Any non electric 4 speed autos for a 360 mag out there?

AJ/FormS said
Stock for stock yes. The 5.9 puts out a lil more than the LA. But just try and find an LA that hasn't been in production for over 25 years that doesn't require a rebuild. And so then you can level the playing field, during the rebuild, for little to no extra dollars.So if you already own the 360, it makes no sense to me, to throw it away for a possibly tired Magnum. That is my opinion.

Now suddenly we hear about a 408. And not for racing.
But riddle me this; Do you really need to run an A518 with a 408, for your application?
Well I tell you what, a stroker is really really good at making low rpm torque. This makes needing 4.10s almost ridiculous. And that puts the overdrive on the backburner, IMO.
A regular 360 will be tons of fun with 3.55s and a regular TorqueFlite. That makes the road gears 8.70-5.15-3.55 and if you say the 360 makes 200ft lbs at 2400rpm then at take-off the 360 will be trying to plant 1740 ftlbs to the pavement. On it's way to peak torque the 360 will eventually make say 420 ftlbs at say 4000rpm at say 35mph and this maths out to 3480 road footpounds. And it will cruise at about 3000rpm

Now lets look at a mild 408.
It might start off at 350 ftlbs at 2800, building to 430 at 4000, ok so 350 is 350/200=plus 75% more take off torque. So lets give up some of that tire frying torque, and reduce it to ffun-level.
>I chose 2.94s cuz they will cruise at 65= less than 2500rpm. Ok so First gear will get you 375x2.45x2.94=2700 road ftlbs on the start line. Whoa that is about 1000 more than the fun 360 was.So that means we can give up either gear or stall.
>So if a 2500 cruise is too much, lets try 2.76s, one of the strongest 8.75 gears ever built. 65 will be ~ 2340cruise Rpm
And starting line torque at 2800 will be 2367...... still 36% stronger than the fun 360.
So that means we can give up some stall.
>Lets go to a 2400 and get 320ftlbs. Your new startingline road torque comes to 320x2.45x2.76=2164, still 24% better than the fun 360,Are you seeing what I'm seeing?
>Ok lets put an A518 in there with 3.91s and a 2500TC cuz that is about what you're thinking right?,lol.
Ok say 2500 is 340 ftlbs your startingline road torque will be 340x2.45x3.91= 3260 ftlbs. A little excessive would you agree, being nearly double the fun 360. And the cruise rpm will be 65 ~2300cruise. Well wouldjah look at that .
2340cruise rpm earlier(with 2.76s) compared to 2300 now (with 3.91x.69=2.70). and a low gear that you totally waste the tires with. So what is the A518 doing for you? I mean the fun 360 can break the tires loose with its 1740, rev it up and waste the tires too. But he can use all 4 barrels, right away. While yours is, at up to 3260 ftlbs, making a really good smoke show. And your 408 with 2.76s will still out take-off the fun 360.

Ok so that covers two bases,namely take off and cruising. What about second gear.
Back to the fun 360. At 30 mph in second gear, he will be cruising at 2000rpm. At the downshift the Revs will jump to 3400 and the roadtorque will be ~1825. How about your 408?
With 2.76s and 2.45 low your rpm at 30 in second will be 1570, nice. At the KD the revs will climb to 2650. And with the torque still at 340, this makes a roadtorque of 2300, again 26% stronger than the fun 360.
So the point I'm trying to make is this. Do you really need to run an A518 with a 408, for your application? Or are you spending the time and money on something you just always wanted? Against which there is no argument. lol.

Now here's the clincher; 60mph at the top of first gear with a 2.76 rear will be ~5300 rpm right near to peak power. 2.94s will put it at~5640, still a pretty good place to be.
Happy HotRodding

Hey AJ (I think that is your name),

I really super appreciate your time and knowledge to write this reply. I understand completely what you are talking about. Raising the rear end gear lowers hwy RPM and decreases the overkill torque at take off. I will have brand new 50 series tires on it, pretty wide, with traction bars, but I don't plan on nailing it every time I start off. I use the principle engineering theology they used to teach and practice... Make things 4-5 times stronger than they need to be, that way they won't break on you for sure! That is why these old Mopars are still around, they built them 4-5 times tougher than they needed to be. Not anymore, I don't even think they build them tough enough for moderate duty, lol. Oh, and my 360 is already 60 over.

I did have 2:72 gears in it before with my 360LA mildly modified and it tweaked out the planetary gear shaft. It was worn literally like half way through when I had it disassembled. Do you think that it would be too much torque for that high of a rear gear set up? Wouldn't the planetary shaft, and the rest of the gears have too much torque going through them? With the 3:55's in there now, the stress is lower on the gears because they are not trying so hard to move the car, and like you said, the tires will break traction under the same amount of torque that will just push them with the higher gear.

With the 2:72's or 2:76's wouldn't there be more stress on the gears/planetary shaft, and all the assembly, not to mention the U-Joints and tranny? I'm sure you understand like if you are starting your 10 speed bicycle off in 10th gear as opposed to 1st gear, you will be working your legs a lot harder and putting more stress on the chain. Doesn't the same principle apply?

I will probably stick with the 3:55's for now and see how they do. But it is good to know I can get a higher gear in the rear end and increase my mileage w/o going through the trouble of finding and rebuilding a 4 speed. Extra cool. I'm just concerned about over stressing the drive assembly by doing so. Oh and I will stick with the straight 727 too.

Bob