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Magnum 5.9 feeling weak

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  • Magnum 5.9 feeling weak

    My Magnum 360 in my '95 3/4 ton 4x4 5 speed seems pretty gutless. The truck has 3.50's and sits on 305/70's and runs like... well, a dodge. Perfectly. Is this normal? I know i can spend money and make it go faster but i just was wondering if this is typical of these trucks. It seems to be pretty torquey, and its gets out of its own way to be sure, but i guess i just expected more... and thoughts from those of you with experience with these 'new-fangled' efi magnum motors?

  • #2
    The gears are what is killing it. I had a 2000 Ram 1500 that had the 5.9 and 3.55 gears. I could do 50 in first!?!!! before it would shift, and that wasnt even at red line. I put 33's on it and it was even worse. Yes you can add bolt on goodies and make it considerably better (the Hypertech programmer I put on mine gave me as much power as the Flowmaster cat-back and K&N FIPK) but it was still a big doggy when loaded up. I could pull a 25' 5th wheel down the freeway at 75, but not in overdrive, just too tall of gearing. A re-gear to something like 4.10 would give you a night and day difference not only in power, but increased fuel economy. Extreme 4x4 did a similar exercise with a '96 I believe it was. Just a re-gear brought him up from 8MPG to over 12MPG with no changes in driving style.

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    • #3
      Yes the 55 mph 2nd (manual tranny, don't bother with first on pavement unloaded) is a bit ridiculous. Good to know! I plan on 7" of long arm goodness and 37-38's later on so 4.56's are probably in order. In the mean time, my clutch went out today, nice and peacefully, R.I.P. so I have something to do this weekend.

      You pulled a 25' fifth wheel with a half ton?!?

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      • #4
        Yep. It toted it quite well as long as I remembered to leave OD off. Somewhere on the net there is a gearing chart which will help you determine what gearset you will want to run to put your rpm/speed into an acceptable range. For my YJ on 35's I am going 4.56's because it was oh so much fun with 31's on 4.10's with the 318 I put into it.

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        • #5
          A 318 in a yj sounds like fun. I passed through Boise bout a month and a half ago. Nice place, plenty of space to play. I am sure i will re-gear in the future, if i keep the truck. Thanks for the advice.

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          • #6
            just an update if anyone cares. Pulled the tranny this weekend, bellhousing came off in two pieces, and the flywheel has about 40 heat/stress cracks, so its still apart while i locate a bellhousing and figure out if the BH can be resurfaced or if it needs to be replaced.

            anyone near shreveport have a bellhousing they wanna get rid of?

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