went with the mid point of 3.33 - the "perfect" ratio - and 3.55 - the "common" ratio. At least that's where my 3.45 effective ratio is now.

If you don't plan on modding much I'd do the 3.55. I'll end up there if I drop the PS2 for a lower profile tire.

 

[dodgefever]

The 3.55 are a perfect gear for most street driving. It allows you to use 6'th as a gas savings gear without having to shift back to 5'th. I usually go to 6'th at 60 MPH and even if I have to accelerate or go up inclines, I don't need to down shift. The only slight down side is on "aggressive" launches, you run out of 1'st gear VERY quickly, but that may be a result of my aluminum flywheel too. If im having fun on the twisty back roads and come up on a 90 degree turn, I can just leave it in 3'rd and there is no lugging or hesitation. It pulls out of the curve very hard

 

[cyaford]

If you don't plan on modding much I'd do the 3.55. I'll end up there if I drop the PS2 for a lower profile tire.

Putting my "oldest"(wife) back through school, so my disposable income averages a few tacos from Taco Bell every other week. In other words, I don't plan on doing any more mods until 2014.
Since I'm in the habit of doing something to the Viper every year, I think for less than a grand that a gear swap would be perfect.

 

[viper k]

i have the 355 for around town you can't beat them and the1/4 mile 11/60 @ 122mph

 

[Ricketts]

3.55's here, much better driving car over the stock 3.07's. Makes 6th a usable gear.

 

[Bill Pemberton Woodhouse]

3.55s are great if you are mainly going to drag race, but looks like you are doing quite well already. Keep in mind it will mean an extra shift and if you plan on doing a bunch of track days ( as in road courses ) , skip the gear change and stay with the 3.07s. Last thing you want to do on a road course is shift 8-9 times if everyone else only has to do 3-4.

For street driving , an aluminum flywheel, and 3.55s are great --- seat of the pants you swear you just gained 50hp , though obviously you did not.

A sub 12 second run in a Gen II is very respectable , especially when basically stock - congrats.

 

[mjorgensen Woodhouse]

Great all around choice and the most popular one at that. Make sure you get a good Dana gear set with all the install parts and bearings if you are doing this yourself. Cheap gears are cheap for a reason and with 500hp you don't want cheap.

 

[uvbnbit]

I've got a 3.55 I'll sell ya!! Oh wait...I mean 3.73
Ken bought a whole rear end already set up with the 3.55's from Mike.
I think that'll be a nice mod for the year.

 

[Ray W]

17"-18" tires = 3:33

19"-20" tires = 3:55

 

[PhoenixGTS]

17"-18" tires = 3:33

19"-20" tires = 3:55

I say
17"-18" tires = 3.55
19"-20" tires = 3.73
(which are effectively the same gearing due to the different tire heights)
unless you have large boosted power

 

[cyaford]

A sub 12 second run in a Gen II is very respectable , especially when basically stock - congrats.

I wouldn't say basically stock. Like I said, it's got the usual bolt-ons. Smooth tubes, filters, exhaust, and a tune. I was very impressed with the trap speed. My old car, a '02 Z06 with headers, exhaust, cold-air, and 75 shot of giggle gas, only ran a 12.10@122. I seriously **** at launching cars at the strip, mainly due to my inexperience. My track outing with the Viper resulted in launches feeling like the car was bogging down. With 3.55s, I'm hoping to leave around the same rpms(3500 or so) except I want the car to rev much quicker than before to help get me going.

An occasional trip to the drag strip is all I will see. I dont have the time or resources for the road courses....... yet.

 

[Ray W]

I did my gear changes to improve street driving. If you are not running slicks or some type of sticky tire you will actually run a little slower with a gear change for the drag strip.

 

[RT/ED]

Installed a 3:45 Unitrax set up rearend purchased on ebay from a fellow viper owner a couple months ago. Definitely an improvement for seat of the pants and 5th/6th gear use. You will need to install the speedo calibration unit to correct the speedometer reading. Great modification!!

