Hi guys i did a search and read a few threads but wanted to ask my specific question anyways...... i currently have a 3.45 rear and a s10 4 speed with a 4th gear of 1.00 and 26.9 diameter tires. which puts me at about 58mph at 2,500 rpms

i used this caculator: http://www.angelfire.com/fl/procrastination/rear.html

i'm shopping for a s10 5 speed and have a set of 3.08 rear end gears at home ready to go in. but i wanted to find out what the optimal operating rpms for a healthy 235 is?!

i just drove about 700 miles roundtrip to a show and keped it at 2500rpms the whole time, the truck ran great other than eating a little oil and wasting a lil bit of gas! but i feel this should be lower, maybe in the 1900-2100 range tops?!?!?! i dont care much about power on this truck, i care more about long distance trips, gas millage and most importantly engine life. i'm trying to figure out what year s10 t5 to get, since they all have diff. 5th gear ratios.

i've found a 89 s10 t5 which depending on if it came from a 4 or 6cyl could have a 5th gear of .86(4cyl) or .79(6cyl). with such a overdrive ratio and the mentioned 3.08 rear gears this would roughly put me at 60-70mph at around 1900-2100 rpms. would this be too rough on the 235 or just right?!

thanks again!!!!