2008 ram 1500, quad cab, 6spd manual 321 gears I77 in wva 4th gear full throttle 55mph. don't even wanna think about pullin my 81 15ft camper up there. this trip was empty. consider 373 or 355 swap and moding IAT to go with cold air intake. help

 

Even with 4.10's you'd have a very rough time pulling that camper.... I'm assuming the weight is somewhere around 2,400 lbs (average weight for 15' camper)....

The V6 is going to have a rough time pulling that trailer, even though its rated to be able to pull more, it's still going to be a bit of a struggle....

Honestly you might want to consider an upgrade to at least the 4.7L V8....

If you're hell bent on either a 3.73 or 3.55 I'd go with the 3.73 just b/c of the towing... I'd also get a trailer brake controller if you don't already have one...

 

use your transmission..

I pulled a 3,500 pound camper with my 04 Ram V6, 5 speed and 3.55 gears...

I almost never use 5th gear.. pulling.
going north on I75 north of Atlanta.. I was in 2 gear doing 4,500 rpm to maintain freeway speed up some of there hills.
my Ram has 40,000 miles on it.. what do you expect for 225 horsepower.? and a 4,000 truck!!!

your 5th and 6th gear is for gas mileage on level roads......ONLY..
my ram has trouble doing 60 with a head wind empty and pulling NOTHING in 5th gear.

 

Try to find a junk yard 3.92 rear axle, and swap the complete axles.

 

If you are going up a 6-7% grade then use 3rd if 4th does not get it done. It should still only be 3500 RPM or so at 60 MPH. That is still not the max torque of the engine. If I was towing I probably would reduce a gear and maybe the speed a bit to 55. Generally, if you are full throttle and only at 2500 RPM you are in the wrong gears. An auto transmission would either be accelerating or in the highest gear possible without redlining the engine.

 

I wouldnt think about loading the bed and hauling that with a baby 3.7, much less a trailer

 

You would be surprised .. what the baby 3.7 will pull.. using the CORRECT gear. may not be FAST.. but will do it without a problem...

as my other post stated 3,500lb camper trailer... in 95 degree temps... with AIR on... and never went over 190 degrees. correct gear, reduced speed. job done.

 

That is surprising I must say... I've towed 2,000# with a V6, up and down pretty some hills.....maybe 10%-25% grade, going up was not fun at all, I was getting passed by oversized semi's like I was standing still... going down wasn't too bad b/c of trailer brakes and a manual transmission, but still wasn't fun....

 

Come deer season I pull a 16 foot lowboy with a good sized massy ferguson tractor roughly 4800 lbs on it with my V6 auto. Do I set any land speed records not so much but it gets the job done. Wish I had a stick shift in mine. Only mods mine has is dual exhaust and a k&n cai.

 

Thanks yall. Chuckhammer, makes sense, all the v6's ive owned in the past (1960's to 80's) had automatics and were two doors. So what is redline on this new truck. I guess being out of the automotive mech field for over 20 years has made me rusty on these newer trucks and how muck the computer plays a role. Ive done alot of reading on IAT resistor mods, your thoughts