I've got a 92 2.3 4cyl. with 5spd tranny, it is just pitiful as far as power goes, from listening to people talk it sounds like gears is the way to go, it has stock 3:45's or something crazy like that, how much more power can i expect (Low end or Top end) and how much do they usually cost? the ol' truck has 145,000 miles on it, I don't know if it's even worth it at this point.

Gears won't give you power like a blower, but it'll just use it at a different rate. It'll put you in your power band at lower speeds. You'll have more low end, but less top end, and your mileage will go down noticably if you swap it for bigger gears.

you can get the gears for like 100 used and like 200 new for labor the cost ranges i was quoted at 250 and thats as low as I could find.

Going from 3.45's to something like 4.10's will feel like you have approximately 20% more power at the same road speed and in the same gear. That's the difference in the rpm's the engine will be turning. You might lose some mileage, depends on how much throttle you're giving it today to get it to go. And top end is usually limited by your speed limiter and/or the truck just runs out of steam. Sometimes you will actually see a higher top end as well, unless you can red line it in high gear today.

I've driven a '99 Rangers with the 4.10 standard and 4 cyl and I typically rent 3.0 V6 Rangers with 3.45 from Budget and based on the seat of my pants they accelerate about the same off the line. The difference would probably be more noticable at high speed but for me the important thing is that the truck gets up and moving initially. I changed from 2.73 to 3.45 in my V6 Mustang and it's a huge difference. The 0-60 went from a stock 11 seconds to a little over 8 (using my wristwatch). It now chirps the tires. I also put in the GT dual exhaust and K&N filter. Made the car much more fun to drive. Gas mileage stayed about the same. It's funny but if the Ranger gets a 4.10 in the newer trucks then I don't see any negatives with putting in a 4.10 into an older Ranger. I put in a used gear and haven't had any problems in the over four years I've owned the car.

I am about to go to the junkyard and start looking for 4.10s. Only thing is deciding on which auto to get them off of, an exploder or a ranger.

I got my 4.10's off of Ebay for like $40. They are used, and came out of a Ranger. I haven't put them in yet cause I've been spending all my money on bags:)