 

[All Blue ACR]

another vote for 3:55s with 18 inch wheels
6th is not useless and 80 MPH is just under 2000 RPM

 

[RTTTTed]

My car went to 3:55s, then back to 3:07s to get back to the ET attained with the 3:07s. 10.5@139mph on PS1s.

I think that the best gear mod is to change out 5th and 6th to the natural progression that allows them to be used, such as when you go 1 mile runs.

I drive 50mph in 6th and get 20mpg (us) with my Roe. Paxton ACR a mpg less. ACR has Nitrous and would also need an extra shift at track with lower gears.

Ted

 

[uvbnbit]

Cya,
Were you getting through the 1/4 in 3rd? I was having to shift to 5th with the 3.73's (4th gear in the 1/8!). So I would think you could get thru the 1/4 in 4th with the 3.55. But then again, how often do you go to the strip? I love the 3.33 I have now.

 

[Dom426h]

i'll represent the other side on this one:

gears are a waste of $$$ IMO. Think about it, most these guys are spending all that money to "Make 6th gear more usable". Thats just plain silly. 6th gear works as intended. Why would you complain about haveing to downshift to 5th to go up a hill or make a pass? Its a Manual Transsmission, Thats what you DO. If you wanted a car you could leave in gear you should have bought an Automatic Vette, or better yet a continuous variable transmission

Add to that,
-Loss of traction in 1st gear.
-More shifting in the lower gears (kind of counterproductive when the whole reason for changing gears was to not have to shift on the highway...)
-Extra shift in the 1/4
-Even though some 1/4mile guys like it, I have not seen any documented 1/4 mile improvement with gears
-Extra shifts on road courses

As some have said, If 5th/6th is your concern then do right thing and swap those gears. But i still just say, SHIFT

A couple reasons i see to swap rear gears is to:
-compensate for a lager diameter rear tire.
-regularly running on a specific "home" roadcourse where the gear change is a benefit.

 

[cyaford]

Cya,
Were you getting through the 1/4 in 3rd? I was having to shift to 5th with the 3.73's (4th gear in the 1/8!). So I would think you could get thru the 1/4 in 4th with the 3.55. But then again, how often do you go to the strip? I love the 3.33 I have now.

Hell, in 4 years I've had it to the track one time. I was shifting into 4th right near the end, but I may have been able to squeeze it through in third.

 

[cyaford]

I was hoping to knock a few tenths off, but it's sounding like it may be actually counterproductive.

I should've started a thread about an aluminum flywheel.

 

[eliems]

What you say here makes sense but I would have thought the real reason to go with 3.55s would be for seat-of-the-pants fun with greater acceleration off the light.

Yes? No?

i'll represent the other side on this one:

gears are a waste of $$$ IMO. Think about it, most these guys are spending all that money to "Make 6th gear more usable". Thats just plain silly. 6th gear works as intended. Why would you complain about haveing to downshift to 5th to go up a hill or make a pass? Its a Manual Transsmission, Thats what you DO. If you wanted a car you could leave in gear you should have bought an Automatic Vette, or better yet a continuous variable transmission

Add to that,
-Loss of traction in 1st gear.
-More shifting in the lower gears (kind of counterproductive when the whole reason for changing gears was to not have to shift on the highway...)
-Extra shift in the 1/4
-Even though some 1/4mile guys like it, I have not seen any documented 1/4 mile improvement with gears
-Extra shifts on road courses

As some have said, If 5th/6th is your concern then do right thing and swap those gears. But i still just say, SHIFT

A couple reasons i see to swap rear gears is to:
-compensate for a lager diameter rear tire.
-regularly running on a specific "home" roadcourse where the gear change is a benefit.

 

[cyaford]

I thought people were upgrading to 3.55s in order to shave time off their times, or would this only work if they had DRs or better? I run it just like I drive out of the garage, on a set of PS2s.

