2013 Dodge 3500 DRW Gear Ratios

[LvOpnRd]

Hello everyone.

The wife and I just purchased our first 5th wheel a few weeks back. It's a 2012 Forest River Sierra 345RET. It weights about 11,000lb dry. For a tow vehicle I'm looking at a 2013 Dodge 3500 Mega Cab DRW.

My question has to do with gear ratios. Should I go with the 3.73 or 4.10? The majority of our towing will be done on Highways across Eastern Canada and I will also be using this as an everyday vehicle when not pulling the 5th. We are going out west this year for the honeymoon but that's just one trip in the mountains. I'm leaning towards the 3.73 but thought I would ask around first. I don't see us going any bigger than this trailer we have now.

Thanks in advance.

[cummins2014]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

up2nogood wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
up2nogood

Maybe I missed it but did you post a pic of your truck?

Flat ground to hilly terrain I tow in 6th but 5th is where it goes if there is anything with a slight grade coming up. 4th is for moderate grades and 3rd is for 5-6% grades with my combo.

No pictures, but its a white Laramie 3500 Mega Cab

You concur what I have been hearing. Im not towing the weight you are, depends how I am loaded, I am 12500-13000.

If you did the B&W I would be seriously worried about you!


Heck after getting this Ram I may go B&W :B Just kidding old hitch still working well ,but may go Superglide if this shorter bed on the mega cab is an issue

There is no doubt my next hitch would be B&W, if I was in the market for a fixed hitch. I presently have a manual slider, and if I did change I would go automatic, that takes B&W out of the picture. It will be Pullrite Superglide

[Cummins12V98]

up2nogood wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
up2nogood

Maybe I missed it but did you post a pic of your truck?

Flat ground to hilly terrain I tow in 6th but 5th is where it goes if there is anything with a slight grade coming up. 4th is for moderate grades and 3rd is for 5-6% grades with my combo.

No pictures, but its a white Laramie 3500 Mega Cab

You concur what I have been hearing. Im not towing the weight you are, depends how I am loaded, I am 12500-13000.

If you did the B&W I would be seriously worried about you!


Heck after getting this Ram I may go B&W :B Just kidding old hitch still working well ,but may go Superglide if this shorter bed on the mega cab is an issue

[cummins2014]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
up2nogood

Maybe I missed it but did you post a pic of your truck?

Flat ground to hilly terrain I tow in 6th but 5th is where it goes if there is anything with a slight grade coming up. 4th is for moderate grades and 3rd is for 5-6% grades with my combo.

No pictures, but its a white Laramie 3500 Mega Cab

You concur what I have been hearing. Im not towing the weight you are, depends how I am loaded, I am 12500-13000.


Heck after getting this Ram I may go B&W :B Just kidding old hitch still working well ,but may go Superglide if this shorter bed on the mega cab is an issue

[John_Bridge]

3.73. I would really like the 3.55, but they don't put them in dually's. 🙂

[Cummins12V98]

up2nogood

Maybe I missed it but did you post a pic of your truck?

Flat ground to hilly terrain I tow in 6th but 5th is where it goes if there is anything with a slight grade coming up. 4th is for moderate grades and 3rd is for 5-6% grades with my combo.

[cummins2014]

NC Hauler wrote:
Don't know much about Dodge since I never owned a Dodge truck until 2010. What I do know, comparing the 07.5'Chevy D/A Dually, the 2010 Dodge dually I had with 4:10 and the 2012 Ram dually I had with 4:10 and HO Cummings..all towing this 5er, this truck with it's 6 speed Aisin auto and 4:10 with 385HP and 850ftlb of TQ is the only one that has gotten me up to speed, like going onto interstate from on ramp, faster than any truck I've towed this 5er with. I've hit 70 and didn't realize it going UP the mountain on I40 from on ramp in Candler NC..

