Hey I've read how people want some rear end gear ratios over others for towing, and I was curious to what the ratio is on my own truck. This truck was previously owned by my father who used to pull our pop up camper with it. Toward the end of its service life, the truck really had a hard time pulling it, as the engine needed help.

It's an 89 Scottsdale c1500 with a 5.0L. Really not ideal for towing, but the most I'll ever tow with it is a small row boat lol!

Anyways, here's a picture of the RPO codes found inside my glove box. I have been using this to look them up

https://i.imgur.com/tM9Z5.jpg

I see GQ1, GU2. Is that chart correct showing 2.73 ratio?

Thanks

 

Looks right - man I don't think I have seen that one before. It must get great gas mileage, but must not tow worth a damn!

 

Is it also an overdrive transmission ? I have an 85 with od and a 3.08 rear end. Great on the highway and getting 20mpg on the highway. Not bad for an ol girl but only 43,000 original miles

 

My 2000 has a 2.73 rear with a 4.8L. I have pulled 21.5 mpg on longer trips with the cruise control set. It's got a 35 gallon tank (long bed) and I have, in fact, driven 700 miles on a tank of gas, on the interstate.
I absolutely love it, and it will pull a small boat with no problems, and STILL give you great mileage for a full size truck.

Great set up in today's world. Congrats

 

Well, I'm sure it does pretty good on gas since I've fixed it up, but the odometer and trip meter are both broken as of 73K miles, and I know it's WAY past that! We had a rebuilt motor put in it in '03, and we've driven it since. I recon it's got close to 50k on the rebuild give or take.

Yes, it's got overdrive, long bed. It's a great cruser, but isn't a real thriller on the whole burnout/fast take off thing. 305s aren't the fastest in the world anyways.

My dad said he tried to find how full the tank was one day, and put $90 into the tank and she was still taking it, so he got sick to his stomach and called it quits. I imagine it's a 25 gallon tank though.

 

my 94 has the 26 gallon tank and my 88 had the same on it
yes it takes alot to fill her up when she is thirsty
but i love my truck so i will pay the price to drive it

 

I could not agree more with my trucks

 

Say, as long as I've got you guys' attention, any ideas as to where to start at fixing that odometer/trip issue? It's never worked since it's been in the family.

I think physically, the meters work, as when I pus the trip reset button, the dials jump a bit, but other than that, they've never rolled over even once. It would be nice to calculate fuel mileage on my little beasty

 

i beliave there is a plastic gear inside the trans that controls the odometer and trip meter it may be worn also your stepper motors most likely are worn out
if that is the case i would search the internet for a place to rebuild your dash cluster for a fairly reasonably price

i hope that helps a little as i had the same issue on my 88 and never got around to fixing it fore i sold it
so i am uncertain of how to find your solution

 

Well my speedometer works at anything above 15mph ... I don't know if that's related or not. Seems like a speed sensor gear would control all three?

Perhaps I'll pop my instrument cluster out one of these days and take a look. It wouldn't surprise me if the PO before my dad disabled the odometer/trip in some way.