13 Ram 1500/5.7/4wd Cam Questions

[Trevor13Ram1500]

*Brand new to forum as of about 10 min ago*
I have a 2013 Ram 1500 Sport, 5.7, 6 speed auto, 3.55 in the rear.

So I’ve been saving up for a few months for a HPT/HPT+ Cam, I contacted Moes the other day and he was extremely helpful but I couldn’t quite remember what he said about the cam effecting the way the 4wd will operate... now I know I gotta get the higher dif ratio in the rear and the proper TQ converter to really get the full effect... but that’s gonna come soon after.

So the real question I have is if anyone on here has had experience with a 6 speed 4wd and the HPT+ cam (the one I really want to pull the trigger on) or will I just have to go with the milder HPT to not break the bank upgrading the 4wd...

I’m currently Stationed at Camp Lejeune NC, and whenever I get the chance to go on leave I drive 650 miles to Youngstown Ohio, so that’s something I gotta take into consideration, definitely a heavily performance minded daily driver is what I’m going for

Current mods are as follows... K&N intake, 180 t-stat, 87mm Ported T-Body, JBA Longtubes, custom exhaust (True Dual-other than x-crossover), Cat removed, stock muffler removed (replaced with 2 smaller flowmaster series 10’s one on each pipe), and lastly Hemifever 93 oct custom tune

 

[crackerjack1957]

You will need stall convertor & re-gear regardless of either cam with that 6-speed.........if you had the 8-speed would have been okay.

Read here:http://www.moes-performance.com/Camshafts_and_Ported_Cylinder_Heads_s/2125.htm

I would step up to 4.56 gears before I went to cam........if concerned with gas mileage go to 4.10

 

[Michael]

Regearing a 4wd ram isn’t easy. You have to regear the front and rear, but to do the front you’ll have to change the front differential from what I’ve read on the forums.

 

[crackerjack1957]

East Coast Gear would be your go to place in Raleigh to re-gear.
Pick up a 2006-2011 front differential, front driveshaft & brackets from salvage yard.......
ECG will supply the rest

Or trade Ram in for another with 8-speed ............LoL

 

[Trevor13Ram1500]

Yeah it seems it’s not too common, or rather not preferred so it’s hard to find info in my exact situation, and if I haven’t already fallen in love with my baby I’d consider your option crackerjack lol but I loving having more control over specific gears and actually having a shifter although it’s still electronic..

Regarding the 4wd again, redoing the whole front dif is the only option? Not too awe fully concerned with fuel mileage as long as performance is there to back it up, not really trying to break the bank if the 4.56 is going to require a lot of $$ in the front end though, so if 4.10 would somehow cost less in the front end that’ll be the choice... either way it’s looking like I’m either going to have to remove the front driveshaft somehow, or save up a lot more $$ to do it at once..

Seems a bit grim as to my aspirations to cam the Ram though..

 

[Wild one]

Yeah it seems it’s not too common, or rather not preferred so it’s hard to find info in my exact situation, and if I haven’t already fallen in love with my baby I’d consider your option crackerjack lol but I loving having more control over specific gears and actually having a shifter although it’s still electronic..

Regarding the 4wd again, redoing the whole front dif is the only option? Not too awe fully concerned with fuel mileage as long as performance is there to back it up, not really trying to break the bank if the 4.56 is going to require a lot of $$ in the front end though, so if 4.10 would somehow cost less in the front end that’ll be the choice... either way it’s looking like I’m either going to have to remove the front driveshaft somehow, or save up a lot more $$ to do it at once..

Seems a bit grim as to my aspirations to cam the Ram though..

Anything lower then 3.92's entails swapping back to the older 8.25 AAM front diff,as your truck has the ZF front diff,and you're only options with it,are 3.21 / 3.55 and 3.92's.If it's only a toy,why don't you drop the front diff /axles and driveshaft out. You'll lose 120 lbs of weight off the front end,and 40lbs of that is rotating axle weight.Be cheaper to buy a set of 17" drag radials and rims for the back, then hunting up the earlier AAM diff and all the pieces you'll need to swap it into your truck,and still having to pay a shop to install either 4.10's or 4.56's into the new diff

 

[crackerjack1957]

4.10 same as 4.56 installation wise........probably around 1.5 miles to gallon less at speeds 70+ with the 4.56.....................60 & under about the same

 

[Trevor13Ram1500]

@CrackerJack and Wild One

That’s actually some pretty useful information, so thanks.. i wish this could-just- be the toy or else I’d drop the front dif, but unfortunately my 2000 Ram is 650 miles away back in Ohio, so I think trying to hunt down those parts might be the only option rather than getting rid of it all together- If I were to go ahead and do the more aggressive ratios and cam, seemingly against better judgement- I think it’ll be pretty cool and interesting if I were able to do it as planned, so what I might end up doing is finding and logging all of those parts down and try to get a true idea of how much it’s going to cost, because ultimately that’s the only thing stopping me at that point...

 

[Trevor13Ram1500]

You guys think it’ll even be worth it?

 

[crackerjack1957]

You guys think it’ll even be worth it?

