Based on everything I’m reading, it seems I made a mistake in the truck I bought

[Sir Snacksalot]

Just came back from my first real tow with my 2500 Cummins Laramie Megacab. 24' enclosed trailer with car and all my spares, 29' total length. Probably 7-8k total trailer weight with about 1k on the hitch. Towed over the Grapevine here in CA which has a 6% grade for 5.5 miles. Left it in cruise control at 60-65 up and down in 5th. Except for when I had to pass it never downshifted and downhill I never once touched the brakes. ~1800 RPMs. No screaming gas engine going up the hill. Completely stable passing semi trucks.

Go drop your trailer on a go find the steepest hill you can find. It's a beast.

Nice! Used to love the grapevine haha.

Looking forward to first big tow in 2 weeks with my 2500 CTD. 4000 mile round trip!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Moose074]

Is this real life or the Matrix?


That ISB 6.7 punches so far above it's weight class its unreal. Your 1500 5.3 "towing capacity" is a sham. The SAE Davis Dam test they use for those phoney ass numbers is perfect dry weather, no heavy winds, no panic stops with a low profile deck trailer with some pallets of bricks on it. I had the 2016 version of that truck. my 11x33ft measly 7,600lb GVWR travel trailer tossed that truck around like a dog with a chew tow on flat, dry, freeways with no wind and cross traffic.

MPG will improve as the engine breaks in, but MPG and low running costs are not a good metric for why you buy a 850lb/ft modern emissions saddled diesel.

Now that I've repeated everything that everyone else already said, I'll throw the match on this tinder box:

Your payload is BS. The 10k GVWR cap is a fee violation, your GAWR are 6,000/6,040 and all the DOT will care about (other than tire ratings). People will say you'll be sued for everything you own if you wreck over 10k GVWR but can't provide evidence.

Suffice to say, to the ire of the 3500 crowd, there are likely far more 2,300+lb pin weight 5ers being pulled by 2500s than by 3500s every day in this country and they handle it just fine. If you need ridiculous payload to haul crap around, get a low deck trailer or a utility trailer for a few grand and continue to enjoy those coil springs while being able to load stuff lower and haul just as much as the bed of a dually.

Wrong they use a cargo trailer not flat bed.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[UglyViking]

So, you bought a 2500 because it suits current needs, and it will do so very well. I do not feel you planned for future expansion as well.

You will be limited on the 5th wheels because of the pin weight. The 5th wheel sales brochures will understate the pin weight. Plan on a pin weight of 22%, which is average. My 12K toyhauler had my 2013 RAM 2500 diesel within 300 pounds of my 6000 rear axle max. But that was loaded as heavy as it gets with my current trailer. I also loaded most things in the trailer and not in the truck. Like the large cooler filled with beer for a 5 day jaunt.

Knowing I am probably going to buy a larger, heavier 5th wheel I purchased a 2020 RAM 3500 DRW diesel. Now I am now not truck limited to buy a new(er) camper. We are hoping to find a covid camper purchase that the folk find out that RVs are not as leisurely as they thought.

Peruse some RV boards. You will find folks that started with a 1/2 ton truck, and too large of a camper for it. Then went to a 2500, only to then also upgrade to a larger camper. And eventually end up with a 3500. Some with DRW and some SRW. If you buy a large, tall, 5th wheel then you will appreciate the DRW.

So I'd personally never try and talk someone out of having headroom in their truck or anything for that matter, but at some point people are doing it out of fear more than anything I think. I mean why stop at a 3500 DRW? Why not go with a 4500 or 5500? Honestly I think the only reason some of those guys don't go with 4/5500 is because they don't come with a bed and are seen as commercial. I bet there are a handful of guys with Ford 450/550s though towing well under their max weight. Again, this is fine, whatever makes you feel safe and happy is a great direction.

