Ok guys I have HOGGED the thread long enough ... Sorry for the last few post.... I just had to clear some things up. I will only observe from this point on... I have already put the fact out for all to see...

Well there you have it, all the Fact have been posted. If you chose to act on them is your call. But I do advise you to be careful of those who make sugestions that are based on OPINIONs... because if you listen to them you will lose! Try to dig up the facts and take advice from those who have REAL WORLD experience... not opinions you based on books that have little to add but confusion. there are plenty of people who have the 4.56's installed and 99% of them are very pleased. I have not yet met one person who was not happy with the results.

Hank will try to impress you with his cut and past post and he will have you thinking he knows what he is talking about... but this is a guy with ZERO mods on his truck... Are you going to take the advice from somone who has NO real world experience? If you do then you deserve what you get. Dont just take my word.... do your homework and find the FACTS.... they are out there.

Also ask yourself what I have to gain by sharing this information.... ? What do I have to gain... I dont sell gears... I sell Induction systems.... So why would I say MAKE GEARS your first MOD when that does not make me any money?

Do it right and MAKE GEARS YOUR FIRST MOD! You will not regret it... and after you have them in a while come back to this tread and let us know what you think... I will be surprised if you dont fall in love with yoru truck all over again.

SPEED SAFE, AIR RAM

 

I'm not arguing the point with you What I'm reading from a few is that they think going to taller gears will suddenly make it a fuel saver. All things stock on the hwy it will not. That is what I was getting at - not on a modified truck but a stock truck with stock tires and unchanged driving habbits going 70-80mph everywhere. I totally agree 4:56's are the way to go in a truck. I'm going to do this to my Jeep first but eventually I will also do it to the Dodge. Just no need for it now.
Actually I'm planning on 285's-305's in the future so I may actually go 5:13's assuming they make a R&P that size for this axle.

 

Fuel saving is only ONE of the benifits... You forgot about extended transmission life, and towing ability... and yes this holds true for completly stock trucks...

And at this time 4.56's is as high as they get. I have had 305 50 20's on my boyds till the tread was gone...6 months...LOL... but it was a lot of fun.

SPEED SAFE, AIR RAM

 

stump_breaker:

I wasn't expecting HUGE gas milage increases... I'm just more interested in all the benefits of a bigger gear, but actually getting the same (and the way AIR explains it) a bit better gas milage. Thats amazing :P Cause my growing up I always thought bigger had its benefits but as the cost of your gas milage ... So this is all a big shock to me. And it seems to a few others. I posted on a few other boards asking for people with the 4.56 upgrade to let me know what their milage was BEFORE and then AFTER the upgrade. If i can see 1mpg more city and even if I don't get any on highway (just don't want to loose any) then I think that would be the best MOD for the truck.

AIR:

Did you put in MOPAR brand gears? If not, or even if you did, where did you pick them up at? Or did you get them at the dealership?

 

I had MOTIVE 4.56's installed.

SPEED SAFE, AIR RAM

 

My experience with 1995 Dodge differential gears is as follows.

I presently own a 1995 5.9V8 ClubCab 46RH that originally had 3.55 diff gears for 72,000 miles
and from 72k to 186,000 miles has had 3.21 differential gears. Switching from 3.55 to 3.21 gained me 0.9 MPG at a steady 60 mph over a 310 mile test run (Durham NC to Wilmington NC)

In 1996 for about two weeks I drove a nearly identical 1995 model year 5.9V8 Club Cab that had 3.92 differential gears. This dealership loaner did not have a tonneau like mine did at the time, but at a steady 60 mph over a 310 mile test run it got 2.1 MPG less than mine with a 3.55.

I have a friend with a 1997 Ram Reg Cab long bed 4x4 46RE 5.9V8 with 4.10 dif gears that I have followed with my truck on a trip from Durham to Knoxville and back. He did not have a tonneau but was lightly loaded with two 60 lb fiberglass kayaks in the bed. I had a tonneau but had more than 600 lbs of gear and tools in the back. We checked MPG at each gasoline stop and both used my calibrated odometer on an Oztrip meter for miles. In the worst case he got 5.2 MPG worse than I did with 3.21 diff gears, and in the best case 3.7 MPG. These two Ram trucks were travelling at 65-75 mph following each other with about 4-8 vehicle lengths between.

I have done extensive MPG testing over the roads from Durham to Wilmington NC, and also from Durham to Knoxville, and Durham to Ft Lauderdale.

I have tried and reported on:

with/without viscous clutch cooling fans
180, 195 and 205 thermostats
conventional coolant and Evans NPG
with/without air dams
different sparkplugs
indexed sparkplugs
factory vs Walker QuietFlow vs DynoMax mufflers
Goodyear 235 85R16 vs Bridgestone tires 245 75R16
Mobil One 0w-30 vs 15w-50
factory PCM with 93 octane vs Mopar Performance PCM with 93 octane
various Vortex generators on roof and sides

these tests are in the archives of
M-o-p-a-r-c-h-a-t.com
d-o-d-g-e-t-r-u-c-k-s.org
d-o-d-g-e-t-a-l-k.com
and dirt archives

Note that some of the MPG tests
showed gains and some showed losses
and they didn't always turn out like I thought they would.

