On Sat, 24 May 2003 12:13:58 jon@dakota-truck.net wrote:
>
> Here are a couple of thoughts that come to mind...
>
> Are you swapping to the 3.92s because you are planning to use the
> extra towing capacity, or is it just for more buffer?
Well, with the 3.55 gears, the tow rating of the truck is limited to 4700
lbs. The 3.92 gears would raise that to 5700. The trailer is 3811 lbs
dry, with a GVWR of 6100. I don't plan on ever loading the trailer up to
its limit, so I'm looking more at the actual loaded weight. Wonder if I
could get it weighed. I have a feeling it's getting closer to 4700 than I
would want.
As it stands now, we're fairly careful about how much we load it, we don't
pull it with any water in the holding tanks, etc. We can live with the
4700 lb limit, but the extra 1000 lbs would let us quit worrying so much
about how much weight is back there.
(Note: I don't need a lecture about keeping within the weight ratings, I
said we wouldn't have to worry AS MUCH, not that we wouldn't have to worry
at all about it.)
Also to keep in mind is that there's no way to get across the continent
without going over the top of the Rockies. Last December we were up over
10,000 feet going up a 7% grade, and I was already wishing we had lower
gears or a bigger engine. This is only one stretch, so as long as we get
past it okay, we'll be fine. But we do have to do it. I'm also sure once
we get moved out there, we'll want to go camping in the mountains once in
a while.
> The reason I
> ask is if you are staying within the 3.55 specs, the bureaucratic
> issue probably wouldn't be one (there's no way someone on the
> highway would know what you have in the rearend without going through
> the hassle of actually checking and anyway I'll bet the odds of
> something like that happening in the first place are pretty slim)
I agree, but there's always a chance that some jerk cop who's having a bad
day might decide to pull us over because he noticed we were pulling a
large trailer with a "mini" truck (what do they know about Dakotas...
probably nothing) with out-of-state plates. They do have the authority to
do this if they want to, and there are lots of laws about not overloading
your vehicle and creating an unsafe situation on the highway (they also
regulate what kind of hitch you can use, brake controls, breakaway
switches, safety chains... there's all kinds of stuff they can catch you
on). I just feel better if I can prove that we're complying with the
ratings.
I've dealt with enough bureaucrats to know that anything that isn't
published officially from the factory, doesn't exist. Sure, there's the
rating for 3.92 gears in the owner's manual, but it doesn't say anything
about 4.10s. Therefore, it must be zero (stupid, but probably the way it
would be looked at).
I agree this is a stretch, and probably not worth thinking about as much
as I am.
> Anyway, yep it is probably worth doing some thinking about -
> changing the ratio on a 4x4 isn't cheap, it would be a shame to
> do the work and spend the money than a few years down the road
> start in on the whole "shoulda coulda" thing. :-) Do you think
> the truck will ever see offroading where the 4.10s would be
> useful over the 3.92s, what will happen to the truck 10 years down
> the road and what will it be used for, what type of driving will
> you be doing, etc.
Not likely to be doing much off-roading. Besides, I never noticed that
even the 3.55s in the '98 were too high. With the automatic, the gearing
isn't as important for off-roading unless you're in to hard-core rock
crawling.
You raised some interesting points. The difference between 3.92 to 4.10
isn't as much as the difference going from 3.55 to 3.92. If we already
had the 3.92s, I wouldn't even be worrying about changing them. I'll have
to let this cook in the back of my brain for a while.
Oh, one other thing about the 3.92s is that I might be able to get Bob's
gears that he replaced, which would save a couple of hundred. Not a huge
difference relative to the total expense, but I'll take it. (Bob, did you
ever talk to Dave?)
-- Jason Bleazard http://www.bleazard.net Toronto, Ontario his: '95 Dakota Sport 4x4, 3.9 V6, 5spd, Reg. Cab, white hers: '01 Dakota Sport 4x4, 4.7 V8, Auto, Quad Cab, blackDidn't you read the disclaimer? http://www.they.com/disclaimer
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