Hey guys,

Installed the PA body lift on my reg cab 4x4 auto with the 3.9 in er.

Is the 3.9 strong enough to push 33's? On long highway trips cause it's a bit of a distance to get to work every morning and ofcourse off road.

Not too worried about mileage but will the 33's strain the engine and tranny alot? Also, is the body lift enough or do the tbars need to be cranked? Would like to leave the tbars alone if I can fit 33's.

I'm expectin a little rub at full lock.

Thanks

 

The 3.9 in stock form is gonna struggle a bit to turn those 33's. I know when I went from 31's to 32's I could tell my 5.2 down shifted earlier when going up hills and stuff.

 

Thanks man.

I accidentallly chirp my tires all the damn time with the 31's i have on it now, but I can't afford to be replacing an engine or tranny any time soon.

 

Engine wont be a problem it would be the tranny, If it has had reg service it will be ok. A regear will help out big time. 4.10's would help out

 

Is the regear something you can do yourself or best to just to have a shop do it?

I dont have the most confidence in my tranny, low miles but it shifts hard, certainly not smooth.

On the fence if i should flush it out or not, dont wanna break it.

 

Its not really hard but need the right tools most shops will charge about 1,000 to regear thats parts labor and front and rear dif. Ask a buddy they might know of a shop that is cheap or they might even know how to do it. As far as a tranny flush if its under 100k it should be alright to flush. If the fluid is red and not burnt smelling. You actually want a tranny to shift hard. When a tranny shifts smooth its just slipping the clutches so you dont feel the shift. This causes more wear on the tranny.

 

Ouch $1000 is a little steep for me and Im sure I aint got the right tools.

And I never knew that a hard-shifting tranny is actually good. I can understand the concept, but my truck will shift fine through 1-2-3, but 4th gear is always a clunk and I have no idea why. Also, when you move from P to R or P to D, it jumps into gear and violently clunks

You would expect the lower gears to be worse since they get used more often right...

The colour is red and it doesn't smell bad, but i dunt think its ever been changed. truck has 70,000 kms. which is like... 55,000 miles? took a guess.

 

Its all in who you know really. If I bought the gears(bout 400) I could get them put in for about 200-250. Now if my buddy helped me and went to his bosses garage I could do it for a case of beer lol Change that tranny fluid and while its apart have the bands adjusted. Should help the clunk also check the u joints they could also cause a clunk.

 

Part of your fourth gear clunk is probably torque converter lockup.

As far as the 3.9 pushing 33s, it's going to be a real dog with the stock gears. The only way to do it right is to change them. Even my 5.2 was noticeably slower after I put the 33s on. I had to downshift every time I got to any kind of a hill. I changed the gears to 4.10 and it's like a completely different truck.

 

Yeah I just dont have a grand to throw around for regearing and dont have too many friends that ACTUALLY know what they are doing haha.

Anybody have a 3.9 and 33's? Did you regear?

Thanks Tom and Dodgeramguy