I think Chrysler has run more MPG tests on gasoline Ram trucks than I have.

DCX doesn't believe that differential gear ratios
that give less than 39 MPH per 1000 rpm in top gear
make Rams get better MPG
in either city or highway driving.

 

Hey hank thats great information.... I cant wait to see your report when you do the same to a 3rd Geb Ram ... untill then what you have done does not apply here. What size tires did you have, what was the overdrive ratio and how much did you truck weigh? This may hold some answes into your results... but I guarentee these veriables are different than the 3rd Gen Ram.... 30"+ tall tires, .67 overdrive, 6,000+ lbs....

Because I have done the SAME EXACT thing you say you did ... but I did it on my 3rd Gen Ram just like many others.... so I guess because your chevy the results dont Jive with those of us who have done 4.56's on the 3rd Gen Ram we are all liers, or too stupid to know the differnce.... Well I dont lie, and Im not stupid. And I know your not stupid... but again real world results from real 3rd Gen Ram owners report BETTER feul economey with the 4.56's.... Im not sure why you go out of your way to say we are not seeing the gains we are in fact seeing. You do the same thing about intake's.... people see 2-3MPG increase and .2x gain on the 1/4 from an aftermarket intake and you say ... thats not possible its all in your head because 20 years ago I did this test with intakes on a chevy... so we are all crazy and your not??? Your out dated knowlage has gotten OLD!

Lets for a second say OK hank your right the rest of us are wrong... could you PLEASE explain what happened to our MPG after the 4.56's where installed? Because if its not the 4.56's that have increase fuel economey I would like to know what did??? Please Please tem ME why I saw a 3MPG average gain from 0MPH up to 65MPH and inbetween. Please dont tell me Im not getting better fuel economey because I am... and dont try to say that the shop installed 3.26 gears instead of 4.56's because I can pull a house down the steet If there was a way to hook it up. If you can answer this question m going to bottle it up and make miilions.

Here is a good on line calculator you can use to compare transmissions and gear combos... notice how Your 46RH does NOT compare to the 545RFE... Not even close, so You can NOT use your results with this application!!!

http://www.dfw-tx4wd.org/Tech-Dept/Tech-Dept/gears.html


SPEED SAFE, AIR RAM

 

Ok AirRam,
you got thousands of posts,
pull up one post from the past
and list the weblink
where you did a proper MPG test of any sort

- where you weighed your truck
- where you reported what brand gasoline and octane
- where you kept track of wind direction and temperature

any of the very basic things that distinguishes a real MPG test
from the usual hot air that you spout...

A single post from the past from any forum.....
You can't do it.

 

And at the same time hank go ahead and pull up ALL your post about your gear testing on the 3rd Gen Ram...
Ohh Yeah you cant! Well when you do that I will pull up all my post... and there is a few. Again hank pull up FACT that apply to the 3rd Gen ram and try your best to leave out your personal OPINION... because thats all your posting untill you do real world comparisons.... I have... and I will admit I may not have done it to the extent you have on your old CHEVY, but the results I have, everyone reading this with a 3rd Gen Dodge Ram can and will see similar results.... unlike your POOR example with your chevy... that may be good info for a chevy owner but its NOT for a RAM.... Have you tried to hang out there? In that areana you would be posting FACTS... but here they are just speculations and opinions.
The problem is not all of them will come up... I think most sites drop old post after 12 months or so... I have tried to look up past post so I can cut and paste like you ... but I could not find them.

I you lived closer I would be more than happy to let you take my truck for a drive. I honestly feel you would look at the entire idea differently. Your so set on your own opinion that you will not even consider the possiblilty of our results. It would be nice if you would take the time and say... OK ... these people ARE seeing better fuel economey wih 4.5's.. WHY? I know once you GRASP the concept you will be on board with us... but again your fighting us and you have your hands over your ears yelling "Na na na nana I cant hear you" When you should at least look into our claims instead of refuting them.

You may be able to get somone in your area to take you for a ride in there 3rd Gen Ram with 4.56's.... Ohhh yeahh You dont need to because back in the early 80's you did a test that gave you the information you try to SHOVE down everyone thoat...

Im only saying that perhaps you need to do some NEW testing with gears and your 3rd Gen Ram.... The facts are out Hank... and you disagree with everyone who has made the swap! We can not all be wrong.

SPEED SAFE, AIR RAM

 

Now that I'm totally confused, my son has a 2004 4.7 with the standard stock gears, I have a 2002 4.7 that I ordered with 3.92 gears, his fuel mileage on the highway is better than mine. So I still don't see how going to a lower gear ratio 4.56 will improve mileage. Someone's math is way off.. I have more traction when I nail it, he spins the tires.. This relates to my other post,, lower gears better traction - worse fuel mileage, higher gears, less traction - better fuel mileage. I 'm only going on what I have seen and calculated..