I had such a great experience yesterday in my Ram I had to post it today.

I live in North Texas near Fort Worth. I had driven my '09 2-wheel drive truck to work. It started snowing and snowing and snowing. By the time I left work, snow was covering the roads pretty good, but the temperature was 32 F so it was kind of slushy.

I was a little nervous, because we don't have snow much so you don't get much practice. I was afraid of running my new truck through a fence or someone else taking me out. I took it pretty easy at first, because I thought two wheel drive and a 5.7 hemi would keep the tires spinning whenever I accelerated. Well, that did not happen.

This truck was so sure footed, I was completely amazed. The ESP kept great control of the tire spin that even when it did try to spin, it was very little and felt like you were taking off on a gravel road. Felt perfectly safe in this truck.

When I got home, I was needing to go somewhere again so I got in my wife's Honda Civic with front wheel drive. I backed out of the garage and felt so unsafe just doing that, I pulled it back in and got back in my Ram to drive around town. It performed perfectly.

To be honest, I was totally amazed how this two-wheel drive, large HP engine vehicle handled the slushy ice. Felt totally safe.

I absolutely love this truck.

 

Why dontcha just marry it then....

J/K, I know how you feel. Mine works great in snow too. After the stuff I've been driving for the last 10 years, this Ram is a real treat.

 

I know man I wish I would have saved my money on the 4wd, that ESP sure has come a long way. Only thing it really works you can hear the abs braking going on to keep the wheels from spinning, but man it works good.

 

LOL.

I know what you mean about driving the last 10 years. I went from an 1998 S10 Blazer with 240K miles. Big jump for me. I think that is why I am so amazed with my '09. Because there has been significant improvements in all vehicles since 1998.

 

IT IS 100% IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO GET GOOD TRACITON WITHout 3.92 GEARS AND LSD, HAVENT YOU READ ALL OF THE COMMENTS ON THE OPEN DIFFERENTIAL. SORRY BUT YOU ARE WRONG.......JUST PLAING WRONG AND YOUR TRUCK IS NOT AS GOOD AS YOU THINK

 

No, I have not been reading the comments about the 3.92 gears. I guess I should have, huh. That way I would have known how much danger I was really in. LOL

I have read a few posts about the rear-end gearing. I really don't understand the discussions, to be honest. If I need my truck to be in a lower gear, I just shift it to a lower one using the electronic shifter (+/- buttons). I really like the 3.21 gears myself. When it gets hilly and shifts more, I just hit the "-" button until 5 is shown on the EVIC. Lower, if I need it. Then back to "D" when I don't need the lower gear.

Seems like to me you have it all with the 3.21s. High gearing for better gas mileage and by down shifting the transmission, pulling when you need it. I am sure I am wrong about this too, though. Remember, ignorance is bliss.

 

the problem is not the gear it is the LSD (limited slip differential) 3,21 and 3.55 are open 3.92 is LSD. 3.21 is fine if you dont tow hi load but LSD is a must especialy on a 2 whells drive and snow.that is the reason i will fix my 3.55 to be LSD on my 09 4x4 sport.i can tell the difference because i previosly own a 96 and 02 ram with LSD,it is night and day.i live in canada lot of snow and ice.

 

With an open differential, to get traction on the wheel that is NOT spinning, you would just need to apply the brake to the wheel that is spinning. This would essentially lock up the spinning wheel so the pinion gears could apply torque to the non-spinning wheel. Isn't this what the ESP does?

I don't think a posi-track rear-end is as important as it used to be with all of this computer controlled traction control. It is almost turning an open diff into a semi posi-track. The people that REALLY use 4WD obviously can tell the difference, though, as in your case. But LSD would be a waste of money for most drivers, in my opinion. My 2 cents.

Edit:
When you say you noticed the difference, did you turn OFF ESP on your 4wd sport? If so, I would be interested to see if you left ESP ON would you notice the difference. ESP is a very sophisticated algorithm and makes changes to the drive train in milliseconds to help keep traction. If you turned it OFF, the the LSD vs OPEN diff is not a fair comparison. To be fair, I think the comparison can only be made with ESP ON on your Sport.

 

after reading your post i take the truck for a ride and your about right =always in 2WD,with ESP on ,up on a moderate hill from a dead stop, one wheel on ice and the other with traction i can ear the ESP work and the truck start to move,with ESP of, the truck dont move one wheel spin,with the ESP on with 2 wheels on the ice truck start to spin and the engine start to slow down until i flor the gas pedal and the engine went down to about idle speed and both wheels do not move,on the same condition with ESP of one wheel spin and truck dont move,on my 96 and 02 ram with LSD both wheels spin and truck move. it is not a big trouble because my truck is 4x4 but for 575$ LSD option (here in canada)on a 40 000$+ truck if i have to buy again i will place an order and wait 3 months to get what i like. PS excuse my english i am french.

 

I agree. $575 is chump change for a $40k truck. I would do the same if I was ordering.