I was thinking the same thing but I've read others on here that kept their 5.13 gears and they are doing fine. I mean your MPGs may drop alittle but not by much. I will be also adding some Coast 1350 driveshafts to handle the extra TQ that this bad puppy will be putting out. Eventually I'll be upgrading my front and rear axles to Dana 60 by next summer. This addiction of mines is becoming EXPENSIVE...lol!!! I've got to spread out my high or the wife will be eventually kill me.

 

Sounds like you are going about it the right way. I may leave the 5:13's in after the install and drive it for awhile and see how it is. I have Coast 1310 driveshafts already so I am going to run them. I'll see if they hold up to the torque. Not adding up the bills any more, hopefully this will do it for the time being.

 

Interested to hear about gearing results. I'm debating going from 4:10s to 5:13s as well. Hemi gives plenty of power to overcome gearing, but always interested in optomizing performance. Keep us posted!

 

Dude that's alot of money to drop.....tell you what...I'll give you 1200 for it, your wife might be happier with you.....you won't have to go through all that trouble of changing an engine, etc... Just let me know, I'll bring my trailer tomorrow.

 

I looked at all the conversion kits and ultimately went with the AEV kit. We had a few issues because mine is a 6.1 and they really designed it for a 5.7, but overall we were very pleased with everything.

 

The dodge Ram comes with 3:50 or 3:73 gears but of course the tires are 31's or 32's. The 5.7 produces more torque at 1200 rpm than the 3.8 does at peak. That is the reason I was thinking 4:10 for 35's.

 

I think you're on to something. My avalanche had 4:10's. If I didn't get the pulling package it would of had the 3:73's.

 

I think the 5.13s will work out fine, especially with rockcrawling. My MPGs may take alittle dive but some times in life there are trade offs. I plan on going to Dana 60s next summer so I don't want to invest in the axles anymore than I already have.

 

I am running 4.10s and have no issues on 35's. I would be worried about the shafts and possible the Dana 44 but, what size tires will you ultimately run?

I am all set if I want to bump up to 37's

 

I am creeping up on 30k miles with the 6.1, and still run the stock drive shafts. However, I am not lifted, run stock gearing and tires, and do not rock crawl. Most stuff I run does not even require 4-lo.

I do hammer it on the (back) roads fairly often, and am impressed with just how tough the stock drive train has been. I really did not expect the stock shafts/transfer case to last this long.

I imagine if you increase the pinion angle with a lift, add big tires, and start climbing over stuff replacing the driveshafts would be a good idea even with the 3.8, much less a hemi.

If I ever go 35" tires I think I would prefer 5:13's with an auto.