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  #1  
Old 04-08-1999, 02:56 AM
dansatman
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My dad has a 94 Ram 4X4 with a 318 and 4 spd auto. When going into a strong wind and trying to maintain 70 mph the tranny will shift back between 3&4. Anybody have any ideas to stop this on a low budget. Does it need more power? different gears? tranny adjustment? All suggestions are appreciated.
  #2  
Old 04-08-1999, 06:37 AM
Brian Mills
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If the wind is strong enough to blow your truck out of O/D, push the button that locks out O/D. An engine that is lugging will suck gas. You will do better all around by down shifting, you might try slowing down as well. Recognize that if your your truck has a 3.5 axle ratio, final drive is about 2.4 in O/D, 3.5 X .69 O/D ratio. A 4.10 will have a final drive ratio of about 2.9, this may help, smaller tires may also help, a 360 will do much better, its atough call when you have the small engine, and I suspect the lower ratio gears. Building up the 318 won't help much unless you change to 4.10's and rev higher.
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Old 08-19-1999, 02:20 AM
mopower mopower is offline
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I sympathize man! I got a 94' 1500 2x4, 318,auto. Basically its a wuss. keep in mind that ive done everything to ensure that it is at least up to stock specs. it always downshifts on the cruise, so i dont use it and i dont use OD anymore. it made my fuel mileage about 12.9mpg. I think that if the problem could be realated to gearing at all it would be the overdrive gearing. the rear end is fine. think about this: granted a 2 wheel drive weighs in at 5500lbs its putting out 235hp and dont know the tourqe this is with 3.55 gears and just leave the overdrive out of it. now look at an older model(carbreted) were talking 70s. they only had 155hp. the truck im talking about runs 3.23gears and belongs to my little sister. in a drag race she kills me every time. its not even a race. thats with an auto and a woman driver! so whats up with these new ones? I hear they have 10:1 comp, roller cam, they appear to have a decent intake, ive installed a K&N circular aircleaner kit which does away with all the stock plastic junk. it made a difference but not good enough. i hear that going dual or 3" single exaust system is a monster gain. Im tired of trying crap that aint helpin much. Im looking for subsantial gains for low cost. to be precise Im wondering where could there be a major restriciton that could be easily corrected?
S.O.S.----Thanks and any help will be greatly appreciated.
  #4  
Old 08-19-1999, 02:45 AM
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9dodge 9dodge is offline
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My wife drives a 98 ram 2 wheel drive and I used it once to tow my water craft to the river. It was a constant battle with the tranny. It did the 3-4 shift so much it drove me nuts. You couldn't use the cruise at all. I knew it just needed more torque, so that would be a gear change, which I didn't want to do. So what did I do? I found a guy doing some cat back exhaust work and he bolted up this wierd pipe right before my stock muffler. Lo and behold, 19 more horse and 47 ftlbs more torque and 5 miles more per gallon. It also solved my 3-4 shift problem when towing.
  #5  
Old 08-19-1999, 02:55 AM
Brian Mills Brian Mills is offline
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Her truck is much lighter than yours. 318 tourque ratings run 260-280 lbs/ft, you having the higher numbers, horsepower doesn't get a 5000 lb lump moving, tourque does. Still, your truck should not lug in OD. I have a 91 1/2 ton 4x4 with 11/2" lift, 3.5 axle, 31x10.5 rubber, it gets 18 on a canadian gallon, lose 20% for U.S. gallon, its still 14.5. And it's old!
  #6  
Old 08-19-1999, 01:28 PM
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RAM MAN RAM MAN is offline
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You could always swap in a "cat back" exhaust. In a recent magazine shoot out between Borla, Gibson, DynaMax and Jardine - and with no other mods than swapping out your exhaust from the cat back - Jardine offered more horsepower gain than any other, followed by Dynamax, Borla and Gibson.

While you are swapping things out, might as well add a "performance" cat - they are up to 40% more free flowing which should give you more gains.

HOT ROD magazine recently did no more than change 3:00 gears out of a Chevy and swapped in 4:10 and they reported a .57 second speed increase.

Now I know we are talking pulling torque instead of launch speed off the line, but I don't see that gears and new exhaust would hurt your situation.

I have a friend that put a blower on his 'Burban to help pull his big boat, but then again - that's hardly a low buck mod.

