The first half of your paragraph is interesting, but the second half has me going the wrong way. Not sure if you read my 3rd post above, but with what I believe is 3.73's in there now, is too low as it is. The truck revs way too high at interstate speeds.
I'm still learning on the 4-Speed project, as I know I'm not the first one out there to have one, but if worse comes to worse, I'll just install it on my present 3-Speed and keep it on the column.
By the way, although I am seeking more truck member input here, there are some interesting articles out there on it in some automotive publications I have recently discovered. I post them as time allows.