Regear and stall TC or trade in for 8 speed.

[Ratket]

I would just grab a 8 speed truck with 392”s or 321”s. The difference is minimal, Hell I can’t stab my truck at a light as it is with my 392”s or I’ll just kill the tires.. I gotta get the truck rolling “ once I’m past the crosswalk then I nail it lol. But seriously check the pedal commander, it may change ur mind set all together, but then again driving an 8 speed truck would change ur mind as well lol, keep us posted.

 

[huntergreen]

Hmm!, I guess I am past the age where I want to spend thousands to gain a half a second.

 

[NOV87]

Good conversation! Appreciate all your guys' input. Test drove 2019 3.6 Pentastar RAM with 8 speed. Pretty good acceleration and overall power. Close to my 6 speed, not as good though. Just for comparison. Was waiting for my truck at a dealer. Will try 8 speed HEMI some time next week. Not in a hurry though. I don't normally drive my truck hard, but would like to have the power avail. Another thing that bothers me (maybe I am overly concerned) is that dang downshifting at WOT. There's no way to avoid that with "normal" driving. I mean you drive up a hill or a hwy. You will step on it harder than normal, maybe 75-80% of the pedal travel. Is that considered WOT? Be curious what RLJ's experience is? Not to get you guys arguing, just want to hear how he does it with regards to downshifting.

 

[JimGregory]

For what it's worth, I had a higher stall converter put on my 3rd gen at the second rebuild. It woke the truck up and made it MUCH more fun to drive. No idea what rear it had. For me it's just about fun. The truck felt great.
On my 4th gen with 3:21 and 8 speed I installed a pedal commander with a low setting and the truck goes like a ***** ape. Feels great and leaps off the line like it has a high stall converter. This is all just for me. I don't race anything or anyone.
And she flies down the highway like a big smooth Cadillac. Awesome truck.

 

[Gary's Hemi]

I certainly would be wondering why I had 3.92s




I have 4.10s


Racing in an exercise in futility. There is always somebody faster.


Why did it take an 8 speed until earlier this year to break Matt's record with his '11 ?

You mean around the time trans tuning finally became available for the 8 speed? Or you mean why did it take so long for the 8 speed to play catch up on a truck that was back halved & had more weight dropped than the 11 sec 8 speed truck? Or when people started seeing the light that 3.92's are too much gear for the light rc 8 speed full bolt on trucks & started stepping down to 3.55's? Matt knows his **** & had/has it together. I'm not taking anything from him but there are a few reasons in why it took so long. And that isnt a good comparison to try to debate about considering Matt's truck had a cam & heads compared to Kyle's stock cam & heads.

So with that said lets turn that around. Why did a 5/6 speed need to drop more weight(literally was running 1 qt of oil low that day, thats how serious the weight reduction was), back halved & have a cam & heads to run what a stock cam/head FBO 8 speed ran? Maybe......just maybe.....the 5/6 speed isnt as efficient, weighs 200 lbs more(the trans itself), doesnt have as good of shift recovery & staying in the right rpms & doesnt shift as fast......thats just a maybe though....

And besides all of that you make it sound like it took yrs to play catch up. It was only 1 yr difference. Matt ran that time in the blue truck 2 winters ago. Kyle ran his time just 1 yr later.

 

[Gary's Hemi]

Good conversation! Appreciate all your guys' input. Test drove 2019 3.6 Pentastar RAM with 8 speed. Pretty good acceleration and overall power. Close to my 6 speed, not as good though. Just for comparison. Was waiting for my truck at a dealer. Will try 8 speed HEMI some time next week. Not in a hurry though. I don't normally drive my truck hard, but would like to have the power avail. Another thing that bothers me (maybe I am overly concerned) is that dang downshifting at WOT. There's no way to avoid that with "normal" driving. I mean you drive up a hill or a hwy. You will step on it harder than normal, maybe 75-80% of the pedal travel. Is that considered WOT? Be curious what RLJ's experience is? Not to get you guys arguing, just want to hear how he does it with regards to downshifting.

