4.10 to 4.56 axle ratio upgrade kit for 2015 PW?

[ramv]

If you drive daily at 6000'+ above sea level, you wonder why these trucks have 6th. Mine won't hold it on the flats; just on down hills.

on my '11 1500 5.7, I locked out 6th. It got better mileage in fifth than sixth. That thing was a such a dog. 31" tires and it couldn't pull OD. At least with the 6.4 PW, it can hold it on downhills.

Around town, I just hit tow/haul so I don't have to deal with 6th.

[Bill2014]

If you drive daily at 6000'+ above sea level, you wonder why these trucks have 6th. Mine won't hold it on the flats; just on down hills.

on my '11 1500 5.7, I locked out 6th. It got better mileage in fifth than sixth. That thing was a such a dog. 31" tires and it couldn't pull OD. At least with the 6.4 PW, it can hold it on downhills.

Around town, I just hit tow/haul so I don't have to deal with 6th.

That's understandable at your Elevation. A 410 Hp engine at sea-level will lose about 73 Hp at 6000 ft. So you're only working with 337 Hp.

[DamageWagon]

No kidding, my truck was downshifting to 4th going downhill. I was wondering what the hell was wrong with the situation. Downhill!? Am I running on 4 cylinders?


Sent from my safe space

[Bill2014]

Actually, our 6.4L 4.10 trucks at sea level can only reach the rated 410 hp in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd.
We can't go fast enough in 4th, 5th, or 6th to reach 5600 rpm.

[ramv]

If you drive daily at 6000'+ above sea level, you wonder why these trucks have 6th. Mine won't hold it on the flats; just on down hills.

on my '11 1500 5.7, I locked out 6th. It got better mileage in fifth than sixth. That thing was a such a dog. 31" tires and it couldn't pull OD. At least with the 6.4 PW, it can hold it on downhills.

Around town, I just hit tow/haul so I don't have to deal with 6th.

That's understandable at your Elevation. A 410 Hp engine at sea-level will lose about 73 Hp at 6000 ft. So you're only working with 337 Hp.

My house is over 6500' fortunately I work./fly out of Denver which is around 5280'

[Colibri]

AAM has oem gears available, that would be your best bet for quality and longevity. I'm running 5.13's in my 3rd gen on 37's and couldn't be happier. Get geared correctly for what you do with your truck and don't look back. It makes all the difference in the world

[rkgzx9leftcoast]

Yeah, I was actually in a much higher elevation a few weeks ago, from Phoenix area to Prescott AZ, Prescott is close to and above 6,000 feet in some areas, truck drove totally different in the altitude. When I came back down home felt like I was in a different truck.

For the OP, I would check with a few well known shops that have dealt with it, I know CJC off road is one or maybe one of the bigger differential shops. Also, I know how some feel about AEV, but they have some experience with gear sets and what is out there, may be worth a call......

[California_RAM]

So, despite the title of this thread I completed my upgrade to 4.88 ring and pinion gearing (front and rear) last Friday the 5th. This goes to show the benefit of this forum. The question is only a starting point. I want to thank adeluca73 and usmc369 who both gave the good advice of matching 4.88 R&P gearing to 37" tires. I have not towed with this set-up yet. But, this is the best my truck has ever driven, and I bought it new in 2015. I have the AEV lift w/ procal, so the calibration only took seconds. The setup is Yukon 4.88 up front, and AAM 4.88 in the rear. This was ordered through the Randy's online distributor, and then installed by 4x4 Land in Kansas. The truck is fun to drive, and spins the 37" tires like it spun the OEM tires when I drove it off the lot, but I actually get better gas mileage now. I think the ECO mode kicks in more, because the engine doesn't use as much effort to turn the tires (I average 14.5MPG now--so far). It cost about $3K, but I also installed AEV differential covers at the same time. You will save hundreds of dollars by not doing that piece. The gears via the column shifter all feel lower now. For example, 3rd gear revs closer to 3,000 rpm now, which is good for me, because that will help towing up hills. Basically, 3rd gear is a better hill climbing gear now with 4.88.
Bottom-line. No noise issues, because I made sure to get AAM in the rear. The part# may actually be a GM gear on Randy's, because GM and RAM both share AAM axles on certain models. It was an expensive modification that I recommend to the forum. 37" tires with 4.88 is like peanut butter and jelly...it works great! The Facebook link below is to 4x4 Lands page with some install pictures from May 5th, 2017.


https://www.facebook.com/4x4landks/

[MSCH2112]

