On a trip I have ran at 85 to 90+ steady with the 318.
With overdrive locked out have seen 114 MPH.

 

Ok. Question for you guys . . . I only know the answer in Charlie1935's case. What gear are you topping out in? 3rd or OD? What charlie is saying makes a lot of sense to me. My truck has something like 170 horsepower, towing gears, and no overdrive. Yet it will wrap the speedometer past 85 to somewhere around 95-100. Oh, and on top of that, its a sail.

This raises a lot of questions for me.
- Is it a computer limiting feature?
- Does the truck not have enough power in OD to overcome air resistance?
- How heavy is your truck? Do you carry around a lot of stuff?

My truck will go (and sputter, clatter, cough, cack, whine, creak, screech, shimmy, rattle, and try to kill me at) 95ish, and it is a turd. Why would a newer, more powerful, more aerodynamic truck not? I am stumped. There must be some sort of limiting factor here.

 

I locked the O/D out to get RPM up. That was just over 4500 RPM. I doubt that it would go that fast in O/D because of the overal gear ratio. If it would the motor would be lugging hard. I have 3.55 rear with 265 70x16 tires.
My 87 has 2.76 rear with 225 70x15 tires and I've had it up to 3400 RPM which is 94 MPH if I remember right. Takes a while though.
On the 96 I think the computer controls the top speed.

 

A friend of mine has a 1998 Ram 1500 with the 5.9. As far as he knows, it has dual exhaust, headers, a chip, and the plenum fix. When I ride with him, I get jealous because his truck always feels like it has power to spare.

Now that I think of it... I have never been on a highway with him though.

 

So far on the old girl I got the Hughes Plenum fix, Kegger Mod, Cap & Rotor, 8.5 TM Cables, Spectre CAI, Magnaflow C/C, Super 44's, and 22" rims and it gets after it. The engine seems to cut of as soon as I get near 100 mph. I asked the shop thats done work to my truck and they say its something in our transmissions that will not let them keep going. Does anyone know anything about that?

 

It is not the transmission, it is this very very large number in our trucks called WEIGHT. You are not going to get a 5200 lb vehicle 120 MPH when it only cranks out 150 RWHP. With your mods, i will give you 175 RWHP. If you are going 100 MPH in our trucks, you will probably get very hurt. All it takes is a bump or a flat tire at those speeds to send you off the road, or into another car.

 

Well this guy hit 114 MPH. I dont know how to lock out the overdrive, how would you do that?

Also I heard that another reason our trucks are so slow are the gear ratio's made for pulling instead of high end speeds. What are the best gears that can be installed in our trucks for towing and (or) speed without overdoing it?

 

Ok for those of you that don't know a 318 doesn't carry the power like its bigger brother the 360. My 93 jeep grand cherokee with CAI, mopar ECM, and exhaust has plenty of pull with the 318 to 100. Then falls almost flat for a mile til you get up to 110(out of closed off roadway). The truck has the 5.9 with CAI and exhaust with recent tune up now has plenty of extra power. I can hurl this leveled ram and over-sized tires on 17's down the road to 110 plus way easier then the aerodynamic jeep.( easy way to lose the chevys(98mph governed)). remember to do this on closed course not on the public roads guys. safety first............

 

Nando Vazquez . ... Those cluster gauge face plate did you put white lights in them. I like those ... Thanks to all my fellow goats I. See now that 90 is more then I need sorry for the ricer moment

 

Just push the O/D button and you're out of overdrive and in direct gear.