Another thing to consider is that a lot of the guys on RV forums are, well guys on RV forums. I've spent a fair amount of time snooping and I think the vast majority of those guys tend to be very by the book, remember all the manual details, "I've read about how to do this" sort of guys. Again, not picking on them and nothing wrong with them but the guys that get on and stay on RV forums are a bit of a self selecting group. As @Epsilon Plus noted, there are likely far more guys pulling heavy load 5ers with 2500s than 3500s. That said I still sort of want a 3500 DRW, but mostly just because I think they look cool with 37s.

 

[Surf2snow1]

These trucks are made for hills. We go riding at Kennedy/Troy Meadows in the Sierras. Nine Mile Canyon Road was a handful for the old 7.4L suburban. The Cummins makes it a breeze. Here’s the hill:

Climbing Nine Mile Canyon, CA by bike - cycling data and info

The iconic Nine Mile Canyon in the Southeastern Sierras. View route map, streetviews, images, slideshows, videos and more for this cycling route to the top of Nine Mile Canyon, CA, USA. All the info (difficulty, distance, altitude gained, elevation, average grade) you'll need to climb Nine Mile...

pjammcycling.com

And someone’s time lapse:

 

[ckreef]

So I'd personally never try and talk someone out of having headroom in their truck or anything for that matter, but at some point people are doing it out of fear more than anything I think. I mean why stop at a 3500 DRW? Why not go with a 4500 or 5500? Honestly I think the only reason some of those guys don't go with 4/5500 is because they don't come with a bed and are seen as commercial. I bet there are a handful of guys with Ford 450/550s though towing well under their max weight. Again, this is fine, whatever makes you feel safe and happy is a great direction.

Another thing to consider is that a lot of the guys on RV forums are, well guys on RV forums. I've spent a fair amount of time snooping and I think the vast majority of those guys tend to be very by the book, remember all the manual details, "I've read about how to do this" sort of guys. Again, not picking on them and nothing wrong with them but the guys that get on and stay on RV forums are a bit of a self selecting group. As @Epsilon Plus noted, there are likely far more guys pulling heavy load 5ers with 2500s than 3500s. That said I still sort of want a 3500 DRW, but mostly just because I think they look cool with 37s.

Not sure what I think of this post considering I'm a RV forum guy who pulls a GVWR of 1395 5th wheel with a 3500 Hemi 6.4. Considering you are just snooping the RV forums where I actually participate in both this Ram forum and a couple of different RV forums........

 

[UglyViking]

Not sure what I think of this post considering I'm a RV forum guy who pulls a GVWR of 1395 5th wheel with a 3500 Hemi 6.4. Considering you are just snooping the RV forums where I actually participate in both this Ram forum and a couple of different RV forums........

I'm not trying to call anyone out, as I noted in my initial post. You can take it however you want but if you read the comment again you'll see that I'm basically calling out the "by the book" nature of a lot of those guys. If that is you, great, if not, great. If you have spent a lot of time on these RV forums you must understand what I'm getting at.

Outside that, I don't think that you participating in multiple forums gives you any additionally credibility. I don't think that me not participating in the RV forums means I lose credibility. I can be right/wrong regardless of my interactions with a given forum. I guess I'm not much of a plea to authority kind of guy.

 

[PMJohns]

Yeasty, I don’t mean to seem ungrateful, I’m just seeing a lot of people on here talking up the gas engines. I specifically left them for diesel for what I thought was the right smart thing to do. I haven’t towed with it yet. It has 800 miles on it. I love the ride over my other truck hands down, I just wanted some reassurance that I bought the right vehicle. Thanks for your response. It was much appreciated.

If you want to know the difference between gas and diesel, just pull your trailer over the continental divide on I70 just west of Denver. The elevation at the divide is a bit over 11,000 feet. If you are using a diesel, no problem. If you are using gasoline, you will lucky if you can do 35mph. Turbocharged diesels have no problem with elivation. Unless gasoline engines are turbocharged, the power is severely reduced with the thinner air at elevation. I have driven both types of vehicles, with approximately the same 18k GRVW, over the divide, and many other passes for that matter, and I will never go back to gasoline!

When you begin towing, restrict your speed to 50mph for the first 500 miles.

