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Advice on axle ratio Ram 1500 for towing - 3.21 v 3.92

lezmark7

lezmark7

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I have found a beautiful Patriot blue with all the bells and whistles, at a great promo price with the 3.21 rear axle. After looking real close, I see the towing capacity for the 3.21 axle is 8120 lbs v the 3.92 at 11,220!!?? This is off the Ram brochure. Just for fun, I checked dozens of various 1500's on lots, and I could not find one 3.92!? My trailer is 8200 lbs dry. A real dilemma. I dont tow often, but when I do.... I HATE not having choices - there seems to be a good stock of trucks which means deals - but not on 3.92's!!! OK, to add to the fun I looked at the vehicle details on the dealer web site, and it says 3.21 but towing capacity 11,200. Geez...
 
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There's a sister site 5thgenrams that might be better to ask.

Be prepared to get flamed about gear ratios, there's a million posts in a hundred threads.

Get a VIN and look up the build sheet. https://fcacommunity.force.com/RAM/s/equipment-listing

Personally I think it would suck to run 3.21 gears for any towing.
 
I actually had a 2019 1500 before I got my 2500, I had the 3.92 gears and 33 gallon gas tank. You will barely notice a difference in fuel economy, but the truck really scoots with the 3.92 compared to the 3.21 gears. I would definitely suggest you find the 3.92 gears or order one with them.
 
I don't know the exact numbers and don't feel like researching it, but .... the equalizer in all this is the excellent 8 speed transmission. If I had to guess, with 3.21 you can cruise on the highway at 75 at around 1800 rpm. With the 3.92, maybe that turns up to 2,200 rpm. Still mild, quiet in these trucks, road noise and highway comfort is more affected by the tires you run than the higher gears. So I'd definitely wait and find that 3.92 truck you want, will tow so much better.
 
8200 lbs dry is really pushing it for a half ton. The answer here is a 3500! Look into payload. Most 1500 Rams are around 1400 lbs (look at the actual numbers on trucks you are considering). Your trailer is going to take about 1k lbs, which would leave 400lbs for people, gear, etc. Towing at the max isn't usually a lot of fun either.
 
BikePilot said:
8200 lbs dry is really pushing it for a half ton. The answer here is a 3500! Look into payload. Most 1500 Rams are around 1400 lbs (look at the actual numbers on trucks you are considering). Your trailer is going to take about 1k lbs, which would leave 400lbs for people, gear, etc. Towing at the max isn't usually a lot of fun either.
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My buddy's 1500 Ram limited had a payload of 975 pounds, just pitiful
 
Firebird said:
My buddy's 1500 Ram limited had a payload of 975 pounds, just pitiful
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That doesn't sound right, I thought payload on those was around 1,500 lbs. Is that possible it's under 1,000?
 
Got it, thanks for clarifying.

To the OP, I tow a work trailer that is a bit over 8,000 with my 2500 hemi. Tows fine as you can imagine, and I have no need for additonal payload beyond the tongue weight, not carrying anything heavy in the bed. But a guy I work with tows the same trailer with his Ram 1500. It pulls it just fine, but the tongue weight is stretching the limits of his stock suspension, sure he could beef it up a bit but honestly moving to a 2500 or 3500 (depends on your payload needs) might make sense for you if you are going to keep towing that trailer.
 
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