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MarkCO1's 2022 2500 Big Horn

Well, I have done the "easy" stuff. Now it gets a little harder.

I am going to try and find an appropriate stubbed/blank 12V wire in the rear to connect my bed lights. I bought a "kit" with LEDs that look like factory, but are brighter. Also fog lights, LED light bar (behind front lower grill) and two 12V outlets (one in the cab and one in the bed). Trying to decide how to wire those all up w.r.t. the factory Aux panel and wiring harness kit I bought (Mopar Kit for my truck). I think I will wait on the Aux panel until I have plenty of time and T-Shirt and Shorts temps. :) Once that Aux panel is in, the rest should be pretty straight forward.

The rear bed rack for a 5 gallon fuel can, TStak boxes and such is just waiting on delivery of the TStak base mounts to arrive.
 
Ditto on rough country wheel liners. Liners showed up on porch with zip ties attached not in a box...not a big deal. Installed the back, was not a 30 min install as advertised, was a rough install and the not all the pre drilled holes in the liner would not accept the push pins supplied, had to drill out to make bigger. Do it on a warm day, the liner is pretty stiff. Removed the stock half liner to make it fit, Instructions were generic to a truck, not the Ram. Went back to the RC site and noted that all the reviews were 5 star????, even when the review stated a POOR product? It does look better all black in the wheel well. They were $100, I should have included the stock liners when I ordered my RAM. If doing again I would have bought a better liner, yes it would have cost more, but in the long run it would have been a better choice for me.
 
This past week, took the 2500 on it's first road trip. 1955 miles. We towed the 6200# dry (about 7400# loaded) trailer to Phoenix and back. Had some rain, sleet, blizzard, slow crawl past accidents, hills and passes. Averaged 10.1 mpg with a trip average speed of 56mph. That includes the around town. There were times I held it at 75 mph, even used the cruise control a few times. I was very impressed with the handling and power. Wife liked that it was quieter than the old 1500 with the 5.7L. Same trip last year, we got about 8.5 mpg with that at a slower speed.

When I held the 2500 at 60 mph, I was getting 12 mpg.

Fed the HS baseball team lunch and dinner for the week and photographed the Varsity games. Got home yesterday at noon and made it to the range by 1pm to coach the Trap team. :) Baseball is 4-0 on the season outscoring opponents 40-6 so far. One of the IG photos from the week.

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How did you fasten the plywood to the bed? I see in the YouTube video you have thumb screws, what do they screw into? Great idea BTW. Thanks
 
How did you fasten the plywood to the bed? I see in the YouTube video you have thumb screws, what do they screw into? Great idea BTW. Thanks

The thumb screws (plastic wing nuts) go on a 1/4x20 bolt. I drilled 4 holes in the bed. Washer and bolt on the underside and then, in the bed, a nylon lock washer. The whole deck can be removed by taking off the plastic wing nuts and lifting off the studs. The milk crate uses the same set up, but the bolt head is only through the plywood. Same with the MTM tote that holds the 4 bins in the middle.

Bolt with plastic wing nut on the left. Nylon lock nut. The black bolts are also 1/4x20, Allen head, those were used for the MTM. Placed so that they are in the valleys in the bed.

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Gave it a light wash and did my first Oil Change on it since getting it (4500 miles). I really like the "integral funnel" under the oil filter. :) Measured the oil out as near as I could, 6.9 quarts. Put 7 back in and it read just a tick above the cross hatch.

Saw the notice for the ESC recall that does apply to mine. Got on the Ram Owner page and requested to be notified when the "parts" are available. But since it is only a software update, I am assuming Ram has not pushed out the new code to the dealers yet.
 
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Just got back from a month long, about 3500 miles, trip towing the trailer. Had it in Tow/Haul mode. At 2500 miles, the change oil warning came on. Of course, I changed the oil, but I did leave the Tow/Haul off the rest of the trip. Got better mileage and the use clock went at half speed. Hmm...
 
Just got back from a month long, about 3500 miles, trip towing the trailer. Had it in Tow/Haul mode. At 2500 miles, the change oil warning came on. Of course, I changed the oil, but I did leave the Tow/Haul off the rest of the trip. Got better mileage and the use clock went at half speed. Hmm...
Depends on how heavy you're towing, if pretty heavy the early oil change isn't a bad idea, if moderate then I'd go with a normal interval or slightly shorter. If you don't like the warning light you can always just reset it, I go by miles anyway, not the dash indicator.
 
Depends on how heavy you're towing, if pretty heavy the early oil change isn't a bad idea, if moderate then I'd go with a normal interval or slightly shorter. If you don't like the warning light you can always just reset it, I go by miles anyway, not the dash indicator.
Only a about 7300 pounds, rarely over 65, mostly at 55 to 60 mph and in 7th gear. I don't care much about the message that pops up. It was one cycle, change soon, then next was "required". It just surprised me that is was so soon. I was guessing 4K. I'm going to drive the same, but without Tow/Haul engaged and see how long it takes. I am guessing that the algorithm ticks faster in Tow/Haul mode regardless of the actual duty cycle.
 
So, I towed the trailer with the truck again last week, but did not use Tow/Haul. Mileage was about the same, if not a tad better, but the Oil Life gauge is definitely falling at a much reduced rate. Guess I don't trust their algorithm.
 
I tow about the same load, about 8,000 lbs, not long distance, between 40 and 100 mile trips. I notice pretty quickly if I didn't put it in tow-haul. Personally with a 6.4 I think it's better for the engine/tranny to tow using tow/haul. Interesting fact about the oil monitor though, I wouldn't have realized the rate changes that much in tow/haul. But like I said, I go by miles anyway, pay no attention to the monitor.

Love what you've done with your truck!
 
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