Since you're not in a huge hurry, set up craigslist searches with email alerts and just watch for a while... have the cash handy and be ready to jump on a deal if someone posts one. I can't tell you how many really good deals on cars and car stuff I've gotten that way...

If you wind up with strong, 8 lug axles, sell your wheels and buy the right ones...

 

I tend to agree with you. But, it seems that Dodge placed the aux cooler after the the radiator cooler.... and on the older trucks, no thermostatic bypass. Rumor has it, the newer trucks actually have one.

 

i noticed that on the factory aux cooler on my van. I wonder if it has to do with the backflow valve - that when they added aux coolers it was just simpler than replumbing that and they deemed it more important to have less lag for fluid pressure in the tranny than a little more optimal temp (if what I read about the fluid actually being warmed in the radiator cooler really is the case - ever run a thermocouple after that cooler to see if it makes a difference)...

Im about to redo the lines in my van and since I’ll have temp gushes, I’m very tempted to put a large / high flow thermostatted bypass just after the inline filter and before either of the coolers...

 

Not a bad plan. I haven't had the opportunity to monitor temps on various cooler setups. I think it would be an interesting exercise though......

 

Doing the math from stock tire diameter of 29" up to 35" tire size (35/29 = 1.20 x 3.55) 4.28 would get you back to the stock ratio. so the 4.56's would give you a little extra oomph.

 

Just read through all the posts in this thred and everybody seems to be right on in regards to axel ratio, 4.56 is the perfect ratio for 35in tires as for the trans upgrades, well, here’s the problems I see

get rid of the deep sump, it looks awesome but defeats the purpose, I had a deep sump on my 46RH trans when I took it to a great shop here in so cal that built the crap out of it then tested it on a dyno before giving it back to me
the techtold me that the exhaust crossover in front of the pan would actually heat up the trans fluid more then the pan would cool it!! So I went back to a stock pan And to use the biggest cooler I can fit in front of the ac condenser, sandwich cooler, not a continuous tube cooler.

I bypassed the radiator cooler completly but............ .........I live in Southern California, it will never see freezing conditions so for you folks in cold areas run the cooler after the radiator cooler, it will help to get that fluid moving on a cold morning and a thermostat bypass is even better for cold areas just get a good trans temp gauge installed to make sure the bypass is working

my trans never gets above 156 degrees even pulling vail and Loveland pass in Colorado during the summer 3rd gear with the torq converter locked up and it runs cold!

viperdave