No one ever post about drag racing in the performance section....lol

[Gary's Hemi]

Except for me & 1 or 2 others. Lol We need to change that up & livin the forum up a bit more than muffler & intakes. Here is my latest:

I have been sticking with 32" street tires up until now due to the rc 2wd 8 speed driveshaft having issues. After a few yrs of the street tire struggle, a BUNCH of passes ranging from 12.54 in the middle of the winter through 12.9's-low 13's in the middle of the summer I finally am throwing in the towel & giving up on the 22" street tires.

I bought some 20" Sport rims a few weeks ago with the intention of putting 305/50's on them to help with trying to stop the spin I have on the 1-2 shift on the track but found a damn good deal on some used 20" dr's so I put together an el cheapo 20" drag radial set up. I like 1/4 mile racing & want to continue w/ that so I'm also moving on to 3.55's from the 3.92's to save the ds & still run the full 1/4 mile. I ordered some from Matt at Moes & will be having then installed. So instead of the expensive DSS ds & rim/tire route I took the poor mans route. At the end I will have just over what the DSS alone cost in my whole set up.

We will see how it works, which the 3.55's should do well as it will stretch the 1-2 shift out further & keep me out of 6th gear at the end of the track. Suprisingly the 20" Sport rims w/ the 275/40 drag radial only weighs 61 lbs which is still heavy but I have read the 17" set ups are like 56 lbs so my set up isnt too far off the norm. I'm just loosing the extra sidewall give is all. Now once the 3.55's go in I will be good for 145 mph on 32" street tires which is stupid & I would never do, & 130 mph on the 28.8" drag radials before I hit the critical ds rpm of 5350. With the current 3.92's those critical rpm numbers are 130 on street tires & 116 mph on the dr's. I still wouldnt hit that magic 116 mph number on the 3.92's but I want the 3.55's for extra insurance as several people have had their ds break under those rpms. Swapping from 3.92's to 3.55's have benefited several others that 1/4 mile race so I dont expect to loose any et w/ the swap. Ultimately I would like to see high 7.8's in the 1/8 mile & low 12.3's in the 1/4 mile from these changes.

The 3.55's get installed in the next week. I'm ready. I might go run 1/8 mile & see what it does on the 3.92's if I get a chance this weekend. Its about time after 3 yrs that I stepped it up & got away from street tires. Lol The R/T & Sport rims match pretty good. Thats why I wanted them in the 1st place. I didnt have any plans of putting dr's on them but I like the way they look w/ dr's. As you can tell, my 4 yr old approves of this message. Lol

 

[McBroom]

IMHO I’d go with a 4.10 to get the extra traction. Also it’ll help you with the wheel spin traction loss between 1 & 2 shifts. I’m also thinking it’ll also help with wheel hop.


I Love my 18 Ram 2500HD 4x4 CC
Blue Streak Pearl off-road

 

[tidefan1967]

I used to love going to the drag strip but everybody quit moving to Florida and started moving to Charleston instead and now my drag strip is buried under a subdivision. I still enjoy reading about it though so keep those stories going.

 

[Gary's Hemi]

IMHO I’d go with a 4.10 to get the extra traction. Also it’ll help you with the wheel spin traction loss between 1 & 2 shifts. I’m also thinking it’ll also help with wheel hop.


I Love my 18 Ram 2500HD 4x4 CC
Blue Streak Pearl off-road

I have zero wheel hop now with the suspension I have. I have 3.92's now which is close to a 4.10. There have been several bolt on trucks that have swapped to 3.55's & have picked up et on the track. The 3.92's are good for a bolt on 8 speed rc 32" street tires, really still a little too much gear. They arent the best for 1/4 mile drag racing on 28" tires due to several reasons. With the short gearing in the 8 speed trans the 3.92's cause the trans to blow through 1st & 2nd way too fast on 28" tires. Also they cause an extra unneeded shift on the short drag tires. They put you in 6th before the 1/4. Thats extra et lost on shift & you end up in a slower pulling gear. The people that have made the swap like I am doing have picked up et & mph. Yea for a 5/6 speed a 4.56 is the way to go for drag racing but a light rc w/ bolt ons & 8 speed is different & doesnt need nor like alot of gear. Overall on the 28" tires my overall gear with 3.55's is still around 4.16.

 

[Wild one]

I have zero wheel hop now with the suspension I have. I have 3.92's now which is close to a 4.10. There have been several bolt on trucks that have swapped to 3.55's & have picked up et on the track. The 3.92's are good for a bolt on 8 speed rc 32" street tires, really still a little too much gear. They arent the best for 1/4 mile drag racing on 28" tires due to several reasons. With the short gearing in the 8 speed trans the 3.92's cause the trans to blow through 1st & 2nd way too fast on 28" tires. Also they cause an extra unneeded shift on the short drag tires. They put you in 6th before the 1/4. Thats extra et lost on shift & you end up in a slower pulling gear. The people that have made the swap like I am doing have picked up et & mph. Yea for a 5/6 speed a 4.56 is the way to go for drag racing but a light rc w/ bolt ons & 8 speed is different & doesnt need nor like alot of gear. Overall on the 28" tires my overall gear with 3.55's is still around 4.16.