 

[RedEnuf93]

I had 3.55's, biggest waste of money and labor I've done.
Yes the 5th and 6th comes "usable", but at a cost. My acceleration on high speed highway rolls (70-150) was so bad, that even Ed's wife passed me with a GTS. That never happened with stock gears.
I swapped back to stock and have been happy.
The FEEL is great with 3.55's... So if you do lots of driving and like to harass others under 80/90MPH, it might be a good option. I do my harassement at other speeds....

 

[Black Moon]

What you say here makes sense but I would have thought the real reason to go with 3.55s would be for seat-of-the-pants fun with greater acceleration off the light.

Yes? No?

I agree. I want quicker acceleration and not such a long or tall (whatever the heck you call it) 1st and 2nd gears. I always thought the 307 was a strange choice in the first place. I want it for everyday driving. Just my opinion. By the way if anyone bought a set and never installed I'll take them. They are going to be my next purchase along with a tuner.

 

[johnk]

3.55 / Quaiffe

 

[Black Moon]

If anyone hates their 355's just let me know and we'll swap

 

[eliems]

Anyone know what the Dana gears cost for parts and how much shop time to expect for the install?

 

[dave6666]

I installed my 3.73's for none of those reasons you list. And it appears that I'm smarter than your list, as I put an OS Giken Superlock in at the same time to compensate for the traction issue in 1st.

Representing the side that wants to have more fun driving their car, not rationalizing the thousands I spend on it for grins and giggles because I can.

Oh, and I'm confused by your list to a degree. You ramble on - 3 of your 5 items - about "extra shifts." Yet twice you reference the joy of owning a manual transmission car and that shifting from 6th to 5th etc is part of having a manual transmission car. Your words here... But i still just say, SHIFT

Which is it? Shifting is either a pain or it is not. Your statement is one way in one sentence and the opposite way in the next sentence.

Opinions are great, but yours is inconsistent.

i'll represent the other side on this one:

gears are a waste of $$$ IMO. Think about it, most these guys are spending all that money to "Make 6th gear more usable". Thats just plain silly. 6th gear works as intended. Why would you complain about haveing to downshift to 5th to go up a hill or make a pass? Its a Manual Transsmission, Thats what you DO. If you wanted a car you could leave in gear you should have bought an Automatic Vette, or better yet a continuous variable transmission

Add to that,
-Loss of traction in 1st gear.
-More shifting in the lower gears (kind of counterproductive when the whole reason for changing gears was to not have to shift on the highway...)
-Extra shift in the 1/4
-Even though some 1/4mile guys like it, I have not seen any documented 1/4 mile improvement with gears
-Extra shifts on road courses

As some have said, If 5th/6th is your concern then do right thing and swap those gears. But i still just say, SHIFT

A couple reasons i see to swap rear gears is to:
-compensate for a lager diameter rear tire.
-regularly running on a specific "home" roadcourse where the gear change is a benefit.

 

[vancouver-gts]

I love the extra shifts with 4.10 gears in the Viper. Had 3.73 in my Mustang with the T45 and wished I had the 6 spd
Don't feel the burden having an extra gear in the Viper

Also ,would have been cool to have a 6 spd in my 72 Challenger 340 , and change the 3.23 gear to 4.10 !

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[Dom426h]

Opinions are great, but yours is inconsistent.

Sorry for the missunderstanding Dave. That is not a list of MY negatives. That is a list of All the Possible negatives that i could think of. What is a negative for one person could be a positive for another person. We do not have all the same motives. Im just putting it out there for others to see that are considering.

The negatives of more shifting in lower gears was specifically directed towards those that change gears to avoid shifting in the higher gears. I thought that would be clear when i said:
"More shifting in the lower gears (kind of counterproductive when the whole reason for changing gears was to not have to shift on the highway...)"