"Holy crap, my spreadsheet says very nice things about those gear ratios in my 258 Hornet, 2.73 axle. The 3rd-gear column is what I see now in top gear on the A904 I have. First is lower (2.8 vs 2.54) too, second, third the same. My care behaves fine in 2, 3, but 1st is a little steep; 2.8 would be a big improvement!" ---------------------- What the spreadsheet isn't telling you is that the AW4 has a 1.2:1 torque converter torque multiplication instead of the roughly 3:1 of the TorqueFlite converter. This means the AW4 needs to be geared more like a manual transmission than a US auto. I tried running a 3.08 gear in mine with the torquey 4.6L stroker and AW4. It cruised at 70-75, but stressed the engine enough that gas mileage dropped considerably compared to the T-96 w/)D and 3.31 rear gears. Going to a 3.55 gear improved performance and mileage. I dropped about 4 mpg with the 3.08, gained 2 mpg back with the 3.55. I think the 3.31 gears are probably the best mileage gears for my combo, but the 3.55 is a good compromise. I'm running a 205/70R15 (about 26.5" diameter) tire, so your shorter tires help out on the gear ratio. Looks like you're running 1800 rpm @ 66 -- below that just don't run OD. It should be okay if it takes off fine, but I'm willing to bet it won't take off quite as good as the TF even though the AW4 has a bit lower first gear. I'm thinking that with the shoarter tires and lighter car 3.08s would work well, but the 2.73 will probably be a bit high. The AW4 converter won't slip and allow the rpm that the TF converter does before the car starts moving, so first could end up feeling like a lot less gear than you have now. Won't hurt to try, but you might want to line up a lower geared axle first. Stock Jeep Cherokee 4.0L stick axle is 3.08, so with deep offset wheels you could use that. _______________________________________________ AMC-List mailing list AMC-List@xxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.amc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/amc-list or go to http://www.amc-list.com