Got a few questions before I have HemiFever tune my truck. My Current mods are: double roller timing chain, ported Kegger w/ ebay plenum fix, magnaflow hi-flow catalytic convert, magnaflow 3" catback exhaust. I've also got a 180* t-stat.

I don't think I've ever had the truck over 3000 rpm, I'm pretty easy with it. I'm not looking to lose a bunch of bottom end off the truck, not really looking to gain a bunch of top end. For everyday driving, stop and go traffic, should I leave my throttle body alone, or go with a ported one before I get it tuned? Is there anything else that would be wise for me to do before tuning it?

 

Looks like you have it covered in my opinion...the hemifever is pretty much plug-and-play...it'll work well with any existing mods and you can always just throw the throttle body on later if you wanna gain a bit more top end. I just have a 50mm tb on my 360 which I feel is more than enough for a non-stroked magnum engine.

Can I ask why you want to get rid of your eq heads and hughes cam? Damn it if I wasn't getting married next summer I'd take those off your hands!

 

Ok, sounds like I'm good to go on the tuner then. Thanks!

Yeah, I built an engine before for a different truck, and they are 2.02 heads and it's a decent cam, after building it, it come to my understanding that you get more torque / acceleration out of the 1.92 heads than you do for 2.02. In the end, I ended up having to part out that truck, as it needed much, much more work.

I'd like to build another engine at some point for my truck, but I just don't know if the heads / cam combination would kill the lower end torque / acceleration on my truck. What are your thoughts?

 

You can get good combos that will work. Deepre Gears make up for a lot.

And anyway, people say less accleration but you're still makinggobs more power than stock.

 

Yeah, I'd like to do my gears, just takes $$$. With 190,000 miles, I almost think it would be better for me to get DANA 60 axles and re-build them, since mine have so many miles on them. Just don't have the space or $$$ for that right now.

Stepping my gears up to 4.10s would be what, close to $1000?

 

I got two Dana 60s, and a whole parts truck for that matter, for 1 grand. With 4.10s.

Much easier to find 2500 axles with 4.10 aka towing gears in them.

200k on these axles really isn't that much. The 9.25 IS a tough axle.
The 44 eh you just go through ball joints a lot. And the u joints are toothpicks lol.

Just loook for a 2500.

 

Depends on how much of it you can do yourself. If you have to pay someone else to install..... 1000 bucks would be considered cheap. 500-600 in parts, the rest is labor.

There is a thread around here somewhere (recent), where a member did his own gear swap. He had never done one before. Might wanna read thru that... see if it is something you want to try. Sure would save a big pile of cash.

Going to 60's wouldn't be a bad plan either.

 

Regearing from a shop ranges from $800 - $1600. It's based on their experience and back log really. Going 4.10s makes it easier on parts cost b/c they are more readily available. Oxymoron recently wanted to go 4.88, however, they aren't available for the Chrysler 9.25" nowadays it seems.


HB -- you are full of poop regarding the ball joints and ujoints. Quit down playing the 44 when you barely ran yours until getting the D60s. Plenty of people here (proper setup mind you) that have long lived D44s.

It is agreed that you can find a deal on 3/4 ton axles. The trick is location AND condition. Finding a recent downed parts truck is the path if you are ok with minimal down time.


Good points here by HY on regear yourself. Find Oxy's thread. Perhaps he can quote rough parts cost followed by labor, which includes the proper tools.

It all sounds nice to find 3/4 ton axles....but mostly they need refurbishing. Do you want to run a similar 190K axle without considering new unit bearings, brake hardware, etc.?? Axle shafts/joints typically ok and just replace if the let go. It adds up quick, not to mention any other fab crap or MISSING parts to deal with, right Ham Bone....?




Edit:

Oxy's thread: https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...gear-swap.html


X's thread: https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...-gear-set.html

 

Ok yeah I am exaggerating the ball joints and u joints for the 44. But size wise the 60 joints make the 44 u joints look like toothpicks lol. I'm just on the 2500 axles bandwagon.

WN made a good point about properly set up axles. that makes a big differnece and lots of people run bad setups with bad setups and wonder why they replace their front suspension every year and their truck doesn't steer worth a dang.

He also made a great point about swaps and all the other crap you don't think you need until you're staring it in the face in the middle of the swap trying to get your truck back on the road.

If you have the time and energy to do a swap, you get a lot more bang for your buck, as opposed to just a different gear ratio. But say you already have a lot of upgrades invested into your 1500 axles and all youre missing is the gear ratios. Then it makes no sense to swap new axles in.

Sometimes it just comes down to seeing the deal and being able to act on it. They always come up right after you pay your bills. So keep an eye on craisglist then lol

 

Looks like you have an awful lot of mileage on that truck to be putting a bunch of money in performance parts into it...honestly if I was in your boat I would be saving my pennies for a stock 00-01 off road edition (factory 4.10 gears FTW!) with at or under 100k miles...they're still out there and a really nice one will pop up on autotrader every once in a while. Unfortunately they're mostly located at dealerships that got them as trade-ins...I was lucky enough to find mine on autotrader listed by a private seller.

Idk what your financial situation is, but its just hard for me to get behind dumping a lot of money and blood, sweat and tears into a truck that has that much use and abuse on it...as far as the engine goes...i want the 2.02 heads...the way I see it, these engines can afford to lose a little bottom end to make up for the miserable top-end performance. I don't tow real heavy or anything either so it'll be fine for me. And the other guys here are right...loss of bottom end torque can be made up for with the right gearing. I'm gonna wait and see how my 4.10s do with 35's (when i get there) and then make a decision on whether or not to step up to 4.56s.