Me- Do you think my Tahoe could benefit from changing the gear ratio from 3:73 to 4:30?
Tommy-You would have much better acceleration and could hold a gear towing large loads but it will be expensive to regear.
me-Do you think it would be worth the money to do it?
Tommy- I would rather build up your torque converter or completely replace it with a different model, This would save you much more money and give you the same results as changing the gear ratio but your gas mileage would be a little bit better.
Me- have you ever done this before in place of a gear swap?
Tommy- There have been multiple occasions where i have done torque converter work on these late model GM trucks and cars because from the factory GM is not putting in a torque converter that is proficient.
This is not the response i expected to get at all, I thought in full that he would tell me to go on and re-gear. Right now i am running a 3:73 gear ratio which would be just about right if i was running stock tire size and did not have all the modifications that i do. With all of the extra weight and towing that i do, i thought it would make since to go with a 4:30 gear ratio or possibly 4:56 but Tommy suggested a much better idea. I had never thought about upgrading my torque converter to one that slipped more to generate more torque, imitating what a gear swap would do. I was very happy with the results that i received from my interview. When i was on my way to Interview Tommy I thought for sure that he would agree with my re-gear idea which he did but he had a much more economical solution to my problem that i would never have known about if i did not interview him. I look forward to following up with Tommy on installing one of these high performance Torque converters in my Tahoe, it would complement my corvette engine swap quite nicely. I trust most any advice that Tommy gives me because he has had experience building race cars since he was my age. He is great at building high performance vehicles and is a mastermind with engine swaps. I drive the only 2007 Tahoe with a 2013 6.2 v8 aluminum block corvette engine in it all thanks to him.
Since I have had my Tahoe I have put about 30,000 miles on it and those have not all been easy miles, the majority of them are in town, a good bit of highway and interstate driving, and some off road. These miles that i have put on the truck along with the larger tires, lift, and extra weight have worn out the shocks and struts prematurely. Replacing the struts will definitely be my next edition to my car. At this point I cant decide if i should spend the extra money and go with the fox racing coilover strut replacements or just go with some cheaper rancho or bilstein strut replacements. I know that i will go with the fox 2.0 rear shocks because they are not too expensive but the front struts cost a lot. the advantages to the fox coilovers is that they can take a tone of abuse, they look great, and ride incredibly offroad. The cons to the Fox coilovers is that they are expensive and require more maintenance than a regular strut would. My next step in deciding what shocks to use will be to consult my local off-road shop which is Rocket City Off-road. In the past i have bought several things from them and had them install several products on my trucks. Another person that I could consult about the proper choice of shocks and struts would be Tommy Davis, who is also the man that I interviewed and learned about torque converters from in post 3 could give some positive insight. Most of his experience with aftermarket equipment for cars is specifically for race cars. As I have researched more I am starting to think that I will go with the cheaper option which was the Rancho strut replacement. I have found that Rancho has started to make some coilover replacements as well, this could be risky because they are a brand new line of shocks out there and there are not any consumer reviews yet. There is absolutely no risk involved if I end up going with the Fox coilovers because everything that Fox makes is incredible. One of my friends drives a ford raptor and it has the exact same suspension set up from Fox that I would be replacing the suspension on my Tahoe with. This decision all comes down to how much money I am willing to spend on small aspect of my car.