F Forward 15 years & everyone will think they need a 1 ton dually with 1000hp to pull their 8800 lb trailer.

and the PW will have some 7.4 liter motor with 3.10 gears or something.

mike

[olyelr]

So, despite the title of this thread I completed my upgrade to 4.88 ring and pinion gearing (front and rear) last Friday the 5th. This goes to show the benefit of this forum. The question is only a starting point. I want to thank adeluca73 and usmc369 who both gave the good advice of matching 4.88 R&P gearing to 37" tires. I have not towed with this set-up yet. But, this is the best my truck has ever driven, and I bought it new in 2015. I have the AEV lift w/ procal, so the calibration only took seconds. The setup is Yukon 4.88 up front, and AAM 4.88 in the rear. This was ordered through the Randy's online distributor, and then installed by 4x4 Land in Kansas. The truck is fun to drive, and spins the 37" tires like it spun the OEM tires when I drove it off the lot, but I actually get better gas mileage now. I think the ECO mode kicks in more, because the engine doesn't use as much effort to turn the tires (I average 14.5MPG now--so far). It cost about $3K, but I also installed AEV differential covers at the same time. You will save hundreds of dollars by not doing that piece. The gears via the column shifter all feel lower now. For example, 3rd gear revs closer to 3,000 rpm now, which is good for me, because that will help towing up hills. Basically, 3rd gear is a better hill climbing gear now with 4.88.
Bottom-line. No noise issues, because I made sure to get AAM in the rear. The part# may actually be a GM gear on Randy's, because GM and RAM both share AAM axles on certain models. It was an expensive modification that I recommend to the forum. 37" tires with 4.88 is like peanut butter and jelly...it works great! The Facebook link below is to 4x4 Lands page with some install pictures from May 5th, 2017.


https://www.facebook.com/4x4landks/

Thanks for the update! I was hoping you were not going to go with 4.56s... in my opinion they should be in the diffs from the factory with the 33s.

[Rodeoflyer]

I had a feeling mileage would improve with a gearing change. These trucks are heavy and need the torque multiplication to get moving. I wish ram would have spec'd 4.56s stock. Great review. Thanks.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[TwinStick]

I am very happy the OP is now happy with his truck. Nothing is worse than driving something that just does not work for you & trying to make do.


For all you nay sayers, it is amazing, lower gears (higher numerically) made the gas engined truck work better, when doing what it was designed to do. What a novel idea.

Sadly, in the Big 3, when someone does "get it right" it is usually short lived. Also sadly, someone may be right, a 7.4L Hemi & 3.10 gears may really be in the Power Wagons future, if they keep following their current trend of gearing them for mpg instead of HD work. Don't have to look far to see the precedent that has already be set by GM. They went with IFS because people were complaining that a truck rides like a truck. Is the end result a more HD truck ? No, because the HYPED factory IFS front end is actually less HD & in fact, one of it's weak points. Stock steering tie-rod linkage arms fail on a regular basis on a lifted truck with larger tires & wheels. Also why the aftermarket made a completely new front diff for them. https://www.dynatrac.com/axle-assemblie ... axles.html

Here is a life story from when I was 13 years old:

Back in a stone/sand quarry, 6 of us on our dirt bikes, up on top of a hill we just climbed, that had a flat area on the top where we could all safely gather & watch others climb, affectionately known as :The Party Platform. Guy comes back there with a 70's GM stepside like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eKe7RfbIv0 ........lift & 38" swampers. Tries to climb a sand hill & can't. He tries over & over & over. He said it was around 500hp. Deep holes everywhere where he buried it. It was the 4th of July, and an old guy w/white hair & his wife w/purple hair come back there in an old, mint, factory stock, perfectly restored flat fender WW II US Army Jeep. They were coming from a July 4th parade from earlier in the morning. He was dressed as a WW II veteran would be for that era & she was dressed as his WW II sweetheart. He talked with the truck guy. He told him he could climb it with his Jeep. Truck guy says no way-no how & proceeded to bet him $50 that he could not. Money was shown, the old guy nodded his head to his girl, his sweetheart got out. Old guy drove up it easily, even though he went right through a few of the truck guys tire ruts. He turned around & came back down. Took his $50 from the truck guy & his sweetheart got back into the Jeep, while the truck guy asked him how many hp does that Jeep have ? Old man says 60 hp or less. Then told him hp matters not, in this situation. Traction, the right gearing & the right momentum does. He said "thanks for lunch" as he drove away, waving the money in the air, with his sweetheart.

With the right gears, you can move mountains.

