Do I Need the 4.10 axle?

[orljustin]

Hi again,

The dealership has one Tahoe with the 4.10 axle and "HD AUX TRANS. COOLING SYSTEM". All the Tahoes there have the factory towing package.

We have a 4500 lb. Rockwood Popup right now. We go on 2-3 trips a year with it. That's about all the towing we do.

From my search here, I read that the 4.10 axle makes you have worse MPG. I know nothing about vehicles, so I'll believe that.

Do I need the 4.1, or will I be ok with the standard 3.73 ? I mean our Trailblazer did relatively ok with the V6 and nothing else fancy.

Thanks!

oj

 

[07TahoeLTZ]

There is a debate on this issue..

Hi again,

The dealership has one Tahoe with the 4.10 axle and "HD AUX TRANS. COOLING SYSTEM". All the Tahoes there have the factory towing package.

We have a 4500 lb. Rockwood Popup right now. We go on 2-3 trips a year with it. That's about all the towing we do.

From my search here, I read that the 4.10 axle makes you have worse MPG. I know nothing about vehicles, so I'll believe that.

Do I need the 4.1, or will I be ok with the standard 3.73 ? I mean our Trailblazer did relatively ok with the V6 and nothing else fancy.

Thanks!

oj

Basically if you forget about the 4 cylinder mode, the higher the rear differential (i.e. 4.10 vs. 3.73 vs. 3.10), the better acceleration you will get and the worse gas mileage you will get. With a higher rear end gear ratio (i.e. 4.10), you will be at a couple hundred RPM's higher at 60mph than with a lower rear end ration (i.e. 3.73). The more RPM's you are turning, the more fuel you are burning. A lower gear ratio (i.e. 3.42) will have better highway mileage than a higher gear ration (i.e. 3.73) because you will turn less RPM's at highway speed, but you sacrifice acceleration. Now you take into account the 4 cylinder mode and some people say the higher gear ratios put you into the sweet spot of then engine and get into v4 mode more which obviously saves fuel. I am not necessarily a believer of this but I did want teh acceleration so I went with the 3.73. The 3.73 is a good compromise between the 3.42 and the 4.10.......

 

[JRTV8]

:iagree:

Basically if you forget about the 4 cylinder mode, the higher the rear differential (i.e. 4.10 vs. 3.73 vs. 3.10), the better acceleration you will get and the worse gas mileage you will get. With a higher rear end gear ratio (i.e. 4.10), you will be at a couple hundred RPM's higher at 60mph than with a lower rear end ration (i.e. 3.73). The more RPM's you are turning, the more fuel you are burning. A lower gear ratio (i.e. 3.42) will have better highway mileage than a higher gear ration (i.e. 3.73) because you will turn less RPM's at highway speed, but you sacrifice acceleration. Now you take into account the 4 cylinder mode and some people say the higher gear ratios put you into the sweet spot of then engine and get into v4 mode more which obviously saves fuel. I am not necessarily a believer of this but I did want teh acceleration so I went with the 3.73. The 3.73 is a good compromise between the 3.42 and the 4.10.......

 

[orljustin]

Thanks!

 

[ChacHoe]

I don't even know what gears I have. I'll have to call my brother and find out. 3.73 sounds familiar.

 

[wedtwuk]

I have a 2007 LTZ with the 3.73 gears. I also have a pop-up Starcraft 17 foot trailer (about 1600 pounds loaded) that I just started to tow with the Tahoe. If I had to do it over again I would opt for the 4.10 gears. Without the trailer the 3.73s work fine assuming you don't mind kicking out the overdrive when you climb almost any hill. With the trailer in tow those hills become much longer!

 

[jimjoe]

I cannot imagine more than light towing with a Tahoe. Admitting never tried that with my 3.73 5.3 L Suburban but my 6.0 PSD F-250 with appr. 750 lb / ft is just about right for my 8000 lb trailer. The Chevys have less than half. Maybe with an Escalade or my Yukon XL Denali @ 417 lb / ft.

Jim