Check all the fluid levels and look for water in the fluids. If the levels are OK and there is no evidence of water then don't worry about it.

Several years ago I drove a Ford Ranger through some deep water and according to Ford apparently sucked some water in through the differential vent tube. When I checked the differential it was overfull and it was evident that it had water in it - as Planetcat stated lube with water in it will have a grayish to whiteish color. Ford actually serviced the rear end under warranty. I have driven several other vehicles through some deep water but only had problems that one time.

 

8" is nothing to wory abought. Even at speed the worst that could hapen is a wet air filter, unless you drive around with the oil fill cap off or dipstick out. I would not wory abought anything. If you where talking several feet then yah, start checking fluids. The diferental(sp) vents are high up under the body where they are safe from water. I would have no worrys till the water got up to the flore bord, and even a little higher for a second or two.

 

If you are truely woried Check the Axles for water but the breathers are pretty well tucked up there on these trucks. I would be more woried about the air filter it is located up front on the left as you face the engine it has a filter minder that should read less than 35% you can get at it through three clips be careful of the sensor wire as you check things out.

 

I just checked the air filter (thanks TTreibel for the instructions!) and it's dry as a bone, although the water incident happened last Saturday and it could have dried meantime?, it doesn't look like it's ever been wet.

The filter minder is below 35% so that's good as well.

I also took a good look under the truck and I don't think water got into anything it shouldn't have. The underneath is just too high. It extends up ~6 more inches from the outside bottom edge of the truck, almost like a air pocket up underneath the truck.

They must put those axle breathers way up high for a reason. Just thinking of the potential duty of these trucks, snow plowing, working in mud/water environments, off-roading, etc., I don't think it affected it at all.

I've plowed before in a Jeep and during late season snow storms there's alot of wet heavy snow that melts quickly and causes heavy flooding.

Things really get wet and splash around in those situations and I never had a problem in the Jeep, which is alot lower than the Ram for sure.

Thanks alot my diesel brothers for all your input!

 

Little puddles like that are nothing to worry about. I've driven through 2+ feet, maybe 800ft-1000ft., doing about 25MPH on several occasions (used to live in an area that flooded often), and made several deep-water crossings (3+ft.) at around 10-15MPH, all with no problems.

In fact, the only time I ever had water in the axles/trans/oil pan was when the truck sat in 3' of water overnight, due to a flood. Even then, after driving it several miles to an oil-change place (couldn't change it myself - driveway still had water in it), it was fine.

By far, the strangest experience I ever had was driving about 1/2 mile through 2+ feet of water, and about 2" of ice on top of that water. A 4' blizzard, followed by a stretch of 40+°F weather and rain, followed again by 20°F weather, produced flooded and iced-over streets. My neighbors were none too happy about being woken up around 1AM by the sounds of ice flows crashing into their front porches. Hey, when ya gotta get home....