I've been using the bigger filter on my 87 since it was new and the 96 for the seven years that I've owned it.

 

I belive they went to the smaller one to save money! Makes you wonder what else they skimped out on...

 

the fram ph 8a works fine on my '96 ramm.so does the napa 1515.

 

Casting intake manifolds? Plenum gaskets? Torque converters?

 

I had cold start lifter noise when using fram filters, went to NAPA gold and very seldom have it any more.

 

suppose it would be bad to tell you fram makes MOST of the various other brands of filters out there excluding wix and a couple others I can't remember, it's been a decade since I worked there.

By far, wix is the best filter you can get for the money.

@charlie1935, due to the orientation of your filter on a dodge ram the actual make of the filter has no bearing whatsoever on startup performance, if your having startup clatter you have an oil pump problem or a severely worn top end.

 

It has been like that since 1987. Getting away from fram fixed it. Some times it sets for a week or longer.

 

Fram is part of the Honeywell group and has been for several years.
Champion labs is the largest producer of automotive filters in the U. S. A.

 

you need to get out more often