Interesting points Kevin, you are right, just because the fifth gear on a KM145 fails does not mean it was over tightened. The are still inherantly weak because the gear is pretty thin. So do you think they would be better off with a .79 5th gear ratio like the FM145 found in the Ford Ranger instead of the .856 found on the KM145? I have never run a stregthening pan, but I did buy a Tuff Pan yesterday for my new FM145 because I will be running a 5:1 Atlas I want to reduce the flexing as possible.
Like I said, I have never had an issue with the KM145 but I hear alot of horror stories. I push about 200 ft lbs of touque and I also run large tires but the original tranny lasted 275K miles which I find to be acceptable. The reason I replaced it was because I took it swimming and I had a small tear in the spring cover boot. It never failed or made funny noises, but I figured it was smart to swap it out when I replaced the clutch because I had a rebuilt tranny lying around.
I also follow a few rules of thumb that I never use 5th gear below 55 mph or while going uphill. I also only use synthetics. But most importantly I also don't let the wife drive it.  I try to avoid putting any undue stress on the over drive gear.
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Spence
1985 Mitsubishi Pickup, 2.3 Turbo Diesel, 13" lift, Watercooled turbo, 4D56 Head, Atlas II 5.0 Tcase, Dana 44's,Fox 14" Coilovers, Elockers, 33x12.50x17 General Grabber Competitions.
2003 G-class
Edited by spencevans (07/15/10 12:07 AM)
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