Posted by Fred Coldwell on Wednesday, September 22, 2004 at 9:09AM :
In Reply to: 5.83 vs 4.89 Difference in Performance posted by Paul(in NY) on Tuesday, September 21, 2004 at 9:13PM :
My 1947 PW has a 283 V-8, 4.89 gears and 1100-16 tires, fdront disc brakes, etc. It has sufficient power to climb steep grades at 11,000-12,000 feet elevation. But this drive train combination is too fast off road when in 1st gear, low range for driving over the rock strewn trails we have our high mountain offroad passes. I wish I could go slower and not bounce around as much, and feel the 5.83 gears would make that possible.
However, if our trails were smooth instead of all rocks and boulders, then a slightly slower speed would be irrelevant. If your local trails are not too bumpy and you get around fine with the 4.89s, stick with them.
A friend here who also has Chevy power in his PW has a ~7 inch long Ranger 27% overdrive ahead of his Chevy NP 420 transmission in his 5.83 geared truck. He moved his NP 200 transfer case rearward a few inches to regain his old drive line angles. This combination gives him both a good highway cruising speed comparable to 4.89s and wonderfully slow off road crawling speed in Ranger direct, 1st gear low range with his 5.83s. But your using the NP 435 and Dodge bellhousing makes installing a Ranger very inconvenient due to excessive NP 435 input shaft length (longer than the Ranger OD case), which requires machining to make the input shaft fit into the Ranger, mounting holes line up, etc., etc.
Focus on crawling speed, not power. If too many tree roots, holes and rocks bounce you around too much on your local trails, then seriously consider the 5.83s to slow your truck down to a more comfortable off road speed.