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OBX-GL's avatar
OBX-GL
Explorer
Mar 27, 2014

Advice needed with wheel size and gear ratios.

Hey all, just picked up a 2012 Ram 2500 5.7L 4x4 Crew/long box 3.73 gears. It has 265/70/17's I want to put some aftermarket wheels on the truck as i did with my 1500. I was thinking of going as big as 35inch rubber. I had 33.5 inch rubber on the 1500 with a 3.92 gearing and noticed little change. Does anyone have any comment or experience with 35'' tires and how it will effect my towing ?

Thanks in advance.
  • By going from 265/70/17 (31.8") to 35" tires you're are essentially reducing your rear axle ratio by 10%. From 3.73 to 3.38.
    Looking at Rams towing chart going with a 3.73 tow rating of 10,350 to 4.10's increases it to 13,350. Assuming that reducing 3.73's by 10% your new tow rating would be 7,350lbs. If you tow less than that then all will be good.
    JMO but I can't imagine a 2500 5.7 with 3.38 gears. Your mpg would take a big hit and towing power would be sluggish.
    Remember too that your 1500 weighed considerably less than a 2500. And you already started out better with 3.92's over 3.73's.
    If you had 4.10's in the 2500 it would be better.
  • Larger circumference tires raises the gear ratio which reduces towing power.
  • Larger diameter tires will essentially reduce the gear ratio numerically. You will lose some pulling power.

    I personally wouldn't see any benefit in the change but some obviously do. They sell lots of aftermarket tires and wheels.

    Make sure whatever you buy has a load range equal to or higher than original.