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ArDavid318

Junior Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2018
Posts
22
Reaction score
3
Location
Oregon
Ram Year
1998
Engine
318
Hey guys Doing a bit of figuring out here and I hope I’m in the right place. I have a 98 ram with slightly modified 318. Behind that 318 I have a nv4500 I swapped in last year. It originally had the nv3500. Anyway I would like to be able to use 5th gear a little better. My problem is that it runs a little low in the rpms in 5th and lugs. It takes forever to pull any more mile and hour out of it once I’m in it (which I kind of expected that). It does okay if I wind 4th out to about 75 or 80 then shift to 5th and it will slowly pull but That doesn’t seem right to me. I don’t usually push very far above 80 even when I’m on the freeway. What I’d like to do is 1. Be able to use 1st as a granny gear 2. Stick it in 5th at 60 and be able to get a pull out of it.

With all that being said I’m thinking of changing the front and rear gear ratios rather than putting more money in the engine. What sucks is that the info sticker in the front support has been ripped off and I don’t know my stock ratio. However the last time I tore into the rear end I’m pretty sure it had 3.55 stamped on the gear. What I’m wondering is what ratio might accomplish that for me. I’m not super knowledgeable about gear ratios so forgive me if this way of thinking is foolish. Thanks for the help guys
 

Daw14

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2017
Posts
2,029
Reaction score
2,079
Ram Year
2014
Engine
5.7 hemi
456 would be a good plan. It would be like driving a different truck . I went from 355 to 456 and have 0 regrets .
 

Fast69Mopar

Senior Member
Joined
May 10, 2019
Posts
1,997
Reaction score
1,706
Location
Texas
Ram Year
2004
Engine
5.7 HEMI
Hey guys Doing a bit of figuring out here and I hope I’m in the right place. I have a 98 ram with slightly modified 318. Behind that 318 I have a nv4500 I swapped in last year. It originally had the nv3500. Anyway I would like to be able to use 5th gear a little better. My problem is that it runs a little low in the rpms in 5th and lugs. It takes forever to pull any more mile and hour out of it once I’m in it (which I kind of expected that). It does okay if I wind 4th out to about 75 or 80 then shift to 5th and it will slowly pull but That doesn’t seem right to me. I don’t usually push very far above 80 even when I’m on the freeway. What I’d like to do is 1. Be able to use 1st as a granny gear 2. Stick it in 5th at 60 and be able to get a pull out of it.

With all that being said I’m thinking of changing the front and rear gear ratios rather than putting more money in the engine. What sucks is that the info sticker in the front support has been ripped off and I don’t know my stock ratio. However the last time I tore into the rear end I’m pretty sure it had 3.55 stamped on the gear. What I’m wondering is what ratio might accomplish that for me. I’m not super knowledgeable about gear ratios so forgive me if this way of thinking is foolish. Thanks for the help guys
The original NV3500 in your truck had a 5th gear ratio of 0.73:1

The NV4500 has a 5th gear ratio of 0.75:1

0.73 to 0.75 is not enough of a difference to notice while driving. With that being said, 4.56 gears would give you what you want with a super low 1st gear and a decent cruise RPM at 60mph in 5th gear.
 
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ArDavid318

ArDavid318

Junior Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2018
Posts
22
Reaction score
3
Location
Oregon
Ram Year
1998
Engine
318
Thanks for the help guys. 4.56 came up in my mind as a good ratio. Another bit of info on it is that I’m only running 33 inch tires on it. I was also curious of what you guys though about 4.10 gears which would be a little better fuel economy.
 
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