Hello all

Just got new 35X12.5X16 MT Tires on 16X10 Rims. Tire look great on my 1996 Dodge Ram 1500 4X4. It has a 3 inch body lift, complete new front end and edlebrock shocs. My question is, can the ABS or speedometer be adjusted to reflect the new tires. Was told by my Dodge dealer that they cannot do a 1996 with there equipment. Read that adjusting the ABS will adjust speed and the shift points with the new tire size when it is entered ... need to know if anyone knows how this can be done

Thanks

 

Welcome to the site. I will move this thread to the second generation Ram section,
FF

 

Yes, you can, cheaply, too. There is a gear on the end of the speed sensor in your transmission you need to change. I'll see if I can find where the DIY is for this.
EDIT:
http://www.rm-indy.com/speedo_correction.htm

 

good job purple !

 

What?

 

remembering where that speedo gear thread was.

 

Ok ... that was interesting, didn"t know of that gear, but they way I understand your reply is if you change the gear ratio in the front and rear from the stock 3.55 and you have a 32 tooth gear, you would change this gear to match the gear ratio .. but I changed my tires to 315/70R16 or 35X12.5X16 and left the gears at the stock 3.55.

Increasing my tire size makes my gear ratio higher. The transmission shifts based on engine RPM and throttle. The tire difference makes you go faster at the same given RPM and throttle. Adjusting the speedometer will not do that much other then it might save you getting a ticket. The tranny will still run hot because of the shift delay.

I am pretty sure to help this shifting and your speedometer, you shoud be adjusting you ABS setting to reflect the tire size you have and forget about the speedometer calibration. The only other things you can do is, change the front and rear gears and install lower ratio gears at about a thousand bucks per axle, or put a transmission cooler on ....which I would not do because the dodge's already have a problem in the winter with the transmission not warming up fast enough and whining. I was hoping someone new a way of adjusting the shift points so the tranny won't overheat with the larger tires and be toast. I know the newer dodge rams can be reprogrammed but can't understand way the dealer can't do a 96 ram. Any help would be greatly appreciated ....thanks for reading this.

 

OBD1 would be my guess.

 

OBD1 readers are for 1995 and older, OBD2 is for the 1996 and newer vehicles, I have that but I do not have any error codes to worry about. Just trying to figure out how to reprogram shift points in the ECU ... I am confident that its in the ABS set-up that you have to change tire dimensions to get the ECU to recalculate shift points.

Thanks though for the imput

 

well the only real correct way that isnt going to be harder on your tranny (and make it a dog on power) would be to have the axle gears changed to the correct 4.56 ratio for your tire size....speedo and shiftpoints are dead on on my 96 with35's and 4.56 gears.....and its not a grand per axle...had my jeeps dana axles changed to 4.56 years back for $1200 total gears labor and all....not trying to give you a hard time but once the tranny shifts its still working harder in each gear your way and your overdrive can burn up easy with such a load. and I thought the computer would relearn shiftpoints somewhat once reset anyway based on load on tranny and driving habits? I may be wrong about the last part but thats how I thought it worked....after I did tranny work on mine and reset the computer it seemed to shift different the first 150 miles or so and then shifted smoother after that. Course could all have been in my head too
BTW my jeep was a 5 speed stick and even with no shiftpoints to worry about 5th gear was practically usless to me and I wasted more gas alway flooring it to try and get going.It was a real dog ...and this was only with 32 inch tires and stock 4.10 gears on a 145horse 4 banger....3.55 gears and 35s with a v8 is a pretty good comparision I think. difference was day and night with the gears...way BETTER on gas and way more pickup.