I currently have a 2014 RAM 1500 Express QC 4x4 with a 6 speed and 3.92 gears. My lease is nearing it's end, and looking at 2015 models, I'm wanting the 8 speed and a CC. Every one of the trucks I found with the 8 speed had 3.21 gears. I'm wondering just how much of a performance sacrifice I would be making by dropping down in ratio. Thanks!

 

read the recent discussion on this link and then get out your calculator and compare the effective gear ratios between your current truck and one with the 8 speed and 3.21.

You will be surprised at the diff the 8 speed makes. Just go out and drive one with the 3.21 and 8 speed.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/4th-gen...-decision.html

 

Guess I was lucky then, cause there was 1 that was the color I preferred and it happened to have the 8 speed with 3.92 locking diff.

 

According to the tables I've seen comparing the 6-speed and the gear ratios vs the 8-speed and the gear ratios, the 8-speed makes the differences a lot less important. I test drove a 2013 Ram 1500 Quad Cab that had 3.92 gears, test drove a few 2014 Crew Cabs that had the 3.21 gears, and my current 2013 Crew Cab with the 3.55 gears. Couldn't tell much of a difference at all. Granted, I wasn't towing or going up steep hills with any of them, but on flat road or highway, the difference was very small.

3.21 is all most people need anymore with the 8-speed, and for the people that could actually use it, even fewer understand the importance of gear ratios enough to spend the extra $50 when they order the truck. My suggestion is to go out and test drive a few 3.21 geared trucks yourself, and see if you'd be happy with it. If not, hold out for a 2013-2014 with the 3.55 or 3.92 gears.

However, beware, some 2013 and early 2014 1500s were supposedly built with the 3.55 gears (as ordered by customers), and it even said so on their window stickers and build sheets, but were actually equipped with 3.21 gears. People discovered this when they crawled underneath at some point and found 3.21 stickers on their differentials, where it should have read 3.55. The ones who found it were compensated by Chrysler one way or another, but that doesn't help the second or third owners of the trucks with the "wrong" gears, as the compensation was usually money/gift certificate or exchange for a different truck.