Got back from first long trip with the new gearing...huge improvement both on and off road. I have around 2200 miles on the gears now, and so far so good.
Here's a pic all packed up and rolling home, see if you can figure out the spot.
I was able to cruise comfortably at 75mph at 2100rpm most of the time on the interstates, way less hunting, no abrupt downshifts to 2nd over the passes. So much better.
I only got offroad on anything interesting just a little bit, but it was on a road I have driven twice before. Previous to the gear change there were two spots where if I didn't carry a little speed the converter would stall out. It made for a little bit of an elevated pucker factor previously. This time I could crawl through no problem, and in the spot where the left rear wheel briefly lifts each time my locker engaged much more smoothly and pulled right through with just a tiny bit of front wheel spin. So much more relaxed and controllable.
Now I really want to do the 6l80 swap as 2nd is still to long and starting to wear out. I also had a little bit of ATF leaking out from the bell housing, which makes me think the front input shaft seal is going, which might mean the pump and/or input shaft bushings are not long for this world.
I also need to adjust the calibration a touch, my speedo is showing about 2.5% higher than actual speed right now. It is likely just the slight difference between the actual and spec size of my tires.
