[ChuckCard]

good evening. first of all i am green as grass to this forum. i have a 14 ram 1500 CC with the 5.7L and 8 speed. it has the 3.21 gears. i am more than satisfied with the mileage it gets. i recently purchased a 28 ft holiday camper which weighs under 6k lbs dry. it seems pull ok off the start, mind you ive never pulled anything that heavy before. highway speeds its good. i was just wondering if i switched the gears then the motor and tranny wouldnt be working so hard. if so what gears would be recommended? i understand i will lose gas mileage but i will notice a difference in low end power.

 

[bubba33]

It would be expensive for a 4wd.I had silverado with 373 with a 5.3. My hemi with 321 feels way more powerful pulling my boat then the Chevy did.That 8 speed makes a huge difference.

 

[earlzach]

I agree with the above. Although a lower gear is "going to help" I dont feel you really need it. Your not working your motor too hard. :smiley_thumbs_up:

 

[DetroitDoc]

The 3.92s are nice but with the 8 speed I'm not sure if I'd swap gears unless I was constantly towing near the upper end of the tow rating. Even then I might consider talking to the dealer about trading in for a 3.92 equipped trucks. I've done gear swaps before. They are expensive ($1000 - $2000 dollars). With after market gears you can have issues with noise, etc. OEM gears you'll be limited to the ratios originally offered and they'll cost quite a bit more.

 

[Bigbird]

This might be a good place to get a clarification on this gear issue. It would seem to me that to move a trailer down the highway at 65 mph that you have to pull it just so hard. Does it make any difference if the engine is turning 2500 in 6th gear with a 3.21 rear end or turning 2500 rpm in 7th gear with a 3.55 rear end? These numbers, of course, are ficticious.

What I'm getting at is that there is a specific amount of horse power required of the engine regardless of the gearing to pull the trailer down the road at a specific speed. Is this true or not?

Not trying to hijack this thread, just trying to determine if there is a real reason to go to the expense of changing rear end gears.

 

[Hermes1]

As others have said, changing gears on 4x4 is very expensive and I would argue not worth the expense, especially in your case having an 8-speed tranny equiped truck.