Have the SXT 4.7L 4 x 4 with Tow group.

Final drive 3.55

Is it possible to change to 3.92 in order to increase tow capacity. Dealer? Aftermarket? If so would I need to change tires, or other things.

 

Yes the gear ratio can be changed, the problem is one of cost unless you can do the work yourself. I read somewhere on the forum that the dealer charge for doing the change is around the $800 mark. Seems awfully steep to me. Perhaps an independent shop could do it for less.


Flea

 

Greetings:
Yes you can have your 3.55 gears swapped for the factory 3.92 gears and pick up several hundred pounds of towing capacity without any other issues such as tires/wheels.
However, since you have a 4x4 remember that both the front and rear gears must be done. $800 sounds like a darned good quote if that is for both ends with parts and labor. I suspect they are only quoting the rear end, or may be just labor or parts only.
Most postings I have seen quote $1000-1500 for regearing both ends.
Unless you have the equipment and knowledge, you will want to have this done as a mistake can be very costly and even dangerous.

Don

 

Good info for 2nd gen owners I found on another site.[/align] Don[/align][/align]Hi all,

Here's some info to anyone who is thinking about installing a set of aftermarket 4.10 or 4.56 gears

First to clear up some mis-informaton I have read about on this site and just so everyone knows what we are dealing with here...

The rear end is an 8.25 with an open diff, A few companies make gears to fit this application and I ended up going with Motive Gear in the 4.56 ratio. To install these the cross pin needs to be notched and you have to use a special left hand thread ARP bolts to fit the new gear because for some reason the new motive gear uses a smaller bolt size, The ARP bolts also have a larger shoulder than the thread to fit the carrier properly so you have these bolts to do it right... Besides these small issues the installation is straight forward... An aftermarket carrier is not necessary unless you want to switch to a limited slip type unit which there are several available...

Now for the nightmare... The front is an 8.0 IFS "But" at some point not to long ago (I'm guessing 2004) mine is an 06, Dodge has changed the design of the 8.0 IFS and it now has a "reverse rotation" type gear where the 1997-2003 had a standard rotation... Now guess what? No one makes these front end gears yet! As a matter of fact I called both National Drivetrain and Randys Ring & Pinion and told them what I ran into it and it was news to both of them! National called Motive Gear for me and they don't even know about this yet but they said they will look into making them if there is market for it... Randys said they would contact Yukon gear and let them know about this issues as well... Also it is worth metioning if you ever want to get the front carrier out of one of these front ends you will have to have a special tool to get the inner driveshafts out... This devise grabs the clips and works in conjuction with a slide hammer... Mac tools sell it for the tune of $85. and it works well...

So I have the rear done, The front apart and who knows when or if a front gear is going to be available so I decide to put it back together with the stock gears in the front and leave the two front driveshafts out to see how the 4.56 will be in 2wd... Nope not happening! The front senses that there is wheel slip or something, The ESP light comes and the transfer case goes into 4 low... I took it for a drive and it makes for one hell of stump pulling tow truck but with a 50 MPH top speed or so it is pretty worthless to me... Well after all this I decided to put the stock 3.55's back in there and hope that someday front gears will be available so I can install the 4.56's that I want...

This was a costly and time consuming adventure to say the least but maybe this post will save someone else this pain!

If there is anyone else out there like myself that wants a set of lower gears for the front I would suggest writng Motive Gear and Yukon Gear and asking for them because it will never happen without a demand... I hope the newer 1500 Ram trucks and Dakota use this new reverse rotation design as well because if they do it will just be a matter of time before the gears are available...

Well that's my story for today...

Dave[/align]