recommended 5 speed gearing

jpnjim wrote: Buzzman72 wrote: . You're also limited by how wide the gear spread of your transmission is, the T-10 in my AMC has the tall 2.23 first, so the 3.91 rear was put there to make 1st gear work well, spinning 4000rpms at 80 was more or less an unintended consequence. [QUOTE=DaemonForce]I'm starting to think it doesn't really matter what I choose for tires because the end goal is to make use of my OD option. I just noticed that if I go to 3.54 gears, engaging OD is the same function as going from a 3.54 set straight back to 2.72! This means all this calculating and scrambling around that I've been doing to figure this out is pointless. I have to change to at least this 3.54 ratio or lower and since I can't go any lower, that's all there is to it.

Which is why I ultimately went with the 3.31:1 rear for the T5 I have.  3.34:1 first with that rear makes for a short first gear "sprint", but it is still usable.  2nd gear is 1.94, 3rd is 1.34 (iIrc), 4th is 1:1 and 5th is .68.  So, the 3.31:1 rear makes the best use off all gears past 1st.  If I had the T5z's 2.95:1 first gear set, I would go with at least 3.54 rear gears but would most likely push for 3.73 as 5th in that trans is .63.  G-Force has a gearset option that drops 1st all the way to 2.42: and alters 2nd and possibly 3rd, as well as a taller 5th (iIrc).  I'd love to have that trans and use a 4.10:1 rear.