I towed with manuals for years, just got tired up heading to 64 yrs. old. I like drinking my coffeew while computer does a perfect job of changing gears if and when needed:)

ON EDIT: When I check my mpg...I use hand calc...lie-o-meter is closer in these new trucks, but still off a tad....I drove to Sevierville TN from Asheville NC, running 60-75 mph and got 17 mpg, hand calc..not bad for a 1 ton crew cab, long bed, 4X4 with the heavier Aisin tranny in Laramie Longhorn trim....I also got a little over 11 towing my 5er down here, but at a little over 16,000#, isn't that heavy. Tomorrow, it'll be more "up hill" so we'll check that mpg out too, just like I do every tank.

Jim, I have had a chance to talk to a couple locals towing with the newer Rams, and they pretty much echo what you are saying, one with the 3:42 gears like mine told me that he sees 5th gear on some of the lesser mountain grades around here, and 4th on the steeper grades. Example of the grade, not sure of the %, but a couple of grades he was talking about, it was second gear 30-35 in the old 7.3 of mine, he told me he pretty much ran them what he wanted towing a fifth wheel. Out here not a lot of real winding roads, but one that comes to mind is fairview canyon, 25-30 mph steep ,and winding, but a lot of them I travel is just fairly long, and some steep grades.

Looking forward to towing with this new cummins, after so long towing with the old 7.3.

[NC_Hauler]

Don't know much about Dodge since I never owned a Dodge truck until 2010. What I do know, comparing the 07.5'Chevy D/A Dually, the 2010 Dodge dually I had with 4:10 and the 2012 Ram dually I had with 4:10 and HO Cummings..all towing this 5er, this truck with it's 6 speed Aisin auto and 4:10 with 385HP and 850ftlb of TQ is the only one that has gotten me up to speed, like going onto interstate from on ramp, faster than any truck I've towed this 5er with. I've hit 70 and didn't realize it going UP the mountain on I40 from on ramp in Candler NC..

I towed with manuals for years, just got tired up heading to 64 yrs. old. I like drinking my coffeew while computer does a perfect job of changing gears if and when needed:)

ON EDIT: When I check my mpg...I use hand calc...lie-o-meter is closer in these new trucks, but still off a tad....I drove to Sevierville TN from Asheville NC, running 60-75 mph and got 17 mpg, hand calc..not bad for a 1 ton crew cab, long bed, 4X4 with the heavier Aisin tranny in Laramie Longhorn trim....I also got a little over 11 towing my 5er down here, but at a little over 16,000#, isn't that heavy. Tomorrow, it'll be more "up hill" so we'll check that mpg out too, just like I do every tank.

[AH64ID]

okiejoe wrote:
That's good news to hear about my 06 & my 6 speed stick, That would explain my great fuel mileage towing my 34ft'r I usually average 13 MPG and in good flat conditions with no head wind have gotten as much as 15 MPG. I definitely wouldn't trade it for a newer one even if they do have more power & torque, Mine does just fine. Around town I get 22 MPG empty. Its also so completely stock, no chips or anything.

Thanks for the info.

I'm not ditching my 3rd gen anytime soon.

I hope I am not bursting a bubble, but don't trust the overhead computer. It's called a lie-o-meter for a reason, 20% error isn't uncommon and it's never on the low side.

[okiejoe]

That's good news to hear about my 06 & my 6 speed stick, That would explain my great fuel mileage towing my 34ft'r I usually average 13 MPG and in good flat conditions with no head wind have gotten as much as 15 MPG. I definitely wouldn't trade it for a newer one even if they do have more power & torque, Mine does just fine. Around town I get 22 MPG empty. Its also so completely stock, no chips or anything.

Thanks for the info.

[AH64ID]

okiejoe wrote:
I have a 2006 with 3.73 and 6 speed stick and had a 36ft 5er and now have a 34ft 5er and have never had any problems anywhere, Mountains or flats. With the 6 speed stick I have a very low first gear if I need it.