I was in the same boat as you as far as performance but maybe a little worse with the 35-inch tires that brought down the 3.55 gears to around 3.30
It was a dog from a stand still.....very lacking in performance even with a tune due to gear ratio & 6-speed.
Gear change made the biggest difference you can feel.
That cam you want will not help on take off at all......it moves the torque/HP further up in the RPM.
You want feel any difference with it until you get past 3500 RPM.

It's going to be expensive......no way around it unless you can do some of the labor yourself.

Probably around $3000 for gear change labor & parts plus $500 for the older front differential, shaft & brackets from salvage yard.

Depending on how many miles on truck you probably should be replacing other things during camshaft install. Just the cam install itself will be around $3000 for labor.......so anything else you do at that point will not cost any more in labor .......just the price of parts because they have to remove those old parts to do the job. Head work like valve seals, grind valve & seats......oil pump, timing chain, phaser, crank/cam sprockets, gaskets, seals, camshaft, valve springs, push rods, lifters, bolts, oil, oil filter, water pump, thermostat, pcv, updated tune, etc......could push up around $6000 total.

So that's why I say do the gear change 1st
Been there done that.......LoL

 

[Trevor13Ram1500]

@crackerjack1957 Well damn lol I appreciate the advice for sure, hell that’s where whole point of joining the forums was to see what you guys have done and maybe learn a thing or two.. and I definitely learned there’s way more to it than I anticipated...

Truck just broke 101000 miles, so I think it’s pretty close to time to do alittle work on the engine anyhow,

but I’m pretty much at a standstill now in till I could find the parts for the transfer case and such...

I haven’t started researching where to find them yet, or the location of any salvage yards, so I might try to get ahold of moes and see if they’ve got any idea

I appreciate the tips for sure, might get put on hold until I can get the $$ or get lucky enough and find a way to do it cheaper,
I do like your idea of working out the kinks in the gears first before I spend all the money on the engine and an disappointed by the results due to the whole setup not being there

 

[Wild one]

@crackerjack1957 Well damn lol I appreciate the advice for sure, hell that’s where whole point of joining the forums was to see what you guys have done and maybe learn a thing or two.. and I definitely learned there’s way more to it than I anticipated...

Truck just broke 101000 miles, so I think it’s pretty close to time to do alittle work on the engine anyhow,

but I’m pretty much at a standstill now in till I could find the parts for the transfer case and such...

I haven’t started researching where to find them yet, or the location of any salvage yards, so I might try to get ahold of moes and see if they’ve got any idea

I appreciate the tips for sure, might get put on hold until I can get the $$ or get lucky enough and find a way to do it cheaper,
I do like your idea of working out the kinks in the gears first before I spend all the money on the engine and an disappointed by the results due to the whole setup not being there

You don't have to change the transfer case to go to the earlier AAM front diff,but you will need the front driveshaft for it and all the pieces to physically bolt the older diff into your truck.You can fab up the front mount if you're fairly talented at working with steel,but the easiest way is to find a wrecked earlier 09/10 truck and just get everything needed to bolt the front diff in place.Search on here,there's a couple threads on here from guys who've already did the same swap as you want to do.Might take some digging to find them,as they're older threads

 

[Trevor13Ram1500]

@Wild one Thanks I’ll look into it

 

[crackerjack1957]

car-parts.com will find your salvage yards closest to you with what you need

This 1 should be close to you.......and I did search for carrier assembly (front) not transfer case.......LoL

 

[crackerjack1957]

You don't have to change the transfer case to go to the earlier AAM front diff,but you will need the front driveshaft for it and all the pieces to physically bolt the older diff into your truck.You can fab up the front mount if you're fairly talented at working with steel,but the easiest way is to find a wrecked earlier 09/10 truck and just get everything needed to bolt the front diff in place.Search on here,there's a couple threads on here from guys who've already did the same swap as you want to do.Might take some digging to find them,as they're older threads

Thanks wild one for catching that typo.........should have been front differential........will change

 

[Wild one]

@Wild one Thanks I’ll look into it

I'll throw one more idea at ya lad,lol.Have you considered lowering it,and running a shorter tire instead.That way you could stick with finding a 3.92 geared set of ZF diffs for it,and they'd be a direct bolt-in.Dropping to a shorter tire effectively deepens the gear ratio.If you put a set of 31" tall tires under it,the 3.92's would act more like 4.20's / a set of 30" tall tires would be like a set of 4.30 gears,and if you went down to a 29" tire,they'd act more like 4.40 gears,in comparision to a set of stock 33" tires.It's another option to consider.I run a 29" front tire on my converted and lowered 4X4 and a 30" rear tire,but my truck hasn't had the front diff/axles/driveshaft under it,since it hit the 10,000 mile mark,truck now has 50,000 miles on it,lol.If you want to keep it 4X4 you need matching sized tires all the way around though,i can get away with the staggered old school look / set-up,because i don't have all the 4X4 pieces under it.By law we need mudflaps up here,and i hate them,but i hate getting stopped worse,lol

 

[Trevor13Ram1500]

@Wild one that’s pretty interesting actually! Im surprised they actually mess with you for mudflaps, where are you from?

 

[Wild one]

@Wild one that’s pretty interesting actually! Im surprised they actually mess with you for mudflaps, where are you from?

Alberta

 

[blue57]

Thanks information crackerjack1957 for your post