I have Precision Gears in the rear and Yukons in the front.

 

You ask five guys, odds are you'll get five different answers! I don't think you can really go wrong with any well known name brand gears. You'll read posts about EVERY brand being great, with great performance and no whining or grinding and you'll read posts about EVERY brand being crap and whining like hell and blowing guy's rear diffs apart.
Gears are ALL ABOUT THE INSTALL, this is nothing to try to do yourself or even let Joe-Bob at the local garage install. You need to have an experienced differential guy do the install, pay him what he asks, get a guarantee, break them in properly and youwill enjoy much superior performance and never have a problem.

 

so they wont be a problem in the snow? thats wierd you cant spin your tires even in rain. i left a stop light the other day dry as hell and heard em squeel. its worse in the rain for me. i got into it a lil too much and almost got sideways ha. i just dont want to spend the money and time gettin them changed and then not be able to drive in snow or mud. or it may not be a problem

 

I have kind of a standing offer
to bet $50,000
on a 3.21 versus 4.56 differential
MPG test on a Ram pickup.

Call it 'Pinks for MPG'

You put up a $50,000 cashier's check from a major bank.
I will put up a $50,000 cashier's check.
An independent and bonded third party lawyer will hold the money
and make the payout afterwards.

The test will be done like the Goodyear Tire test below following SAE/TMC rules
and for Texas loud mouths
I now believe I can get permission to run it
at the same San Angelo test track.

======
The right way to do it
Goodyear goes by the book with Fuel Max test
When Goodyear introduced its new Unisteel tires with Fuel Max technology last year, and claimed that they were more fuel-efficient than its older designs, the company invited the press to come to its San Angelo Proving Grounds in Texas and observe an SAE/TMC Type II fuel consumption test, pitting old against new.

In this case, two identical tractor-trailers — a control rig and a test rig with the same powertrain, mileage, horsepower, GCW, tires, pressure, etc. — were fitted with removable, portable fuel tanks, which were weighed before and after identical runs of at least 28 miles at the exact same highway speed. Fuel consumption was measured by tank weight, and the two rigs were compared as a baseline. Three runs, which must produce results within 2 percent of each other, were made. In this case, the two rigs’ fuel consumption figures were consistently within 1 percent of each other.

Next, the test was repeated, with the control rig unchanged, and the test truck fitted with the component to be tested — in this case, the new tires. Over the course of three runs, with results within 2 percent of each other, the test truck had consumed about 7.5 percent less fuel per run.

Claim made, point proved, case closed.

from
http://www.etrucker.com/apps/news/article.asp?id=60421

 

Go back and re-read the past posts about 4.56 gears
and you will find
that the main reason people like them
is that they break the tire traction loose easily
for that teen-ager joy...the burn out.

For real acceleration
do you want such a high gear ratio that the rear tires can't hold traction
unless you feather the pedal on a launch?
No.
For real acceleration you want a gear ratio that allows you to launch
at the rpm where engine torque is maximum without tire spin.

Tire traction and rear diff ratio need to be 'a perfect match'

That is so basic you would think people would realize it.

The other basic is:
what rpm is the engine at just before the end of whatever race you are trying to be best at?

 

Once again, spinning your tires IS NOT GEAR RELATED!!!!! When you have "sticky" tires they DO NOT spin, they dont even chirp. The compounds that they use for Off road tires, A/t tires are alot harder than the stuff they use in street tires, With that said even some street tires are made up of this harder compound like the factory tires, everyone can spin them like they're nothing.

 

I guess I'm confused. If I typically travel on the interstate at 75 MPH with a higher gear ratio, won't my RPMs be higher than if I had a lower gear ratio? Maybe I just don't understand how gear ratio's work. I have the Dodge Ram 2500 w/ the 3.73 gears and use it for both commuting and towing. So are you saying that I'll get more power and better gas mileage if I went with a higher gear ratio? If thats the case, it seems like a no brainer to swap out gears.

 

ha im glad i could bring this discussion up

 

3.73 is a perfect ratio for all around use in a CTD, leave it alone unless you jack it up and add huge tires... The info discussed here is really for us gas engine guys who don't have near the low end torque to work with that you do. We need to get our rpm's up into the powerband faster for performance where you pretty much have full torque a few rpm's over idle...

 

but im still wondering if i leave my stock tires on for a while but change to 4.56s, in the snow will i jsut spin the whole time or will i get traction leaving from a stop? im jsut tryin to figure out if it is worth it or not