re-gear or axle swap plus re-gear?

[rpcraft]

I'm sure it will transform your ride. I figure if you are 4wd you can always start in the rear and then upgrade the front gears later down the road. Just maybe make sure if someone else drives your rig from time to time either disconnect the Shift linkage or the driveshaft from the transfer case.

 

[bucket]

1988 was supposed to be a good year for a 700r4 too.

You still have to be careful with them and they still don't like being in heavy trucks. In stock form, they often failed (or will fail) in the 120-130K range.

 

[rpcraft]

I think that many miles out of a auto trans 125K isn't terrible failure rate. I think it sucks to have to try and pay for it, especially considering how easy they really are to rebuild. Even now with the electronic versions they still have a tendency to fail in and around that zone. I think you might find cases where a 4l65E or 4l80e can make it further without failure but even then they usually need some clutch and bad replacement to perform like new. It also depends a lot on the units service life too.

 

[Evil Bob]

1988 was supposed to be a good year for a 700r4 too.

soon as the gears are in I am having the transmission gone through and beefed up... I am lucky to have an awesome local transmission shop here...

 

[RoryH19]

I'm sure it will transform your ride. I figure if you are 4wd you can always start in the rear and then upgrade the front gears later down the road. Just maybe make sure if someone else drives your rig from time to time either disconnect the Shift linkage or the driveshaft from the transfer case.

That's what I'm going to do with mine. 14 bolt with 3.73's SF then eventually change out the 3.08 front diff ring and pinion to match.

 

[RoryH19]

soon as the gears are in I am having the transmission gone through and beefed up... I am lucky to have an awesome local transmission shop here...

My R10 has a beefed up 700r4 after the rebuild. It's better than stock and has 20k on it. Still my 4L65e with 160k seems to shift better.