RE: overdrive

[Farmer <pharmer@domain.elided>]

Grant wrote:

> I have a feeling that a scout with a tall overdrive would get
> awesome gas milage. Mabey 16 or 18 mpg on the highway.

Maybe it depends on where you drive:  if you do a lot of highway, you could
probably get away better with a strong engine, tall gears, and big tires.
If you do a lot of city driving, then you are probably better off with
numerically higher gears.  And, if you drive a mix, then an overdrive would
seem the best.

Right now my Scout regularly gets 16 mpg on the highway with 3.73 gears, 32"
BFG MT tires, and a 304.  I'd like to think a little more tweaking and I
could hit 17 on the highway (probably tweaking my speed more than my scout).
An overdrive should probably be good for an extra 2 mpg.

On the other hand, it's got more power than it needs at low speeds right
now.  So, I could probably drop to 3.54 gears (about the time I do the
ARBs), and rely on the Dana 300 for the extra oomph while rock crawling.
And if that 304 ever wears out I could get a 345, and then drop the r&p to
3.31s; or a 392 and drop the r&p to 2.72!

Nah, I'll probably just leave it as is.

Ken Farmer
1980 Scout II
1975 Travelall
1974 Travelall