Gearing a 9" and T56

[Patrick]

Ok here's my delimma--- I have an LS1 with a T56 (out of a 2000 SS Camaro) and I will be running a 9" with a 25.5" tall tire (315/30/18).


How do I determine what Gear to run? If I use one of the online calculators-- do I use a 1:1 ratio or the .5 that 6th gear offers. I want strong acceleration with decent highway manners.

If I run the calculator using .5 and 2000 RPMs at 65mph-- I am coming up with a gear of 4.50+. This does not seem feasible-- I would guess 1st and 2nd gears would be useless.

Any suggestions?

[ProStreet R/T]

Depends what you want it to do, is it a street car or track rat? But with that awesome .50 OD you will be sub 2k rpm at 65mph

For instance vipers run 3.07 gears stock and most guys with light mods change them out to 3.55.

Personally I'd drop 4.10's in it and enjoy the wide gear ranges.

[Mkelcy]

I've got an aftermarket T-56 with the 2.97 first gear, a .62 6th and 4.11's. First is a little short, but overall the gear spread is pretty nice. An LS1 T56 with the 2.66 first gear, a .5 6th with 4.11's would be a great combination.

[Ralph LoGrasso]

Personally, I'd go with 3:73s or 3:90s. Get used to much lower crusing RPMS than 2,000 with a T56. At 65mph in my SS, I'm at 1500rpms. (3:42s, 26" OD tire). 2,000 rpms comes at 90mph.

[USAZR1]

Personally I'd drop 4.10's in it and enjoy the wide gear ranges.

That's what I did and it works fine.

[harshman]

me too with ls1 t56 and me much gusto!!!

[Joe_Rocket]

I like this gear ratio calculator. It gives you the starting line ratio and allows comparison of rpm and MPH for each gear.

http://www.5speedtransmissions.com/gear_calculator.html