Posted by Todd Wilson on Friday, April 30, 2004 at 1:57PM :
In Reply to: Re: I'll bet they come close! posted by Marty on Friday, April 30, 2004 at 12:33PM :
The key is to match the gears to the engine and what you are wanting to do with the truck. Determine the power range of the motor and gear it accordingly. You want the engine to stay there when its got to work hard. Engines HP rating is usually at higher RPMS and the torque falls off and usually sharply. Somewhere down the graph theres an area where they cross and thats where this engine should be when working hard. My 95 Ram 360 will lug at 3000rpms when loaded.
Your cummins will work all day long at its power range with no problems. If its a Cummins 600 will will crank out the 600 torque. Your problems come into play when you overload the engine and start lugging it. Thats where bearings take the beating and can end an engines life early. YOu can usually use the gears/transmission to help this situation and get away lugging a little more. Your manual that comes with the trucks clearly state to drop it down to 2nd under hard towing conditions.
You are only gonna get so much out of a small block gas engine. It all has to do with the rod ratio. Pistons,rods and crank. Actually the ratio is better then the other brand engines and thats why the Mopar small blocks have more torque and will also hold up better.
Todd
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