I shouldn't have started this thread. I ask about re gearing and upgrading my diffs and I get "they're fine" and "you should have gotten a diesel"
Thanks for the help.
Never bothered to consider if I like to take the truck off roading, so some locking diffs would help. Maybe I'm looking for better drivability too.
How about when I bought the truck, a diesel or a power wagon was (at the time but isn't anymore) out of my price range, and I now I am not interested in paying the prices they have with them now??
They are trying to help. Changing the diffs is gonna be like putting band-aid on a tumor, it's gonna be a big waste of time and money. You might get some placebo relief from it at first, but in the end it's not going to help your root problem, which is the Hemi needs to be at 3k to make the power to pull your camper.
That's not to say I don't get where your coming from, I started towing small ATV trailers with a turbo Subaru, it towed great because the turbo allowed it to make power down low (like a diesel) w/o needing to kick down and rev up. I graduated from the turbo Subaru to a Naturally aspirated Nissan frontier with a 4.0 V6 on 33" AT's, and it had the same problem you're having, towing anything on flat ground it lived at 3000rpm to make power. The moment I would hit the slightest incline it would drop into 3rd or sometimes even 2nd and SCREAM near redline to maintain speed while bouncing back & forth between gears, it also got sh*t for fuel mileage. You know what my immediate thought was? I need to regear from the OEM 3.36 gears to the OEM 3.69's that come in the manual trucks.
I did that, and guess what happened? Yea I felt an improvement taking off from a stop, but on the highway? Same problem, so I ended up blowing $1250 on parts and labor and ultimately traded it for an ecodiesel which towed like a dream until we got a trailer that was a little too big for it (34ft long 9500lbs loaded). It should be noted, it's not that our little 3.0 Turbo diesel w/3.55 gears wasn't up to the task of towing 9500lbs quietly and comfortably, it was just the trailer was too big for the 1500 platform and we were getting a bit of a tail wagging the dog situation.
Maybe instead of dropping money on new diffs, a Supercharger kit might give your Hemi the extra down low torque it needs to keep the RPMS lower while towing. Or, I don't know how big your camper is, you might be able to trade down to a Rebel ecodiesel, with all the lockers and bells and whistles you could want. Or, deal with it a little longer and take the money you would throw at diffs or a supercharger and put it into a cummins fund, and trade up when the time is right.