This is not a real comparison (auto vs manual); however, your 2006 G56 has a very low gear set. Each gear, other than 5th, is lower than the NV5600 or the 2007.4+ G56. Compared to a NV5600 1st is 11% lower, 2 and 3 are 3% lower, 4th is nearly the same, 5th is identical, and 6th is 8% lower. That's low enough that your final drive in OD is only 1.5% taller than a NV5600 truck with 4.10's.

The 2005.5-2007.4 G56 has the best ratio's for towing of any manual in a Dodge/CTD but not for empty cruising so they dropped 1-4 and 6 about 6% just prior to the 6.7 being released.

If you where to put a newer G56 in your truck you would lose a bit of pulling power in 2,3 and 6. 1st is a big change, but too low for continued use in most places.

[okiejoe]

I have a 2006 with 3.73 and 6 speed stick and had a 36ft 5er and now have a 34ft 5er and have never had any problems anywhere, Mountains or flats. With the 6 speed stick I have a very low first gear if I need it.

[NC_Hauler]

Guess I got use to the 4:10s. When I went with my first Dodge, the only way you could any kind of GCWR was to go with 4:10. This was true with the 2010 as well as the 2012. All my towing is done in the mountains and a lot of that is done on steep, mountainous, very curvy roads to the point where at times you may have to come to almost a stop going uphill into an ess curve, then have to build speed back up again. The 4:10 with Aisin does this extremely easily. I'm not towing as heavy as others, only a little over16,000#, but I'm under all weights, even trucks useless GVWR. 3:42 is awesome, 3:73 is best of both worlds, the 4:10 is just what I got for me and for where I tow. Most won't need it. This truck tows this 5er far more efficiently than last 3 dually I've owned and also must more easily than the last 3. It's a towing machine to be sure. OP sho I'll do fine with 3:42 if he doesn't want to mess with the 3:73.

[Cummins12V98]

transamz9 wrote:

ah64id wrote:
Just did some quick math on the subject.

Lets assume pulling a grade at 55 mph using max torque and a flat value of 800 since I can't find the actual curve.

4.10's in 4th (direct) is 2450 rpms. 800*1.0*4.10 = 3280 ft/lbs to tires
3.73's in 4th is 2200 rpms. 800*1.0*3.73 = 2984 ft/lbs to the tires

So assuming that the 3.73 truck can hold 2200 rpms with 800 ft/lbs the 4.10 truck could decrease the power output to 2984 ft/lbs at the wheels or 727 ft/lbs at the motor. Less power means less fuel, less heat, and less stress.

Both trucks can do it, but which one is doing it easier?

There is no doubt that the 3.42 and 3.73 truck can pull like no tomorrow, especially compared to several year old trucks... but if your going to do it, do it right.. just my 0.02.

Or I can just put my 3.42' in third and have 3666 lb/ft. 800*1.34*2.42=3666. My truck has 850 lb/ft also.;)

With 28K combined I pull every grade border to border along I-5 at 55 or more. On the 6% grades I am running 2,800rpm or more in 3rd with 3:42 gears.

I am happy with the gears but I will be more happy when I get a 15 with the Aisin and 4:10's.

[transamz9]

ah64id wrote:
Just did some quick math on the subject.

Lets assume pulling a grade at 55 mph using max torque and a flat value of 800 since I can't find the actual curve.

4.10's in 4th (direct) is 2450 rpms. 800*1.0*4.10 = 3280 ft/lbs to tires
3.73's in 4th is 2200 rpms. 800*1.0*3.73 = 2984 ft/lbs to the tires

So assuming that the 3.73 truck can hold 2200 rpms with 800 ft/lbs the 4.10 truck could decrease the power output to 2984 ft/lbs at the wheels or 727 ft/lbs at the motor. Less power means less fuel, less heat, and less stress.

Both trucks can do it, but which one is doing it easier?

There is no doubt that the 3.42 and 3.73 truck can pull like no tomorrow, especially compared to several year old trucks... but if your going to do it, do it right.. just my 0.02.

Or I can just put my 3.42' in third and have 3666 lb/ft. 800*1.34*2.42=3666. My truck has 850 lb/ft also.;)