I have a 97 dodge ram 5.2L. ever since I've got it I've noticed it doesn't have great acceleration. I tried pulling my boat today and realized it'll barely do that. Is it really just that weak or what? When I'm driving and my rpms are at about 1100 the truck will shake and vibrate but if I let off the gas or press down it'll stop shaking. The shaking also wasn't that bad when I was pulling the boat, I'm not sure if it's because of all of the weight or not. I've noticed this sort of popping noise when I'm decelerating, but it's not a backfire. I'm not sure if any of that even goes together, but it's just irregularities that may have something to do with not having any power. I just want to be able to pull my boat without having to stomp the gas going back up the boat ramp lol. Please help

 

How many miles on it? What size tires? What gears in the diffs?

On my old 96, changing the timing chain and gears brought back a lot of power.....

How old are the O2 sensors? Might try disconnecting the front O2, and see if it runs any better.

 

Any codes? Did you replace your plenum gasket?

 

There's around 175k miles on it, the tires are 35's on 17 inch rims, and I'm not sure what gears are in the diff

 

I hope the gears were swapped out when the larger tires were installed, otherwise, you will tend to notice sluggishness when moving forward from a stop light. In your case, sounds like you have a motor issue(s) and possibly a gearing issue. Answering some of the questions already posed by others will help to determine next steps.

 

Are you sure your not starting out in second? My truck has times where randomly first gear won’t be there, I’ll start from second and it’ll be real sluggish. I have a stored p0500 (speed sensor) code when doing key dance but no check engine light. The remedy at least for mine when this happens is shut off, turn back on and boom my first gear returns

 

As was asked before, have you scanned your PCM with an OBD2 scanner to determine if you have any pending or stored codes? If so, what codes are you seeing?

 

Yeah I've had it scanned and the only 3 codes I got were p0500, p0135, and p1595

 

I'm not sure, it's like when I first start the truck it wants to go, it'll roll forward without me pressing the gas and just letting off the break, but once I come to a stop after driving for a bit it'll just sit there even with my foot off of the brake

 

The codes that you've mentioned need to be address and may fix the issues you're experiencing. Here are some links to assist you in addressing the codes that the vehicle is displaying...

https://www.yourmechanic.com/article...pencer-clayton

https://www.engine-codes.com/p0135_dodge.html

https://www.engine-codes.com/p1595_dodge.html