Big Tow vs No Big Tow..REDUNDANCY ALERT!!!

[textitaninva]

Originally Posted by Vegas04

You might be able to find someone to swap gears with you, though. If you did some researching you could find out if the pinion gear has the same number of teeth on both setups and maybe change only the ring gear. That will require about 1.5 hours of easy labor rather than 6 hours of intense labor and measuring.

Ok thats what I wanted to know. Thanks

[CraigG]

Yeah I dont think there would be that big a difference from 2.97 I think it is to 3.36 if we are talking about performance. Just put some lo pro tires same thing 1/4 mile time (more tire rotations = lower gear ratio) but the heaveier gears and trans temp guage etc is very usefull for towing.

[Vegas04]

Originally Posted by Vegas04

You might be able to find someone to swap gears with you, though. If you did some researching you could find out if the pinion gear has the same number of teeth on both setups and maybe change only the ring gear. That will require about 1.5 hours of easy labor rather than 6 hours of intense labor and measuring.

after pondering that for a few minutes I have to say that swapping only the ring gear is not possible. Gearsets are "lapped" (whatever that means) as a set and come marked with a serial number and should never me interchanged with another gear from another gear set.
but swapping ring and pinion with someone who was tired of their gas mileage is a possibility and the procedure is outlined well in the service manual including backlash, pinion depth carrier bearing preload, and pinion preload. All the spec.s required for a high-quality product.

[blueskys]

I don't see what all the hoopla is about the Big Tow package. Yeah it is a good option for the money, but if you don't have it, your truck will still pull 95 percent of the loads across 95 percent of the roads. Just learn to use your TOW MODE switch and upgrade your axle with synthetic fluid/aluminum cover.

If you want to watch your tranny temperature, install a temp gauge for 80 bucks.

[PHOEBISIS]

No question that the Big Tow or Off Road 3.36 rear end will make-let-you accelerate harder 0-60 and probably 1/4 mile(probably faster,but if the 3.36 requires and extra shift,it could be closer).I would bet a couple of tenths.
We did a very crude survey here to attempt to tease out the highway MPG costs of 3.36 vs 2.94 and 2wd vs 4wd.The numbers showed about 1 mpg loss for the 3.36 vs 2.94 and about 1 mpg 4wd vs 2wd.It also appeared to be additive-4wd+3.36 costs about 2mpg hy vs 2wd 2.94.
I'm actually cheating a bit-the numbers were more than 1 mpg-on average for the options.2WD 2.94 guys(on average) got >20 mpg on their best hy tank.

4wd 3.36 guys-on average got about 16 mpg best hy.This just doesn't "seem" "right",so I looked at just the best of the best 4wd-3.36 .These conservative drivers(2 or 3 I think) got high 17 low 18 mpg best. tank.My guess is that the 2wd 2.94 guys are more conservative(and cheapskates like me) and really drove in such a way that they could report "good' numbers.I'm guessing that most 4wd-3.36 drivers are less mpg obsessed and didn't make the effort the cheapskates did.Now,there were a couple of cheapskate mpg braggarts in the 4wd-3.36 camp,and they got the 18 mpg tanks.
Well,now you have the "truth"-sorta!!Real life I would guess the 4wd 3.36 will give 15-16 mpg pure hy-the 2wd 2.94 will give 18-19 mpg pure hy.Luck,Charlie PS City should be pretty close on both rear ends-4wd (when not engaged)should cost you something-not much,but something.

[Armada]

It you've owned other trucks or cars with "low" gearing. It's like going from 3.73's to 4.10's.

That may not seem like much, but it definitely makes the truck more peppy. Because our torque curve is so "fat" and our tranny has 5 gears which are so well-spaced, you may not feel it in the seat of the pants as much as in some other vehicles. But the difference is there and probably is like adding 10-15 more horsepower in terms of acceleration and power.

Highway passing times will be less, maybe as much as a car length or even two, especially when going up hill, whether you ever tow a load or not. That extra "cushion" when pulling out and around someone on a two lane road, would be worth it to me, even if I did not tow.

But as suggested, you will probably lose 1-2 mpg, especially if your right foot is heavy and you drive at 75 mph or more regularly.