I just got my 2500 Big Horn 6.4 Hemi and took it on a little 600 mile round trip to break it in before I tow. Half of that trip is over some hills and mountain passes and the rest was on the flat plains. I hand calculated about 13 mpg averaging about 75 mph. Not too bad I guess with the 4.10 and maybe that will bump up 1 or 2 over time and with a tonneau cover. For a big truck, I thought it rode pretty smooth too. Most of the trip, the temperature outside was in the 90's and the AC worked great. A couple things I noticed was the truck seems really loud at startup (like it idles a little higher and seemed to make a little chirping sound), but then I didn't notice it all of the time so maybe it was just when I would first start it up. I also heard a loud clank a couple of times right when it started up. Then at times it also felt a little weird, especially starting out at lower speeds, Almost like a slight vibration or something in the pedal. I don't know, I just never drove one of these before so might take some getting used to on what is normal and what is not. I'll have to pay more attention to pinpoint stuff down, but just wanted to post that I had a good ride overall for the first trip and no problems! Love the truck!
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Good ride on the maiden voyage of the new rig
- Thread starter dm6
- Start date
It sure goes up those mountains effortlessly. I can barely tell when it up shifts too. I am excited to go back up those mountains again next week with our little trailer. That thing is so small, I'll bet I won't even know it's back there, although the old truck struggled a bit on those hills sometimes.
Mustangmike66
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We just have a pop up now that weighs about 2500 pounds, but plan to get a regular trailer in the next year or two. I really want to keep it under 30 feet because we like going to smaller campgrounds so I think something around 25 feet would be nice. When looking at the specs, it sounds like some of those trailers in that range can have tongue weights of near 1,000 pounds once you fill the water tanks and add the WDH. When I saw that, and saw that many 1500's have a payload capacity around 1600 lbs or so, I realized that with 4 people in the truck and the tongue weight of the trailer, it would be over payload with just that and no cargo. So I went for the 2500 and it's nearly 3,000 pound payload. It is probably an overkill, but better to have too much truck than not enough. Now, if this were going to be a daily driver, I may have reconsidered because gas mileage may be more important than. But I won't be driving it that much so I don't mind. Sorry for the long winded answer
I keep thinking "what if plans change and we end up not getting a trailer" or it gets put off longer? Then I am pulling this tiny trailer with this big ass truck! But I actually saw a big diesel 2500 Silverado in the campground last time with one of those teardrop trailers and I didn't feel so ridiculous!
Mustangmike66
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I’m trying to decide if I should trade in my 2019 Rebel that they’re offering $3K more than what I paid for it. I don’t have a trailer yet but plan on getting a trailer in the 25 ft to 27 ft range no more than 8K lbs. I just don’t like the truck premiums right now. But I am in Alaska for another year until I retire.
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If you won't need the truck for the next 8-12 months it would be a great time to trade it in. Hopefully the supply chain will smooth out in a year or so.
SOKY_Ram
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I get the chirping noise on mine upon startup as well. Currently around 400 miles.
Pulled that trailer this weekend and as expected, didn't even notice it! Even on this little trailer, it really shows me the difference that a heavier, longer wheel base truck makes. I definitely felt this trailer going up the mountains with my old Tahoe and sometimes it would start to sway a little and make the whole truck shake a little, especially if I got a little over 70 mph. I can just feel how much more stable it is with a big truck. I guess the only slight annoyance is that chirping sound which I just read on here and apparently is "normal". Kind of sucks and is a little embarrassing but at least it goes away when it warms up. The exhaust is a little louder too than I thought it would be, but I guess it is a big engine so that makes sense. Maybe that vibration feeling I mentioned is the MDS after reading on here. I didn't think it was because it did it even when the ECO light was off, but when I enabled the gear limiters, it felt different.
RAM_Dad
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I was walking my dog and my neighbor pulled out of his driveway in his 2500 with the hem, could immediately hear the exhaust chirping sound. He came back about 19 minutes later, no chirp.
FCA baffles me about some of the dumb, probably easy to fix things that pass their “this is fine” test.
That being said, I still ordered a truck with the Hemi because it doesn’t bother me enough to miss out on the other awesome features about the truck.
FCA baffles me about some of the dumb, probably easy to fix things that pass their “this is fine” test.
That being said, I still ordered a truck with the Hemi because it doesn’t bother me enough to miss out on the other awesome features about the truck.
Firebird
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I honestly don't understand this chirp folks report. I've never heard my Hemi chirp, what exactly causes it?
RAM_Dad
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Nope, sounds like an exhaust leak. Probably where the exhaust flanges up to the headers. After the exhaust heats up, goes away.
Could also be the exhaust and header not fitting together perfectly and the vibration causing a “squeaking” sound. When the metal heats up and expands, the sound goes away.
Hard to tell in a recording, but much more obvious in person.
Different "chirp" than the Cummins.
Mine sounds like a chipmunk is caught on the serpentine belt.
Sounds like you have the in-famous Hemi tick. Dodge has had a lot of problems
with exhaust manifolds warping and breaking exhaust studs. Had it happen on
my 2009 5.7. Had to take the exhaust manifolds off, mill them and replace multiple
studs on both sides of the engine.
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Squatch
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Has anyone tried pulling their front wheel liners to locate the exact source of the exhaust tick? I’m getting close, but I have a pretty lazy level of inertia when it comes to this stuff. It is definitely higher up than my cats, but I don’t think this is at the block either, at least on mine it seems to be right where all the tubes collect at that overly complicated joint they’ve made with the heat shield.