Re: 3.55 vs. 3.92 w/5-speed

From: Jon Steiger (stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu)
Date: Fri Dec 11 1998 - 23:31:52 EST


At 04:17 PM 12/11/98 -0800, you wrote:
>I have a 5.2L Dakota RC, 5 speed with a 3.55 rearend. I havn't been able
>to find anyone with the same truck but with the 3.92 rearend. I'd like
>to know how if it hooks up at all. Even with 275/60R15 tires and
>traction bars I spin through 1st, halfway through second, and about 5
>feet of third, traction is still a problem. I would guess the 3.92 would
>get even less traction.
>

  There is a Dakota that runs a lot at NYIRP where Bill and I run. Its a
318 RC 5-speed with 3.90s. Its got a Gibson 3" single cat-back exhaust,
JBA headers, underdriven pulleys, and some other stuff too. (MP computer
maybe)

  Anyway, he was running 14.7s and I think ran a 14.3 once until he put
his JBA headers on and a set of new (cheap) tires. Now, the truck
walks sideways on him all the way through 4th and his 1/4 mile ETs went
up to high 14's and low 15's. He was talking about coming back with slicks
next year; it'll be interesting to see what he can run when it hooks up.

   Speaking of traction bars, I've got a Lakewood universal set on my Dak
and my 60' times actually got worse after I installed 'em. My pet theory is
that the wheel hop was acting almost like ABS and giving me traction. (At
the expense of damaging rearend components...) Traction bars are sort've
a misnomer... As far as I know, they're not there for traction, there
there to keep you from ripping your rearend off the truck during a holeshot.
(I could be wrong; its happened before.) :-)

                                               -Jon-

  .--- stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu ------------------------------------.
  | Affiliations: DoD, EAA, MP Race Team, NMA, SPA, USUA. RP-SEL |
  | '96 Dodge Dakota v8 SLT CC (14.58@93.55), '96 Kolb FireFly 447 |
  `----------------------- http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ ---'



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