Hi and thanks for reading. I appreciate all any help on this. I have an '03 AWD Durango SLT 5.9L. with tow package and 133k. Here is my dilemma:

I have a 20' Thunderjet Boat that weighs about 4400 loaded that resides at the bottom of a driveway that has a slope of almost 19 degrees. Its steep. There is no room to get a run at the grade. Its essentially a dead lift up the 40 foot driveway. It feels as though the tranny is straining a bit; a shake or two. If I let off the throttle a bit to goes away. But lose momentum.

Question: Would an axle ratio change help the pulling power off the line? If so what ratio might one recommend? Im OK if I lose some top end highway speed. I live in Oregon with lots of steep grades. Or is there another solution?

Note: My (now sold) 2006 F150 4WD with 5.4 Triton tugged the boat up this hill with seemingly zero effort. It only had 40k.

Thanks for any helpful comments. And sorry about mentioning the F-word in here.

Don

 

a gear swap would be the quickest way to notice a difference in off the line acceleration/power, however it is not cheap, especially for you since you MUST change both front and rear end gears in order to realize the difference. as to which ratio you should go to that depends on what ration you have now, is it the 3.55 or the 3.92? alot of people seem to like going to 4.10s for a good compromise of power and cruising efficiency.

 

Well I was never impressed with the 5.4s low end but the 5.9 I have been. Now if you want pulling power on the hills 4.56s will work great. Now by two engines you have listed don't get good fuel economy but be prepared it may go lower. Now for the drive way put it in 4lo if you don't have to turn much and it will march right up that.

 

Thanks to you guys for the quick response and the info. Im not afraid of changing both ratios. 4 Lo is something I should have tried right away. I guess I was thinking that in 4 Lo that the final drive ratio would still be the same as Drive or 1. Im learning.

Gas mileage isn't a huge concern as the Durango was purchased recently as a tug for my boat and not a daily driver. The boat ramp is about a mile away. Im mostly interested in making this a reliable tow rig first, snow travel, second and then a fire road cruiser.

So from what Ive read so far in this forum, Im starting with, airbags, shocks, and a T/S lift. I would love to find a hidden winch setup for the front if anyone has seen a good setup. While I want all the above, I DONT want a bling-bling looking rig that acts like tweaker bait while its waits at the boat ramps.

Besides this forum Im a member of many more (Yes, I too, suffer from hobby addiction) and I have to say the camaraderie in here is excellent. Thanks for your help and to the moderators!