Sorry guys, I guess that was overkill...

From : ms networking dude

Q: if youve got a 3.551 axle youre lugging the hell out of your truck. trust me i know where youre at - i got a 99 1500 2wd on 265s 225 stock. i get better fuel economy in 4th gear than 5th if im under 70 mph average. it sure drives better on the bigger rubber tho. in my case i should regear the truck and tuck some decent springs under it too its killing my back... your choices are a replace the ring and pinion gears in your axle for a ratio more in tune for the rubber you want to swing... with that much rubber id personally go with 4.10s for sure im assuming a 318 or 360... aproximately 10% less stress on the transmission/gearbox/engine as 3.92 and 20% than 3.55 correct me if my math is off i calculated this a few years ago... i was quoted about $650 for one axle rear axle parts and labor. actual parts cost appears to be about $300/axle to do the job right its a 99 you definetly want to go ahead and replace the bearings chrysler has a reputation for using junk this is also the moment you consider the addition of limited slip and/or air/electric lockers ; b cruise with od off. this most likely will do nothing for your fuel economy but it will take the stress off your engine and torque converter nothing for your transmission and gearbox tho c downsize the rubber. prolly the cheapest solution but imho sub-optimal because your truck is somewhat gimped with 3.55 axles even with smaller tires... js davenport wrote a few months ago i put 285 tires in place of the 265s on my 99 ram 1500 4x4. since then the gas mileage has gotten about 2 mpg worse i corrected for the difference in diameter and just today the trans temp light came while i was driving level road no additional loads. the transmission has never overheated before. ive had no check engine events. anybody else had a similar problem thanks. .