My truck came with 4:10, but the 3:73 was a optional upcharge. Wich is better for towing?

 

Acutally, the trucks come stock with 3.73 gears. A limited slip is an upcharge or the 4.10 gears(only comes with limited slip) is an upcharge.

4.10's are better for towing.

 

I have the 4.10 and if you tow a lot and heavy you will not regret it, and yes 3.73 is std and 4.10 an option. I would not be able to use 6th much without the 4.10, lugging is the worst thing you can do to these motors.

 

Heres my specs

 

i tow a lot and heavy and have had the 3:73's and had no problems but mine are std tranny, if it was an auto i would use the lower gearing

 

my old tow rig for hauling my 24k lbs 3 axle GN used to have 4.10s, i swapped to 3.54's and that was the best thing i ever did. on flats i could haul in OD on grades i could maintain speed and use either 5th (direct) or 4th and still keep up a decent highway speed 45-55 mph on heavy grades. with 4.10s i was constantly tached out in direct and 4th gear was un-usable for many situations so i ended up do 95% of the higway driving in OD to maintain highway speeds or i ended up dropping down speed wise and running direct.

I never had an issue with lugging 1700-1800 rpm that was the highway speed with the trailer which was the sweet spot for mild grades and flat ground like running th e interstate and then i had direct for 90% of the hills i encountered. i picked up some fuel mileage too. I miss my old 3.54's they were perfect, i recently drove a newer dodge with 3.42's and a 6spd with 285/75 R17s and that was a sweet ride we took a backhoe up over donner summit ona dual tandem GN and those 3.42's and those tires were right on the money you can actually use 4th and keep up to 45-50 +/- mph on the grades so you get the torque gear reductiona nd dont have the tached out blues.

That said my current truck is 3.73's with a 6 spd, 315's. With my a 2400# inbed 8' cabover camper and a 21' 14k lbs trailer. i ran up out of salt lake city and across nevada not too long ago with a wrecked 2005 dodge diesel 3500 shortbed on the trailer (loaded the trailer weighed 11600# that day and i thought the 3.73s at 70-75mph and 1900-2000rpm wasnt lugging the motor at all. and at 60 mph in CA its still 1700 in OD which is about perfect. im not much for taching a turbocharged motor out kinda reduced the usable rpm range and sucks down more fuel.


the wrecked 3500 had 4.10s with a 6 spd and was the old truck that used to haul the GN with the backhoe.

 

But why is 3.73 a upgrade from 4.10

 

Its not.Does the window sticker show a charge for 3.73? It list it.But is there a charge.And DON"T get me started on the 3.42 or the 3.54 gear.I changed many out for customers years back.Its a commuter gear not a working gear.Most miserable towing I've ever done cross country was in trucks with that gear.They drove like a underpowered over the road rig.Too fast downhill and work your fanny off trying to maintain 55/60 IF that up hill.Chrysler wanted that gear GONE for a number of years and finally did.I pull 10k up the hill and down the hill and all but the biggest need to shift down near the summits running 65/70 mph.

 

Ehh, they will be crying the blues when the speed limit on the interstates get's dropped back down to 55 MPH due to the high fuel cost nationwide. It's only a matter of time. Remember they did the same back in the 70's.

 

personally i would love it. no longer would i be the "slow guy" on the road with my cruise control set at 61mph! Hell, i could slow down even more then!

 

its 55 with a trailer where i live, i just push it to 60 when i feel lucky maybe a hair more.

they do that i'll drop to 285's and 3.73s and be in my happy spot all over.


And i'll say it again just for houndog the 3.54's were not eliminated by choice at the time when chysler went to the AAM the 11.5 there were no lower speed Ring and pinon sets. the 3.42 had to be specially designed due to pinon ring gear engagement in the housing and lack of demand from other manufacturers, who operate V-8s that are under powered and higher rpm power producers. but thats another debate that we've all had several times. good luck.

 

I had Chrysler reps tell me in 2000 that it was on the planning table to do away with that gear.

 

I know we had that debate .... remember

And i was noting in that thread that i used to work hand in hand with some of the chrysler engineers and they insisted about the 3.54 not being available because of the manufacturer change, funny eningeers and sales reps always seem to differ on what they want and what they provide and they rarely listen to US. its was actuallly a fun thread alot of good info, these guys should look it up.

I think with the three ratios they have really found some goo d middle ground to suit each persons driving objective. pick your cruising rpm ratio and gear everything around that. i pick 3.73s or lower because with my loads in OD 1800-1900 is the top RPM i want to pull at highway speeds in OD and that makes downshifting an option for grades.