Before I go ahead and make a final decision about whether I want to go with new gears or 265's, I'm going to swap tires with a friend of mine. He's got the same truck as mine except with a 5.2L in it. He has 265's on his, so I think we are going to swap to see how both trucks perform (just to see if the tires are what is for sure making my truck so slow).

I have a jack and a few stands that are capable of lifting/supporting the trucks. Will the jack in the back seat suffice for lifting the truck to get a stand underneath it since I only have one "aftermarket" jack? What else will I really need besides these items? My dad has an impact gun attachment for his compressor so that will be available also.

 

it might, but it'll take forever to screw it up and down. look for a cheap floor jack at walmart for about $20. having 2 jacks is very handy for rotating tires, or getting the truck up/down on the stands a lot quicker and easier.

 

you should be alright. Just support the front of one of the trucks with jackstands, and the back with the floorjack. Then use the two stock ones to lift the other truck.

 

Okay, thanks. Should I re-tighten the lugs with the impact gun or use a torque wrench, or both?

 

i remove lugs with an impact wrench, and then snug them back on with the impact, and then tighten them with a 4-way manual lug wrench. that way i know how tight they are, and i know i can get them off if i've got a flat on the side of the road. it pisses me off to try and change a tire where a shop has overtightened them with an impact and your on the side of the road with a pos wrench and can't get them off.[:@]

 

+1 for that, dhvaughan.

 

You can remove the lug nuts with the impact gun but tighten them up by hand with the torque wrench. You can snug them up if you want with the impact gun but be very careful not to overtighten them. I personally use a torque stick on my impact gun to put the lugs on then I go back and hand check them afterwards.

 

Anyone know off hand how much they should be tightened?

 

85 ft-lbs. , nice tool to have is an cordless impact and a TQ wrench..

 

When I worked a shop he bought a IR cordless impact and while it did okay I never was super impressed with that thing. I like the air impact guns much better. A quality torque wrench hover is a nice thing to have.

BTW are you sure it's 85ft lbs? I've always tightened them to 100. I thought thats what the charts we used to have at work said to do on 1500 Rams although I'm not 100% sure.