I'm watching how you make out with this experiment myself Gary.What do your street 22's weigh compared to the drag 20's?

 

[Gary's Hemi]

The 20's with dr's are 61 lbs & the 22's w/ factory Goodyears are 77 lbs

 

[Gary's Hemi]

It has seemed to work out good for Kyle but I know he has a tc & headers over on me

 

[Gary's Hemi]

Even if I dont gain much et, which I should gain a a few tenths just from off the line, hooking the the 1-2 shift & actually being able to drop weight as I havent been able to on street tires, I will be happy be getting away from street tires. I know everyone frowns upon the people on street tires pulling up the track prep & now I dont have to sit at home when its a no street tire event. I dont see it loosing any et due to the overall gearing will still be a touch better on the 3.55's & dr's than I have right now on the 3.92's & street tires

 

[Belphegor]

Cool thread.

 

[ramdriver2018]

I woulda gone done the shaft if you are gonna keep racing. You will need it eventually. And at the point, you are gonna wish you had the 3.92’s back. Or 4.56.....

 

[chrisp2493]

Drag racing is now a Facebook thing, and then it’s still mostly “street racers” with no proof except dark videos with headlights that could be 5’ behind (“yeah bro I totally pulled him”) or 200’ behind because they decided to quit racing. Pitiful


I Bleed Ram Trucks

 

[chrisp2493]

I woulda gone done the shaft if you are gonna keep racing. You will need it eventually. And at the point, you are gonna wish you had the 3.92’s back. Or 4.56.....

4.56 with an 8 speed and short tires? Doesn’t sound good


I Bleed Ram Trucks

 

[ramdriver2018]

4.56 with an 8 speed and short tires? Doesn’t sound good


I Bleed Ram Trucks

With a real cam it does!

 

[chrisp2493]

With a real cam it does!

You realize that’s a 21.4:1 final ratio for 1st gear? The old 5/6 speeds would be at 13.6:1 for a 1st gear final ratio. 1-2 would be almost useless


I Bleed Ram Trucks

 

[ramdriver2018]

You realize that’s a 21.4:1 final ratio for 1st gear? The old 5/6 speeds would be at 13.6:1 for a 1st gear final ratio. 1-2 would be almost useless


I Bleed Ram Trucks

I do realize that at 7000rpm with a different cam(which is bound to happen if you race) the wheelspeed and gained hp, will make those 1/2 gears very useful. People are running 28” tire to get the most out of a 4.56 on a tall ass 3 speed/5 or 6 speed , same basket of tf ratios really.
I don’t get the point of having 6 forwRd gears going to 1:1 then not wanting to use one? These trucks are pigs to begin with. Unless he’s looking at boosting the crap out of it. I don’t get the point in going taller on the gears.
Many moons ago I ran around with a 4.56 gear and 28” tire on a 340/727 setup. It had 3800 stall and I ran that setup to get the most out of it in 1320’. It would trap north of 6000. If you woulda told me back the I could have more gears, steeper trans gearing, and I coulda then stepped up to a 30” tire. I would’ve been on board back then. But all we had was gear vendors.
My theory is na motor, cam it (kill tq)gear it to the moon(regain lost tq), spin then nuts out of it to redline in 1:1 if you want to be fast. Put the appropriate height tire to match the setup.
Boost is opposite mentality to a point. You don’t need the gear because you got the tq, but not enough gear gets hard on things as well.

 

[Wild one]

I do realize that at 7000rpm with a different cam(which is bound to happen if you race) the wheelspeed and gained hp, will make those 1/2 gears very useful. People are running 28” tire to get the most out of a 4.56 on a tall ass 3 speed/5 or 6 speed , same basket of tf ratios really.
I don’t get the point of having 6 forwRd gears going to 1:1 then not wanting to use one? These trucks are pigs to begin with. Unless he’s looking at boosting the crap out of it. I don’t get the point in going taller on the gears.
Many moons ago I ran around with a 4.56 gear and 28” tire on a 340/727 setup. It had 3800 stall and I ran that setup to get the most out of it in 1320’. It would trap north of 6000. If you woulda told me back the I could have more gears, steeper trans gearing, and I coulda then stepped up to a 30” tire. I would’ve been on board back then. But all we had was gear vendors.
My theory is na motor, cam it (kill tq)gear it to the moon(regain lost tq), spin then nuts out of it to redline in 1:1 if you want to be fast. Put the appropriate height tire to match the setup.
Boost is opposite mentality to a point. You don’t need the gear because you got the tq, but not enough gear gets hard on things as well.

