I see some people on here running 3.55 (I think that's right). Before I got my truck it was used as a work truck and someone had air shocks on the back. How do I tell what gears my truck has in them?

 

A build sheet from a Dodge dealership would tell you. You can give them your VIN, and they can print out a sheet with everything that came on your truck from the factory. You can email Dodge for one as well.

There is also a procedure where you basically watch how fast the axle turns relative to your tires (someone here will describe it to you, I'm sure, or you can search for it).

I will move this to the 2nd Gen Ram section (1994-2001), get you some additional input.

 

look in your glove box- on the lid.. there should be a build list adhered to the thing..

 

If there's nothing in the glove box, you can hope that the factory metal tag is still hanging off of one of the differential cover bolts. There should be two: One for the ratio, another for the build date. The ratio tag will say 3.5 if you've got 3.55's.

 

What's the best set of gears to have?

 

Depends on a lot of things, mostly what you want to do with your truck. But afaic, lower is better, in every situation. Thats just my .02c though.

 

My hood said 3.55. Good or bad?

 

What do you intend to do with the truck? That'll determine if the stock 3.55's are good for it.

If it's a daily/highway driver that's not towing often and has standard height tires, 3.55 is just fine.

 

Well I'm about to go to Air Force bmt. Once I get in and everything I want to buy a pull behind RV for my wife and I. I was going to use the truck to pull it. It has a draw tite hitch.

 

Off to Lackland Airplane Patch, huh? I was there a tad over 30 years ago myself... Have fun!



If the trailer is a lightweight and won't be pulled too often, you'll do okay with the 3.55:1 gears. If it goes over 6000 lbs. or is pulled frequently, you'll probably want 3.92's if you're staying with the stock sized tires -- which I highly recommend for trailering anyway. If you go to 4.10's you'll probably hate the gas mileage. Especially as a junior enlisted with not a whole lot of paycheck to play with. And it's important to consider that the lower the gearing (higher numeric ratio) the weaker the gears.

If you're going to be trailering often you'll want to be kind to that automatic transmission. They're not the stoutest beasts in the world -- if nothing else, add a deep pan and a remote ATF filter to help keep it cool and keep the friction material from circulating into the parts where it doesn't belong.

The 1500 being not the best choice for trailering, you might also consider adding an Active Suspension System to help you keep control.

Enjoy the Patch, man.