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Whats the most I can tow W/O using the TOW/HAUL?

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Old Nov 19, 2011 | 02:15 PM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by vikingdiesel
so, I have to change out both front and rear diffs, so theress no buts about it, I pretty much have to spend $600 for both gears but it is a complete kit?
It should be EVERYTHING you need, with the exception of fluid and someone to do the install.
 
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Old Nov 19, 2011 | 06:20 PM
  #32  
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Well lets get back to the original question, do i even need gears? I have 33.5" tires, so one size up from stock, i tow a flatbed 20ft trailer with a car on it about once a month, sometimes 100 miles a month and sometimes 1000 miles a month when go on trips, so i barely tow, this is what i have. 2006 ram hemi 4wd crew cab 2" front leveling and 1 1/2" rear with 33.5" tires and soon i will be getting the 3865 superchip, i did notice mpg went down a little bit when adding the slightly taller tires, i have stock of 3.55 i believe gears
 
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Old Nov 19, 2011 | 07:48 PM
  #33  
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Well, it's entirely up to you. We basically have the exact same truck, except I do not have lift/level kits. With those tires you basically have about ~3.20~ gear ratio or something, as tire height changes the affect of the gear ratio. Everyone with these trucks who have done gears claim better MPG overall, especially when towing, so essentially they will pay for themselves...also towing puts a lot of stress on the tranny and lower gears will alleveiate a lot of that extra stress...and lets face it, Dodge has been known to not produce the best transmissions; although I'm not hearing very many bad things about 3rd gen. But regardless, towing that often, regardless of the weight, will prematurely wear the tranny, so you'll end up spending the money one way or another...might as well go with the way that will improve MPG and make your truck MUCH more fun to drive and tow A LOT better...do a search on here for gears, there are a lot of threads, and I'm sure not one single person regrets the decision.

I myself am putting 4.56 gears in my truck, and I do not tow as often as you, though I usually tow A LOT more weight...in one of the threads someone mentions that rule of thumb is 4.56 for more than 33" tires, and 4.10 for less than 33" and someone else mentions to decide by how much time you spend on the express way driving above 70. I myself only have about 12 miles one way of expressway commute, so I have decided on 4.56
 
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Old Nov 19, 2011 | 08:34 PM
  #34  
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Well when i tow, its pretty much all highway and i drive about 70-80mph on the highway, would you say 4.56 then?
 
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Old Nov 19, 2011 | 08:46 PM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by vikingdiesel
Well when i tow, its pretty much all highway and i drive about 70-80mph on the highway, would you say 4.56 then?
What I meant was when the truck is empty how much do you drive on the highway...that should help decide...if you have a long hwy commute back and forth when the truck doesot have any extra weight, then go with 4.10 for HWY MPG...if you do more city driving then most guys here say 4.56 actually increases MPG as you pretty much only have to blow on the gas pedal to get the truck to accelerate to cruising speed, where as with the higher gears you need a bit more throttle to get going, thus burning more gas. If it were me, and I towed as often as you do, I'd DEFINITELY got with 4.56
 
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Old Nov 19, 2011 | 08:50 PM
  #36  
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Seems like 4.56 is better for me, just didnt feel like spending $600, hoping they were going to be about half of that, but at least its $600 for both front and rear
 
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