And you could "grow up" too

 

There are a lot of Trucks runnin 3.90s and they are fine as a matter of fact they love them. 12sec5.3 runs them in his truck and I think 02denali does also theres two fast *** trucks with 3.90s with no problems. youre not going to hear much whinin in a truck.

 

And there a lot you can here in the truck too. Why put anything less than the best in to begin with? We are not talking about a 1000 buck beater here.

 

4.10 personally would be the way to go, but with the number of miles you drive you may want to consider keeping the 3.42's for now and getting a stall first. under lock-up the truck will drive as it does now and around town it should be alot more responsive. alot of the f-body guys with the 2.73's do the same. the gear is very nice to have but not always the best choice if you drive alot of highway miles.

 

If quarter mile times are you bag do not waste time with 3.42's. Dump them then think about a "stall" as gear will help you all the way done the track not just the start. Also, 4.10 are not really a issue when you drive alot as you have OD and when it is engaged, even with a 4.10 your effective overall drive ratio is about 2.87 to one which is pretty tall for a 5000 lb truck with 31's or bigger and you will have a OD that actually works too (it does not constantly hunt back and forth)

 

I rpelaced my stock 3.42's with Strange 4.10's and besides shaving 4 tenths of my 1/4 mile I actually gained almost 2 mpg and I have a really really heavy foot!
I drive maybe like 10 miles on the Interstate(80+mph) to and the same amount from work and about a total of 15 city miles everyday and I have no complaints at all-especially not at the track. Oh and I have a open diff!

 

I am not surprized at all by your results as the deeper gears play well with OD trannies and give you quicker part throttle acceleration as well and give the engine a more efficent cruise RPM too.

 

I'd definitely go for 4.10's. I love mine with 30.5" tires.

Seriously, there is plenty of "room" to go deeper if you want. 4.10's are very mild.

Think of it this way: 4.10's are a factory option.

 

I agree with you fully on this but there are those that are hung up otherwise.

 

Not an option in a 1500 5.3. My stock tires are only 29" tall