New trucks and axle ratios... wth?

[Beagle]

I spent a few minutes this morning looking at short box regular cab half ton V8 trucks this morning and it's kind of interesting to me what the 3 offer:

Chevy 5.3 355 hp / 3.42 gear / 6 speed auto
Ford 5.0 360 hp / 3.31 gear / 6 speed auto
Ram 5.7 395 hp / 3.92 gear / 8 speed auto

I hate to say it, but the Dodge would have my attention if I were out buying a new truck. On paper, I'm thinking that should be good for 14's... I'm almost curious enough to see about test driving the Dodge. Is there some reason other than MPG why Ford and Chevy are allergic to a truck like rear gear in a truck?

[Jimbo17]

One thing I always thing about when purchasing anything is the cost to repair it when it breaks.

My 1986 Chevrolet G-20 Van every so many years needs a transmission rebuild and it costs between $550.00 and $650.00 when I look at what it costs to rebuild one of these new 6 or 8 speed transmissions your talking between $4,000 and $7,000 dollars.

I was at the transmission shop a while back when my friend who owns the place was installing a brand new tranmsission in a 2010 Chevrolet SUV that had been towed the wrong way and wrecked the old transmission. Because there were no rebuild kits available for this transmission the owner had to purchase a complete new transmission which the warranty did not cover because they said it was towed the wrong way.

Next problem was the transmission shop had no way to reset the computer for the SUV so that it recognize the new transmission was it was put on a flatbed and trucked back to the dealership which reset the computer for another $250.00 bucks!!

Total bill for everything was around $7,000 dollars

That's when I realize how much I like my van with the 350 in it.

Jimbo

[68scott385]

I would agree but wonder how many new truck buyers REALLY want to use the truck as a truck. I see SO many 4-door trucks with 4 foot beds and can't for the life of me figure out what you'd haul in a bed that size, other than groceries. It's not long enough for a pair of bicycles or an engine / transmission combo. just my confusion(s)

[SuperBuickGuy]

you spend 50k for a new truck, you want different gears? spend the $1000 to change it. That said, with 6 or 8 speed transmissions 3.42 or 3.91 look exactly the same to the motor

[Beagle]

It's only 26k... only. Pffft. I'm sure they can be bought cheaper, but the point is not to buy stuff for a brand new truck. Dodge is the only one with a check box for what I want - I don't care what they think I want.

There's quite a bit of spread on the 8 speed's ratios and with 3.92's plus 35-40 more HP, on paper it looks to EAT it's competition.

What I really want is the ecoboost 3.5 or a 6.2 in a shortbox regular cab with 4.10's. I can't be the only one who wants a big motor, lots of gear in the smallest package? Maybe I'm alone here.

[STINEY]

It just a physical manifestation of the fact that all-around American terrain/driving needs are best suited by a full-frame, V8 powered, 4-seat or more vehicle.

The government decided decades ago that these were evil to produce in sedan form, and through legislation effectively banned them from production by domestic OEMs.

The OEMs found a way to serve their customer base through the loophole that the legislation had for trucks.

The truck platforms allow the OEMs to build a product that their customers want to buy, and for a price that allows them to be profitable.

Even profitable enough to cover the building of mandated boring non-profitable vehicles that nobody really wants to buy.

This is proof that there is a solid, functionable economy just waiting for government interference to go away - the economic rebound would be stunning IMO.

[bearphoto]

I recently picked up a used 2014 with 1200 miles on it. Its a 5.7 hemi, standard cab, short bed but it has the 6 speed trans with 3.55's. At 395 hp its got all the power I'd want but I wanted it to tow the boat back and forth to the lake which is only 2 miles. It had the tow package but an open diff on a 2wd truck so I put a limited slip in. I have not tried it yet but i'm still concerned that I will just spin the back tires on the boat ramp while pulling a 7000 lb boat/trailer up the boat ramp. Other than that I love this truck. Its the black express ram. Not loaded with all the foo foo stuff, no leather but it does have XM!