You're not realizing the 8 speed's 4.71 1st gear will become useless with 4.56's and a 30" tire.Compared to your old 727's 2.45 first gear,you would basically need the equilevent of a 8:75-1 rear gear in your old combo to match the 1st gear torque multiplication of the 8 speed with a set of 4.56's.First gear in your old 727 would also basically be unusable if you had a theoretical 8.75 ring and pinion combo behind it,lol

 

[ramdriver2018]

You're not realizing the 8 speed's 4.71 1st gear will become useless with 4.56's and a 30" tire.Compared to your old 727's 2.45 first gear,you would basically need the equilevent of a 8:75-1 rear gear in your old combo to match the 1st gear torque multiplication of the 8 speed with a set of 4.56's.First gear in your old 727 would also basically be unusable if you had a theoretical 8.75 ring and pinion combo behind it,lol

I think it would still carry me out past the 60’ mark quicker than the guy with the 3.55 apples to apples on everything else..
I’m trying to think when losing gear became the advantage on a small block. I still don’t think we are there. Thus, 8 speed lol

 

[chrisp2493]

I think it would still carry me out past the 60’ mark quicker than the guy with the 3.55 apples to apples on everything else.

Not if you are spinning from blowing the tires completely off. Light tires+super over geared=no traction. I blow off my heavy 33” tires with 4.56 gears with a 2.45 first ratio. Can’t imagine trying to double that ratio


I Bleed Ram Trucks

 

[ramdriver2018]

It’s weird right. But somehow there’s vehicles that pull wheelies the same way. Oh right. They run a slick. Sometimes it’s small.
I get it, there’s a point where you want to kill the rear gear. But at that power level you are putting more money into everything else anyways: so moot point. If not there wouldn’t be stupidly quick powerglides out there. And on the other hand there’s the stick shift guys dropping clutches at 6000 on 28” tires 60’ in the low 1’s.
But I get it . These 345” motors are monsters . Any more cam would kill slicks, wrinkle box sides and on. Actually this 8 speed is sounding like a bad idea. Maybe better to trade In for 3rd gen
If you gotta slow your truck down out of fear of breaking something in the driveline and you can’t afford to fix it, you really shouldn’t be racing that vehicle to begin with. Especially if it’s gotta get your butt to work on Monday..
I spent a decade not sleeping on weeknights because of racing the daily, not wanting to be fired Monday , stupid (underline the stupid) **** like that.
Do a driveshaft. Keep the 3.92. Shorten tire, add cam to carry out 5th.
Save gear swap for boost or 1/2 mile + stuff. My thoughts anyways.
This **** is an addiction. Tread carefully into the machine. no joke.

 

[Gary's Hemi]

Sooner or later I will get a driveshaft. The only 1 out at the moment is the DSS unit. I'm not very trusting of it so for atleast the rest of this winter I'm going to stick with the stock ds.

The 3.92's will be in my shed if I ever want to put them back in. If I do then it will just be 1 phone call & a few hundred dollars & they will be back in. However like said the trans gearing is soo short that like said already on 3.92's & dr's 1st & 2nd are very short. Any lower gear would be useless. Again the people who have swapped from 3.92's to 3.55's have gained a little et & mph.

Yes a cam with no aftermarket tc will kill tq. And in a few yrs when my lifters/cam goes out(still cant believe how pathetic that is on FCA's part) I will swap over to a Jay Greene cam. If I get the money I will do it sooner.

But lets talk on that for a min & evolve into where the 3.55's are coming into play. There are 2 almost identically modded 8 speed trucks right now on the FB pages in this same scenario we are talking about. 1 being a rc 2wd R/T with 3.92's, a 4000 tc & Jay Greene cam that 60' a 1.68. Now the 2nd truck is a qc 4x4 with 3.21's, same 4000 tc & Jay Greene cam. That truck 60' a 1.74 in the same weather. So, a truck much heavier, with way less gearing 60' within 6 hundredths of the lighter truck with better gears.

For me, the reason behind doing this is I am finally stepping up to dr's & all the online calculators say I'm good until 116 mph. I'm leary of that due to several people's ds breaking under those magic numbers. I'm also leary of the only aftermarket ds thats out that has broken several tailshafts & housings. I have had good luck with my ds & my driving style(I'm not a **** on the street & I only race on the track). So by swapping I'm allowing alot of extra cushion in rpms & virtually retaining the same overall gear once said & done meaning 3.55's & 28" compared to the 3.92's & 32" tires, it works out to be like having a 4.16 gear on 32" tires. Will I gain any et from the gear swap itself, no. The tires are where my gains will come from, but the tires & gears will go hand & hand meaning I will finally have a sticky tire but I wont have ds issues.