Upgrades: differentials and limited slips!

[sedc]

Originally Posted by Green Dragon

Do you have the sport package on your '03? My '01 5 speed had it and my current '04 6 speed does not. Night and day on handling.

It does not have the sport pack, I have not particularly noticed a difference in handling between it and the sport pack X5s I've driven. Perhaps your non-sport X has a worn suspension..

Originally Posted by Green Dragon

Towing capabilities? Weight to peak torque issues? Maybe they didn't want to create a large disparity in fuel economy numbers as to hurt sales of the larger heavier V8's or compete with the e53 diesels in Europe? Just throwing some ideas out there. Don't really know.

Can you still do soft 2nd starts?

I know for certain that changing the gears has lessened towing capability. I do not know by how much. But I pulled a 5-6000 # trailer for about 2k miles earlier this year and 1st with the 4.10s made it possible to start off on steep hills and rough terrain. However, the tradeoff for lower RPMs at highway speeds is worth it to me.

It's still going to be sluggish. The M54 needs another 100hp to comfortably move the truck. I'm thinking about a supercharger or turbo. S54 is also a possibility as those come down in price.

2nd gear soft starts are still possible with the 3.64s.