rear axle gear ratio
Getting ready to move up to a 3500. I've shopped the available trucks, and have a good idea of what I want. The two I have narrowed down to are a '14 and a '15 Ram 3500. Identical with the exception o...
Forum Discussion
CampingN.C. wrote:
I played around with cruising in 5th vs. 6th on our trip to Disney and back. In 6th at around 65-68 mph it sounds like it's lugging.
However, after an extended run in 5th for comparison, I saw no change in either mpg, any temps, or oil pressure.
Perhaps with a heavier load it would be different but mine seems just fine lugging away in 6th.
Quite impressive actually !!! :B
With our CTD with 3.42 rear, prolly the biggest diff I saw between 5th and 6th when towing on the flats was the boost. The turbo was always working a bit harder in 6th, no doubt keeping exhaust gas temperatures higher, perhaps increasing passive regen.
Despite the higher boost, we find the overall sound levels lower in 6th compared to the higher engine revs in 5th, so prefer it overall. And now that we've grown used to the truck, towing in 6th doesn't sound like "lugging" anymore, to me anyway. It's just working quietly at low rpms. Quite impressive, like you say.
But when we're in the hills, then it's in 5th all the time to avoid that busy/noisy 6-5 downshift when in cruise, and to keep the tranny TC locked.
