Well if personal experience counts, heres my tale of woe,,,
I have a 2006 Avalanche 4WD w/5.3 and let me state lond and clear that having 3.42 gears is the single biggest disapointments I have with this truck!
It is a DOG,,,
I got it used in showroom condition with 25k miles for a blowout price and it was exactly what I wanted, but for the gear ratio.
Unfortunately I didnt realize just how bad it would be having such a high gear ratio. Given what I know I thing I would have selected another truck.
In my case my last vehicle was a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a 5.9 and 3.73 gear ratio with short (225/75-16) tires, so I had a benchmark for pulling my trailers (2 place enclosed snowmobile - single axle boat roughly 2800 Lbs - And a tandem axle boat roughly 4800 Lbs).
Sadly I thought the Avalanche with its far newer engine technology would beat the performance of my old-school Jeep hands down, boy was I in for a rude awakening,,, Its power cerve is way up the RPM scale and it has NO low end torque,,,
So not having a good gear ratio is a killer to towing performance.
My Jeep would pull the side off a house with little effort, the Avalanche ia a slug until you get it rolling and get some serious RPM.
Guess you live and learn.
Not sure if the 4.10 gear option would have brought Avalanche up to equal with the jeep, but it would sure have helped.
So I for one say dont even think of buying a chevy without the 4.10's and plan to tow with it, you will be SORRY!!!
GH
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