The 3.6/8 speed is no slouch either. Its a good happy medium. Our 2015 3.6/8 speed is just as fast & peppy as my 2004 Ram rc 5.7 was stock. That is saying something for a family suv

 

[RLJ10X]

It’s certainl not a good comparison, when the facts prove my point. Hmmm..:.

I’m his whole discussion has gotten off track. I don’t think the OP was going racing anyway.

My point is: if you have a 5/6, gear it down below 3.55, and you’ll be much happier with your truck.

 

[Gary's Hemi]

It’s certainl not a good comparison, when the facts prove my point. Hmmm..:.

I’m his whole discussion has gotten off track. I don’t think the OP was going racing anyway.

My point is: if you have a 5/6, gear it down below 3.55, and you’ll be much happier with your truck.

Please elaborate on how you feel your fact is proven? That it took all of 1 yr for the time to be bested? That trans tuning wasnt available for 8 speed when Matt ran that? Let alone the fact that Kyle only makes it to a 1/4 mile track maybe once a yr due to him being several hours from 1 so the truck very well may have ran an 11 sec pass before the date it did if more than an 1/8 mile track was readily available. Or the fact that Kyle didn't need a cam/head swap in his 8 speed to run the same et unlike 5/6 speed. The so called facts aren't on your side bud

 

[NOV87]

My point is: if you have a 5/6, gear it down below 3.55, and you’ll be much happier with your truck.

Thank you. Quick question: do you still drive original tranny? Just wondering about longevity...

 

[Gary's Hemi]

But yes with a 5/6 speed 4.10 or 4.56 gears are your friend. I had both on my 2004 rc Hemi along with an Edge 3000 tc & the 4.56's believe it or not for dd use were great.

 

[Gary's Hemi]

Good conversation! Appreciate all your guys' input. Test drove 2019 3.6 Pentastar RAM with 8 speed. Pretty good acceleration and overall power. Close to my 6 speed, not as good though. Just for comparison. Was waiting for my truck at a dealer. Will try 8 speed HEMI some time next week. Not in a hurry though. I don't normally drive my truck hard, but would like to have the power avail. Another thing that bothers me (maybe I am overly concerned) is that dang downshifting at WOT. There's no way to avoid that with "normal" driving. I mean you drive up a hill or a hwy. You will step on it harder than normal, maybe 75-80% of the pedal travel. Is that considered WOT? Be curious what RLJ's experience is? Not to get you guys arguing, just want to hear how he does it with regards to downshifting.

Downshifting kills those transmissions but I dont necessarily think what your talking about with going up hills & such will kill 1. I went through 2 in my 04. I just learned to only go wot from a dead stop & drive it easy when passing & stopped going wot from a roll.

 

[NOV87]

Thinking of getting Diablo tuner with Hemifever for 92 octane first and then in the spring regear to 3.95 and 2600 TC.
Which tuner should I get? I3 or T2 for my 6 speed? They're about the same price. I don't need new PCM for 2014. Also, is it easy to switch between tunes?

 

[BWL]

I have a 545rfe in one of my rams with 3.92 and the 8spd with 3.92 in the other. The 8 spd is noticeably quicker, but I don't find the older one sluggish at all. Getting close to 270,000 km on the 545 and its still original and solid apart from having to change out the valve body from a bad solenoid pack and that was an easy fix. As long as you're not going for high hp I would just stay with what you have and save the money if your current truck is in good shape and you're fairly happy then do the re gear and lsd since thats not huge money and maybe some small hp gains to get it up to 8spd acceleration times. I'd skip the higher stall converter if you want to keep the truck 10-12 years. My 11 has 270k on it and it still drives like a new truck so it should last you given your current low mileage if you take care of it.

 

[guru1ofatl]

My 2013 2WD CC had 2800 stall converter, 3.55 gears, Vararam, and tune and ran a best of 14.1 @ 98
My 2017 2WD CC has 3.92 gears, tune, and S&B intake and ran a best of 13.5 @ 100
Both passes were run in the southeast with similar DA.

I wouldn't trade the 8 speed and 3.92 gears for any other spec.