gearing choices

[jsteppe]

Here is my dilemma. I'm the proud owner of a 1981 k10. My truck has a 350th350c tranny, a 208 transfercase and 3.73 gears 10 bolt front and 12 bolt rear. When I bought the truck 14 years ago it had 2.73 gears that I had swapped out. I have always wanted to swap my tranny for a stick shift. I even picked up a sm465 and np205 to put in someday. I now have access to a parts truck that has the 4 speed od tranny and 3.08 gears. So I thought why not get that and drop my cruising rpms and still have the stick shift that I want. Then I thought it would be a lot easier to just put the 3.08 diffs in my truck and forget about changing the trans. I do some light towing with a single axle trailer but not very often. Would the OD tranny with 3.73 gears and 32 inch tires be okay for occasional towing. Or should I keep the auto and go with 3.08 gears. The parts truck is one I have known for awhile It was well maintained. But the salt of PA winters rusted the body out. Mechanically it is in good shape so I don't have the fear of having to rebuild everything I use. I would appreciate your thoughts and advice. Thank You. Joe S

[50seven]

IMO 3.73 & 4.11 are towing gears. 2.73 & 3.08's are highway gears. 3.55 & 3.27 are not good for either...... O/D is typically not used for towing regardless of manual or auto. One of my son's has a 87 GMC swb 4x4 with nv4500 and 3.73 gears on 35's I'm fairly sure he would never even consider 3.08's.

[wilkin250r]

3.73 with an overdrive tranny should be a nice all-around combo for general driving and light towing (under 5000lbs), but the general rule is to keep it out of OD when towing. I've got a similar setup in my F*rd, overdrive tranny with 3.73 gears and I routinely pull a 2500lb trailer with a 4.0L engine, your 350 should do even better.

Based on my experience with my truck, I'd say 3.08 is a little tall for towing anything but very small loads.

[jsteppe]

Decided to stick with the 3.73 gears and put in the OD A833. If I put the 3.08 rears in and keep the auto I think I would regret it in the long run. Since I've always wanted a standard shift and I have the whole truck to use for parts I might as well do it. only thing I'm not sure about is the steering collum. My 81 has a floor dimmer switch. If I use the 84 manual collum how do I wire the dimmer switch thats on the collum? Or do I even have to? I kind of like the floor switch. Some people get in my truck and don't even know what it is. I tell them that's just the nitrous button.

[Your41Plague12]

The plug is the same, All you need to do is move the plug from the floor switch to the one at the base of the column. I'd leave the floor switch and find a 78-83 column, personally. I like having the dimmer switch on the floor and the wipers on the dash. I believe 77 and back have a splined shaft where the column connects to the intermediate shaft, and 78 and up have the D-shaped one where the bolt goes through.