Good luck on your project.
  #7  
Old 08-24-1999, 02:20 AM
mopower mopower is offline
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I understand that torque is the major player here. I had no idea that the ratings were so close between the two! to make sure I understand right you say the old one runs 260 and the new one runs 280ftlbs? see i had no idea. I figured that if someone or a manufacturer was to increase hp considerably that they would be smart enough to give it some torque. especially with the greater weight. at any rate torque is my main goal. that is the direction i want to take with this engine if i get rich enough to start adding higher performance in some of the major components instead of cheap small gains. but i will keep going on that because it will matter in the end! speaking of which, how could i get some info on this trick exaust system mod. that is an impressive torque gain. I tow things much heavier than watercraft with this thing so i could use some more. i would LOVE a supercharger! ive already researched and priced and planned for one now i need the cash man! (doesnt everyone?)
  #8  
Old 08-24-1999, 03:41 AM
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9Dodge,Explain again this exhaust modification.I read about it in another post and I'm probably going to buy a used 97-99 Ram 1500 extended cab with the 360 and 3.90 gears and I'll be towing a 5000lb car and trailer combo,so that's my interest for asking.Thanks!!
  #9  
Old 08-24-1999, 06:06 PM
Brian Mills Brian Mills is offline
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Yeah I took a long hard look at the 318 in 92. I bought a brand new reg cab short box 4x4 in the latter part of 91. It was my first new truck since my 83 2wd short box slant six. Any way, after driving a hard bargain with the dealer for about a month, I became the proud owner. The second day I had it home I got a magazine in the mail announcing the all new 318 magnum. Imagine my dealer not telling me that this little gem was on the way. Imagine what it would cost to take a 1 day old truck back and order a new one. Well I looked at it, and I looked at the advertised numbers, 91 throttle body injection; 260 lbs/ft tourque at 2400, 92 magnum 280 lbs/ft at 3200. The 91 actually had more tourque at highway speed due to an earlier peak in the curve. As a side note, if the 91 wasn't such a darn good truck' it would have been gone long ago, but it still is drop dead reliable, solid and tight. I don't know if your 94's just started this lugging, but since they are almost as old as mine I'll tell you about a recent trip I took where my truck drank about 40 US gallons of gas in 250 miles. I was towing a 21 ft. 440 powered jet boat, and I had a load of 4 or 5 old outboard motors, 25 and 40 hp plus a couple of motorcycle engines, and a fairly heavy electric gen set. I was taking them all to donate to a college for students. I expected the economy to drop off a little, but not this much, and I hadn't lost any driveability, I could still cruise at 70, pull out and pass if I needed, but my gas gauge was out of control. Stopped at a dealer and a couple of other shops, finally removed the catalytic converter, it was plugged solid, turffed it and all was back to normal within 200 miles. My advice to you is to start at the cat, and put in a new 02 sensor at the same time. If these performance situations are less than normal operation for your truck, the age tells me the cat is probably filling up. Good Luck.
  #10  
Old 08-25-1999, 12:22 AM
mopower mopower is offline
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i have recently modified the exaust by using a strait thru glass pack muffler(no baffles) and since my 02 sensor is in the right place i hollowed out the cat. i did not replace the 02 sensor but it wouldnt be hard if it would help you think? anyhow, gained some performance, not sure how much but it did help a bit. its noticeable. im getting ready to go get my 28'flatbed to take a load of panels and i will definitley be able to tell that way. i can tell it pulls overdrive better already but being so recent i think that the computer is still learning. heres another item ive heard of is the mopar aftermarket pcm unit. i saw it first in a summit racing magazine. they say it gives 19hp&24ftlbs or something like that. i also have seen advertisments for a hypertech product which you plug in to your diagnostic port, or somewhere, from which you can reprogram certain things to affect your engine while also bieng able to tune your tranny shift points. you can also set it back to stock if you want to. i checked out their web site but it royally sucked! somehthing has gone bad with that, last time i looked anyway. know anything about those products(good or bad)? also could your fuel injectors detiriorate over time or not? have no idea about those things.
  #11  
Old 08-25-1999, 12:27 AM
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9dodge 9dodge is offline
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Ok guys here it is.

The guys name is John Finnell, his number is
(714) 812-4141 or (714) 431-2219
Only talk to John and he tells me he can box up the system and send it to ya for about $200 bucks. The guy is like us too, he drives a 96 Ram with a 360 in it.
  #12  
Old 08-25-1999, 01:36 AM
ncarnes ncarnes is offline
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The hypertech chip as well as any other computer "tuner" for the Rams, won't change shift points or firmness. The A518 tranny as is no different than the other trannys Chrysler has used with the exception that the overdrive and Torque converter lock-up are controlled electrically. The 1-3 upshifts are all controlled by fluid pressure and the only way to increase that is to adjust the kickdown cable....or buy a TransGO shift kit and install it just like you would an older Mopar Muscle car. Good luck on the mods, then can be expensive but they sure are worth it in the long run. I got a supercharger lined up for my Indyram, early power estimates are 500hp at the crank, with only the current mods and a cam change....and bigger exhaust and headers just to be safe.

[This message has been edited by ncarnes (edited August 24, 1999).]
  #13  
Old 08-25-1999, 03:09 AM
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Bigdodgeram Bigdodgeram is offline
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you said you left off your 02 sensor? put it back on the computor needs it for fuel flow. if your tranny hunts between gears you need to take it out of overdrive as this hunting is creating heat and this will cause premature tranny failure. this is true for any gear. than work on the other ideas
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