I am getting ready to order a 2012 2500 cc long bed with Hemi. I plan to put 285 tires on once I get it. I am not sure if I should go with 3:73 or 4:10 rear end. I tow a trailer with max 5000lbs and will have a cab high shell and around 1000lbs gear when loaded. Only tow/haul like this 6-7 times per year.... The rest of the time loads are much less on highway/freeway.

What is recommended for this use? What difference in mpg's should I expect?

 

Well...I can't compare MPG's for you. But if you went with the 3.73's you'd be just fine since you don't tow it all that often. The higher your gears the more you suffer w/ MPG's

 

Go 3.73s . You will love the 2500

 

Thanks guys... I was leaning in the direction of 3:73... This helps confirm.

 

I would order up a 4.10 just to give you the low end, mid range tourqe advantage, your not going to save on flue, highway with the 3.73 with the tire up size .

The 6sp automatic will lower your 410 gears with the up size tires.

 

I gotta go with cyclone on this one. I've owned 3/4 tons, both gassers and diesels and have driven a few 3rd Gen 2500s in both 3.73 and 4.10 flavors (and 4.56 for that matter).

IMO the Hemi makes most of it's power pretty high up in the RPM band and low end suffers a good bit with 3.73 gearing, making the truck a pretty poor tow/haul vehicle (comparitively). Diesels have all the low end torque you could ask for so you can get away with 3.73s, but not so with the gassers. I have a good friend with a Hemi Mega Cab who was REALLY disappointed while towing and he went from 3.73s all the way up to 4.56s and claims it's like a whole new truck. BTW his in-town MPGs actually went up and highway MPGs were only very minimally affected.

IMO 3.73s shouldn't even be offered in a gasser 3/4 ton truck...