18 inch rims and 342 rear diff ??
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Record Breaker
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 2,165
Likes: 2
From: Alberta
18 inch rims and 342 rear diff ??
I was truck snopping today at a local dodge lot and found new 2500 to 3500 rams have 18 inch rims and tires.
With the demise of the 373 lt slip, how is the the 342 rear diff and inch rubber going to react in the real world?
And how cheap is cheap, now that thiers crap firestone tires on thease trucks, as much as I hate BFG, Firestone is a new low in cost cutting..
60,000 miles down the road, 18 inch ruber is going to be expensive!!
With the demise of the 373 lt slip, how is the the 342 rear diff and inch rubber going to react in the real world?
And how cheap is cheap, now that thiers crap firestone tires on thease trucks, as much as I hate BFG, Firestone is a new low in cost cutting..
60,000 miles down the road, 18 inch ruber is going to be expensive!!
Champion
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 3,710
Likes: 2
From: Skagit County, WA
60k miles per set of tires on a 7500 pound truck is really good wear.
With 600+ lb-ft of torque from the factory, 3.42 gearing is plenty for all but the heaviest loads, and for those heavy loads you should be getting at least a 3500 or heavier duty, which you can get with shorter gearing.
Would you have Ram put Michelins on, and charge $500 more? Expensive tires don't mean they're good tires.
With 600+ lb-ft of torque from the factory, 3.42 gearing is plenty for all but the heaviest loads, and for those heavy loads you should be getting at least a 3500 or heavier duty, which you can get with shorter gearing.
Would you have Ram put Michelins on, and charge $500 more? Expensive tires don't mean they're good tires.
Champion
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 3,065
Likes: 1
From: Renton, WA
firestone makes some pretty decent tires...
I switched my old 94 Z28 Camaro from junk toyo tires to Firestone Firehawk SZ-50 tires, and it went from being a car that couldn't hold traction to save it's life to a car that gripped the road like it was on rails. The Firestones made a 200% improvement in traction. The car with the toyo's was literally unsafe to drive when it rained as even the easiest corner would cause a spin out with the light rear end, high power and torque, and positraction rear..
after the tire switch, even in the rain it handled it like it was dry pavement. It was actually considered a racing-rain tire. (used in auto racing when the track is wet)
Bridgestone which is the same company as firestone also makes OEM tires for porche, ferrari, etc... with the S-03 pole position tire.
firestone is NOT a bad company. they only got a bad rep like 10-15 years ago when ford recommended that their exploders should have 20psi in their tires when they should have had 35psi...so exploder owners would overload the vehicle on partially flat tires...use logic and common sense...what happens when you overload a vehicle on an almost flat tire? it's going to blow out!!!
it was cheaper for firestone to do a recall than it was for ford to recall their unsafe SUV...
now for 3.42 gearing.... I would trade my 4.10's for 3.42's in a heartbeat! limited top speed and higher rpm's on the freeway sucks! truck tops out at 110mph @ redline. so no point in drag racing my truck as I would top out before the finish line.
I switched my old 94 Z28 Camaro from junk toyo tires to Firestone Firehawk SZ-50 tires, and it went from being a car that couldn't hold traction to save it's life to a car that gripped the road like it was on rails. The Firestones made a 200% improvement in traction. The car with the toyo's was literally unsafe to drive when it rained as even the easiest corner would cause a spin out with the light rear end, high power and torque, and positraction rear..
after the tire switch, even in the rain it handled it like it was dry pavement. It was actually considered a racing-rain tire. (used in auto racing when the track is wet)
Bridgestone which is the same company as firestone also makes OEM tires for porche, ferrari, etc... with the S-03 pole position tire.
firestone is NOT a bad company. they only got a bad rep like 10-15 years ago when ford recommended that their exploders should have 20psi in their tires when they should have had 35psi...so exploder owners would overload the vehicle on partially flat tires...use logic and common sense...what happens when you overload a vehicle on an almost flat tire? it's going to blow out!!!
it was cheaper for firestone to do a recall than it was for ford to recall their unsafe SUV...now for 3.42 gearing.... I would trade my 4.10's for 3.42's in a heartbeat! limited top speed and higher rpm's on the freeway sucks! truck tops out at 110mph @ redline. so no point in drag racing my truck as I would top out before the finish line.
Champion
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 3,710
Likes: 2
From: Skagit County, WA
Neither the explorer nor the tire were bad, it's poor driving and poor vehicle maintenance.
And yeah, the 3.42 is more in line with today's speed limits anyway. I've got 3.55 in my 98 and my daily commute is mostly 50mph, which happens to fall at around 1600 rpm iirc. 70 is pushing 2000, so 3.42s should drop that back down into the perfect 1800 rpm range.
And yeah, the 3.42 is more in line with today's speed limits anyway. I've got 3.55 in my 98 and my daily commute is mostly 50mph, which happens to fall at around 1600 rpm iirc. 70 is pushing 2000, so 3.42s should drop that back down into the perfect 1800 rpm range.
Champion
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 3,065
Likes: 1
From: Renton, WA
That and the new trucks have a lot of power stock...almost as much as mine with huge injectors and twins when I don't have my electronics on...
2012 truck at our dyno day did 346hp/742tq on stock power settings with the DPF/EGR delete.
for reference mine is 388hp/813tq with no electronic power adders.
so with that kind of power stock they will have no trouble pulling with that gearing + the fact the newer automatic transmissions are 6-spd so they don't lug...they have plenty of gears to roll through.
2012 truck at our dyno day did 346hp/742tq on stock power settings with the DPF/EGR delete.
for reference mine is 388hp/813tq with no electronic power adders.
so with that kind of power stock they will have no trouble pulling with that gearing + the fact the newer automatic transmissions are 6-spd so they don't lug...they have plenty of gears to roll through.