[squirrel]

wife bought a new silverado in 99, with the 4 speed auto and 5.3 and came with 3.73 gears. Unloaded, it almost never downshifted in normal highway driving. But put a trailer behind it, and it goes into 3rd or 2nd often (there are mountains around here). She replaced it with an 08 with 4.3 and 3.42 gears, it downshifts a lot more.

I have no idea what it's like to drive a 6 or 8 speed truck. But I would reserve judgement until I tried it. problem is you can't really test drive one under actual loaded conditions, so unless you have a buddy that buys one, you're taking a crapshoot either way

[Aircooled]

Just because it has 8 gears doesn't mean it will use all of them, or that you can access the gear YOU want to use.
Wife has had 3 SUV's with 5 speed autos and you couldn't manually select 4th gear in any of them. Extremely annoying whenever you put a trailer on any of them. They were constantly hunting back and forth between 4th and 5th.

[Beagle]

transparency in post ... I'm thinking about it being a hotrod gear as much as a trailer puller. The kind of truck I wanted when I was 18 (or 50)... like a a first gen Lightning (351 w/ 4.10's).. hell, even the 454SS had 3.73's

/edit

I guess I'm whining because buying a Fiat to get a bit of muscle in a truck is aggravating me. I'm sure Furd is selling mostly 4 door trucks, but it sure would make me look at finances if they offered the turbo motor with some gear in the short bed regular cab like they do in the 4 door. They offer 4.10's with the 4 doors trucks. I guess they don't want to give the Mustang too much competition.

[1badmonkey]

bet that dodge has a taller tire than the chevy or ford does. other than the extra horses, all the rest is probably pretty much the same

[1badmonkey]

I put a set of wheels on for a guy, truck was a F150 standard cab shortbox 2wd with a 5.4 in it. he had duals and flowmasters put on it. I dig a shortbox hot rod pick up

[Barry Donovan]

It just a physical manifestation of the fact that all-around American terrain/driving needs are best suited by a full-frame, V8 powered, 4-seat or more vehicle.

The government decided decades ago that these were evil to produce in sedan form, and through legislation effectively banned them from production by domestic OEMs.

The OEMs found a way to serve their customer base through the loophole that the legislation had for trucks.

The truck platforms allow the OEMs to build a product that their customers want to buy, and for a price that allows them to be profitable.

Even profitable enough to cover the building of mandated boring non-profitable vehicles that nobody really wants to buy.

This is proof that there is a solid, functionable economy just waiting for government interference to go away - the economic rebound would be stunning IMO.

no doubt.

and for gears, automatics lose almost half of everything you give it. Stay tall.

the new ones just added more gears to take some of the sponge.

the most impressive to date, right out of the box, has been the new diesels, stick shift.. giant hillbilly tires.

by the time a .25 quarter is finished in 13 seconds, it is just getting to third gear.

I hate pussyfoooting. Diesel gets smart.. the gas v8 can get damn close to a strong torque line.

Shave off your wallet for dragster gears, anybody's choice.

Am I the only one with 200+ k miles in rwd v8s?
short gears went the way of the old elephant motor.

[Beagle]

bet that dodge has a taller tire than the chevy or ford does. other than the extra horses, all the rest is probably pretty much the same

Good point, and it does. Not by a lot, though, and still over 10% shorter gearing than Ford or Chevy accounting for tire size.

Overall height according to Tirerack.com
dodge 31.7
chevy 31.1
ford 30.9

[Beagle]

Am I the only one with 200+ k miles in rwd v8s?
short gears went the way of the old elephant motor.

270k on my V8 RWD F250... diesel. haha.
170k on my V8 RWD F150 - still pretty strong

if I wanted economy, I'd be looking at a Prius.

The "automatics lose 50%" thing is a myth of the past. 15-18% is probably closer to realistic for a modern OD / Lockup automatic.