how do I find out what gear ratio I have
THANKS

 

ok get yourself a grease pencil and a jack.
jack up the rear of the car and put the transimisson in neutral. take the grease pencil or nail polish which ever you get and make a mark on the drive shaft.
Now while watching the driveshaft slowly spin the tire one complete rotation count the amount of times the driveshaft makes complete revolutions in the 1 revolution of the tire. that will give you a round about number.

if the driveshaft spins 3 and 3/4 times to one tire rotation you have 3.73 gears.

Another way to tell is to write down the axle numbers and check it with the site the axle numbers are on the left axle tube (if im correct) and i do not remember how to decode them. hopefully someone else can fill you in on this

 

Take off the cover and look. It's the only way to know for sure. All the rest of that is guesswork and unreliable. Especially the "codes".

Have you changed the fluid lately? Then it needs it. While you're catching up on the overdue basic maintenance, make a point of counting the teeth. There is no possibility for error there (well, if you can count, anyway).

 

hot69z thanks so much

rb83l69 well I can't say enough

I just buoght the car and i have checked everything i know how i just dont know how to get my ratio

thanks hot69z
one trans am

 

Count the teeth on the ring gear, and divide that by the number of teeth on the pinion.

Most all stock gears have the tooth count stamped on the edge, such as "41:11" which would be 3.73 (41/11 = 3.727272727272....). If you spot that on yours while you're changing the fluid this weekend, it will save you the trouble of even having to count them.

 

thanks I will look for that

 

i tried jacking up the car and counting the # of rotations of the drive shaft but its only turning about 1.5 times for every complete rotation of the tire. whats up with that?

 

That's why the only reliable method is to take off the cover and look.