[Rodeoflyer]

Didn't those willys weigh about 2k lbs? [WINKING FACE]

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[TwinStick]

Yup, also another factor.

[OffroadTreks]

Stop complaining about MPG's when Ram sends out those customer satisfaction surveys and they won't regear.

I am seriously thinking that 37's & 4.88's are in the future next year for my truck after this years Moab event.

[TwinStick]

I'm tellin ya, don't fear the gear.

Really not worth it IMHO, to go up only 1 size, unless that's the only choice. ESPECIALLY if someone wants to use their truck---like a truck. Then the bigger, heavier tires & lifting come into play. I think the auto trans PW's should have 4.88's from the factory. I absolutely love the low gears in my truck. Even with the G56, if i went to 35's/37's, I would want lower gears, to keep it a good trailer tow & work truck.

[RustyPW]

AAM has oem gears available, that would be your best bet for quality and longevity. I'm running 5.13's in my 3rd gen on 37's and couldn't be happier. Get geared correctly for what you do with your truck and don't look back. It makes all the difference in the world

Where did you get 5.13's for the rear 10.5? Or did I miss you installing a 11.5?

[TwinStick]

He installed a 11.5" rear axle.

[Hammerballs]

So I did a quick search for AAM 4.88 gear sets for the 2016 Ram 2500 and everything I saw only showed up to 4.10s. I did see some other brands like Yukon. I even saw an official AAM announcement, I think from 2014 admittedly, that specifically said 2500 only up to 4.10s and 3500s had an additional 5.13 option I believe. It said 2500 and 3500 11.5 axles weren't the same. Can someone point me to the actual AAM 11.5 4.88 gears for 2016 axles?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[RustyPW]

He installed a 11.5" rear axle.

That's what I thought. CRS is getting worst.

[OffroadTreks]

So I did a quick search for AAM 4.88 gear sets for the 2016 Ram 2500 and everything I saw only showed up to 4.10s. I did see some other brands like Yukon. I even saw an official AAM announcement, I think from 2014 admittedly, that specifically said 2500 only up to 4.10s and 3500s had an additional 5.13 option I believe. It said 2500 and 3500 11.5 axles weren't the same. Can someone point me to the actual AAM 11.5 4.88 gears for 2016 axles?

Didn't adeluca73 upgrade to 4.88's? He has a 2014 and nothing has really changed since then, all the way up to the 2017 it's still the same.

http://forum.powerwagonregistry.org/vie ... 150#p65538

It's a FEDEX Christmas

MOD : 4.88 9.25 front & 11.5 rear AAM R&P swap + complete master installation kits
MFGR : Yukon
Vendor : Randy's Gear
COST : $375 Rear R&P/$330 Rear install kit/$245 Front R&P/$215 front install kit/$60 front & rear lifetime warranty

Researched the required parts needed to do complete front/rear gear swap, called EastCoast Gear & Randy's & shopped both for best price. Ordered everything from Randy's last Friday around 1630, everything arrived on Monday morning. The packaging & overall presentation was exceedingly high quality & definitely conveys a sense of pride & inspires confidence. I ordered the total lifetime warranty ($29 ea) which is essentially just prepaying the shipping cost--warranty is no questions asked forever, anything happens to either gear set, Randy's will FedEx out a replacement set & the install kit free of charge & will cover the install cost of the new set. Set up the install at a local heavy truck rebuild shop down the road for Wednesday, 4 May.

[NickTF]

It's indisputable that gears will help the truck with larger tires pull better; however, as the prior poster demonstrated gearing is almost certainly less of the limiting factor than the soft suspension of these trucks. Our trucks with 37" tires and factory 4.10s are near the same gear wise as a 3.73 gear truck with 33" tires. I'm guessing the 4.10 equipped 2500 non power wagon trucks have a 31-32" tire from the factory and are rated to pull over 15000 while the 3.73 trucks are closer to 12-13k off the top of my head. Unless you pull mountains regularly or loads well north of 10k I don't think you're going to be too bad off with 37" tires and 4.10 gears but 4.88s will most definitely work better. If tranny temps aren't hot I don't see the issue.

We're looking at work trucks right now to pull a 14000lb trailer at around a gcwr of 27,000. I feel weird doing it but am pushing for the v10 6.8L gas option because I want nothing to do with today's diesels. If they could only stick a cummins 12v in an f550 or ram 5500......

