A-833 2.47 1st gear change to 3.09

I’ve been running 3.09 boxes since the mid 1980’s.

There is no reason to not use one. The 1-2 split can be aggravating but unless you want to power shift at 7k plus it won’t be an issue.

I cringe when I see guys running a 9:1 first gear (overall). It’s not a power glide or TF.

It’s damn near impossible to get too much first gear other than the splits get too wide.

I remember when Pro Stock went to 5 speeds. Bob Glidden was doing some testing with the 5 speed but he wasn’t using 5th gear.

All the rail birds said at best the car wouldn’t be any faster with 5 gears than it was with 4.

Of course they are faster with 5 gears. You can run a lower first gear and keep the splits reasonable.

So don’t buy the close ratio is best stuff. I mean you could have 8 gears and technically go faster.

The extra gears allow the builder to narrow up the power curve. It’s easier to make power over a narrower power curve than a wider power curve.

To that end, my race car was a 3.09 box with a 5.57 rear gear. I could have used more first gear and more rear gear if I had the balls to run it to 9k on a regular basis.

I’ve used them with 3.23 gears, 3.73 gears, 4.56 and now 4.88 gears in my street/strip car.