need help. my truck loses 5 to 10 mph when going up hill, i have 92 dakota with a v6 with a 5spd and 33's on it. i'm not sure of the gears i have and someone said it could be the gears with the tires. already did a tune up and it didn't help checked timing it's ok top speed is about 75 on highway, til i get to a hill and it's annoying. i'm new to forum's and having a little trouble figuring it out.

 

All gas motors need more pedal to maintain speed uphill...and since you're running 33's on a less than powerful V6, it would be expected you'll lose some momentum. Your gears are likely less than ideal, I've got a V8 5-speed and even I have only 3.55's. Gears wouldprobably be a huge help, your truck is designed for a tire more like 27-28" tall. You've added 5-6" of tire, that's a lot of extra unsprung weight.

 

my '90 V6 loses some momentum going uphill unless I downshift and run the **** out of the motor to get up it. The 3.9 is a bit underpowered so it sounds normal. smaller tires should help though.

 

Finaly I found someone else with 33s. Post a pic. You should upgrade the gears. You will get much more power because its easyer to turn with lower (numaricly Higher) gears. Everyone does lose power going up hill but it just depends on how much you lose. You could also have a vacuum leak.Too.

 

I should add, just going up to 30" tires I noticed the truck wasn't as quick. Unsprung weight makes a massive difference. I doubt there is anything wrong with your truck. At this point, if you want to keep the 33's either a V8 swap or lower (numerically higher) gears are your only real options. Gears are a good idea anyways when upgrading tire size, because the lower the gear ratio the less strain is put on the entire driveline.