[RustyPW]

It's indisputable that gears will help the truck with larger tires pull better; however, as the prior poster demonstrated gearing is almost certainly less of the limiting factor than the soft suspension of these trucks. Our trucks with 37" tires and factory 4.10s are near the same gear wise as a 3.73 gear truck with 33" tires. I'm guessing the 4.10 equipped 2500 non power wagon trucks have a 31-32" tire from the factory and are rated to pull over 15000 while the 3.73 trucks are closer to 12-13k off the top of my head. Unless you pull mountains regularly or loads well north of 10k I don't think you're going to be too bad off with 37" tires and 4.10 gears but 4.88s will most definitely work better. If tranny temps aren't hot I don't see the issue.

We're looking at work trucks right now to pull a 14000lb trailer at around a gcwr of 27,000. I feel weird doing it but am pushing for the v10 6.8L gas option because I want nothing to do with today's diesels. If they could only stick a cummins 12v in an f550 or ram 5500......

Had a 2014 Fleetwood Bounder motorhome with the 6.8 V10. Weight fully loaded was around 31,000lbs. Fuel mileage was between 4 to 12 mpg. The V10's have their problems too.

[NickTF]

It's indisputable that gears will help the truck with larger tires pull better; however, as the prior poster demonstrated gearing is almost certainly less of the limiting factor than the soft suspension of these trucks. Our trucks with 37" tires and factory 4.10s are near the same gear wise as a 3.73 gear truck with 33" tires. I'm guessing the 4.10 equipped 2500 non power wagon trucks have a 31-32" tire from the factory and are rated to pull over 15000 while the 3.73 trucks are closer to 12-13k off the top of my head. Unless you pull mountains regularly or loads well north of 10k I don't think you're going to be too bad off with 37" tires and 4.10 gears but 4.88s will most definitely work better. If tranny temps aren't hot I don't see the issue.

We're looking at work trucks right now to pull a 14000lb trailer at around a gcwr of 27,000. I feel weird doing it but am pushing for the v10 6.8L gas option because I want nothing to do with today's diesels. If they could only stick a cummins 12v in an f550 or ram 5500......

Had a 2014 Fleetwood Bounder motorhome with the 6.8 V10. Weight fully loaded was around 31,000lbs. Fuel mileage was between 4 to 12 mpg. The V10's have their problems too.

Sure, nothing is trouble free and with 4.88 gears am fully prepared for the mpg you've indicated. But they don't have as many absolutely half assed EPA mandated emissions equipment shortening their life span, costing far too much money to repair, regen popping up, fuel filters needing changed every 10-15k, ~12qt oil changes, fuel gelling when super cold, sensitivity to excessive idling, turbo cool down periods, etc, all for a premium of another $9000 or so. Change the oil and filter and go (aside from the obvious other things which would need serviced in either motor platform).

[RustyPW]

It's indisputable that gears will help the truck with larger tires pull better; however, as the prior poster demonstrated gearing is almost certainly less of the limiting factor than the soft suspension of these trucks. Our trucks with 37" tires and factory 4.10s are near the same gear wise as a 3.73 gear truck with 33" tires. I'm guessing the 4.10 equipped 2500 non power wagon trucks have a 31-32" tire from the factory and are rated to pull over 15000 while the 3.73 trucks are closer to 12-13k off the top of my head. Unless you pull mountains regularly or loads well north of 10k I don't think you're going to be too bad off with 37" tires and 4.10 gears but 4.88s will most definitely work better. If tranny temps aren't hot I don't see the issue.

We're looking at work trucks right now to pull a 14000lb trailer at around a gcwr of 27,000. I feel weird doing it but am pushing for the v10 6.8L gas option because I want nothing to do with today's diesels. If they could only stick a cummins 12v in an f550 or ram 5500......

Had a 2014 Fleetwood Bounder motorhome with the 6.8 V10. Weight fully loaded was around 31,000lbs. Fuel mileage was between 4 to 12 mpg. The V10's have their problems too.

Sure, nothing is trouble free and with 4.88 gears am fully prepared for the mpg you've indicated. But they don't have as many absolutely half assed EPA mandated emissions equipment shortening their life span, costing far too much money to repair, regen popping up, fuel filters needing changed every 10-15k, ~12qt oil changes, fuel gelling when super cold, sensitivity to excessive idling, turbo cool down periods, etc, all for a premium of another $9000 or so. Change the oil and filter and go (aside from the obvious other things which would need serviced in either motor platform).

All true. Getting a diesel in a pickup, you have to decide on how many miles you will be driving, and the weight you will be hauling/towing to see if it economical or not. The more miles per year. Then the diesel makes more sense.

You have a PM.