im new to this site and hope you guys could help me out.

I have a 94 dodge ram 2 wd. ive customized it quiet a bit. i upgraded the 3.9 v6 to a 360 v8, upgraded the weak tranny to the 2500 and hd internal parts. now im wondering if anyone has some suggestions how to get more horsies. i've heard that i should change the v6 rear end to a v8, any suggestions.?? and as far as headers do you think its worth it?? also throw any comments you have to me, id appreciate it. thanks and i look forward to chatting with you guys.

 

Gears are going to net you the most gains unless you start looking into forced induction.
I assume that since that truck had the 3.7 in it, that you have 3.21:1 gearing ration, or 3.55:1 ratio. Is this a 4x4? If so, remember that what ever ratio change you do to the back, you have to do to the front.

 

its a 2 wd sorry forgot to add on info. what gearing would you suggest i move up to. is it 3.92??

 

This is a commonly debated subject on here. Higher gear number means more times the drive shaft has to turn in order to complete on revolution of the rear wheel. Most of the guys on here add higher gears because they want bigger tires with out the performance loss. IE, it's a wash.

If you do a lot of highway driving, keep in mind that the higher gear means more RPM. You start running into cabin drone, and overall higher RPMs for extended periods of time. Most say that higher RPMs won't cause excess wear on the engine, but I disagree. (Let's not go OT trying to tell me how I'm wrong. mmk?)

Keep in mind withe stock housing from Chrysler, the highest I think you would be able to go is 4.56:1.

On the plus side of gearing, the higher gear will usually net you better fuel economy in city driving conditions just because the engine doesn't have to work as hard to move these heavy trucks.

Personally, I would look at 4.1 or 4.56 for power adders, if you don't mind the loss in mileage, drone, and the possibility of increased engine wear at highway speed.

 

i have 22'' rims and tires on this truck im not lookin for mudders or nothing like that. i have it lowered and shackled already. just trying to make it faster on the takeoff, not to worried about gas mileage, within reason. i dont want a extreme gas hog, but i understand that higher gearing =higher gas consumption correct?

do alot of people reply to these forums. and for the majority are they descent answers and conversations.

 

Does anyone know what the gearing is from the factory on these trucks. and/or has anyone changed the gearing for more horsepower. if so what was the comparison like?? I changed the engine to a 360 also.

 

This forum is dead and the few people in it have no idea what they're talking about.

Honestly, take anything you read on the internet with a grain of salt. It is full of "experts" whose credentials are rarely shown. Anything you get back from a question should be double checked with someone that does this for a living, even my responses and I'm fairly knowledgeable by comparison. In fact, forget what I just said because I'm pretty sure I'm full of it.

 

The higher gearing will cause a drop in highway fuel economy and usually an increase in city fuel economy. IMO, you already have a dog on your hands when you put the bigger wheels on there. Not as much as it could be, but you got slowed down some, considering the stockers were 16".


As for your second question, if you try to help yourself, everyone here will pitch in with the problems you need help with. I will say it now before someone just pops in with it: Most issues with these trucks have been covered here many times over. There is a link in the top of the page in the black bar labeled search. You can click on it, and then click advanced search. There, you can limit your search parameters to just 2nd gen, and that will narrow the results down.

90% of the time, the answers here are legit, and true. If they aren't there is always someone on here that knows the correct answer, and everyone learns. As with any group of people, we do have our hooligans here, and I won't name names, but rather, let you find out who they are.
BTW Welcome to the forums.

 

Me, he's talking about me. I'm a hooligan! Proud member since 1973.

 

thanks and i appreciate you guys helping me out. i dont know many mechanics and i love my truck to death. so i figured i might as well give this a shot.!!