Ram 2500 Tow Tractor

[dropaduece]

Dear Fellow Members,

I have recently purchased a 1990 Dodge Ram 2500 tow tractor from auction. As I am sure many of you know the rear ends in those trucks are geared really low for heavy duty pulling. I like the truck and it has a great powerplant and would like to make it more streetable. Can I just change the gears in the rear end or am I better off buying another rear. Any advice or suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

Seth

 

[Stretch44875]

Tow tractors I have seen have planetary drive rear ends. No high speed there. If that is the case, axle swap is best bet.

 

[KsM715]

 

[my69camaro]

It's a dana 70, you can just change gears.. But the short wheel base tugs weren't intended for high speed driving.

 

[transman]

You should have a dana 70 with 7.17 ratio gears. depending on bill of material # for your axle you can gear up to 4.10 or 4.56 without changing the carrier. anything tall will require a carrier change. I streched the frame on mine to accept a 6 foot stock box and it works great .

 

[Stretch44875]

See, I was wrong! Must just be just the chevy's I saw with the other axles. Wow, 7.17 is really slow...

 

[Westech]

top speed around 35 mph... well it would be like driving that deuae.. man who was that guy.. his deuce lost high range and he still drove it like 450 miles at 23 mph....

 

[Stretch44875]

See, I was wrong! Must just be just the chevy's I saw with the other axles. Wow, 7.17 is really slow...

 

[70deuce]

I don't know about a Dodge tow tractor but look what at steelandcanvas' Dodge 3500 dually can tow. An 18,000 lb M971 command trailer!!