 

[naplesbill]

If you want to know the difference between gas and diesel, just pull your trailer over the continental divide on I70 just west of Denver. The elevation at the divide is a bit over 11,000 feet. If you are using a diesel, no problem. If you are using gasoline, you will lucky if you can do 35mph. Turbocharged diesels have no problem with elivation. Unless gasoline engines are turbocharged, the power is severely reduced with the thinner air at elevation. I have driven both types of vehicles, with approximately the same 18k GRVW, over the divide, and many other passes for that matter, and I will never go back to gasoline!

When you begin towing, restrict your speed to 50mph for the first 500 miles.

This is a great point. Any type of forced induction will mostly overcome the thinner air issue at high elevation. Forced induction engines create their own atmosphere.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Don-T]

If you want to know the difference between gas and diesel, just pull your trailer over the continental divide on I70 just west of Denver. The elevation at the divide is a bit over 11,000 feet. If you are using a diesel, no problem. If you are using gasoline, you will lucky if you can do 35mph. Turbocharged diesels have no problem with elivation. Unless gasoline engines are turbocharged, the power is severely reduced with the thinner air at elevation. I have driven both types of vehicles, with approximately the same 18k GRVW, over the divide, and many other passes for that matter, and I will never go back to gasoline!

When you begin towing, restrict your speed to 50mph for the first 500 miles.

That is the biggest reason I have the Diesel engine. The other reason is the exhaust brake.

 

[g00fy]

This is a great point. Any type of forced induction will mostly overcome the thinner air issue at high elevation. Forced induction engines create their own atmosphere.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

When it comes to towing Forced induction (Diesel or Gas) is the only way to go.

 

[SMK Shoe]

I run a hot shot truck ( 2020 Ram 3500 DRW HO) pulling a 40' gooseneck trailer that weighs 9640lbs. I have put 15k lbs on that trailer and still bounce between 9.8 and 11.8 MPG. depending on how hard I am on the gas pedal. When I pull empty 40' shipping containers I average the mid 6's for MPG ( only 8400 lbs but awful aerodynamics) . I also plan to delete when get close to 100k miles ( soon, already at 62,000 miles)

 

[Brutal_HO]

I run a hot shot truck ( 2020 Ram 3500 DRW HO) pulling a 40' gooseneck trailer that weighs 9640lbs. I have put 15k lbs on that trailer and still bounce between 9.8 and 11.8 MPG. depending on how hard I am on the gas pedal. When I pull empty 40' shipping containers I average the mid 6's for MPG ( only 8400 lbs but awful aerodynamics) . I also plan to delete when get close to 100k miles ( soon, already at 62,000 miles)

That's what my RV towing MPG is like, a 40' shipping containing.

 

[Moose074]

Just finished a 16 day 5k trip overall mpg was 10, towing only mpg average was 9.1 as high as ten lowest per tank was 7.8 very windy day.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Moose074]

If you want to know the difference between gas and diesel, just pull your trailer over the continental divide on I70 just west of Denver. The elevation at the divide is a bit over 11,000 feet. If you are using a diesel, no problem. If you are using gasoline, you will lucky if you can do 35mph. Turbocharged diesels have no problem with elivation. Unless gasoline engines are turbocharged, the power is severely reduced with the thinner air at elevation. I have driven both types of vehicles, with approximately the same 18k GRVW, over the divide, and many other passes for that matter, and I will never go back to gasoline!

When you begin towing, restrict your speed to 50mph for the first 500 miles.

If we all evaluated our truck on something 98% possibly 99% percent of us will do only a few times over our life span. If one lived in the region our was using truck to earn a living then I could see the need. That said the Davis Damn road is no joke and the ability to tow that is where manufacturers get their towing numbers.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[PMJohns]

Just finished a 16 day 5k trip overall mpg was 10, towing only mpg average was 9.1 as high as ten lowest per tank was 7.8 very windy day.View attachment 18687


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

That does not surprise me. Frontal area and trailer sway will have a huge impact on fuel mileage. Fuel mileage also takes a dive around 60 mpg. I can usually get around 12 mpg.

 

[TigerRP]

You all would have been kicked off the Keystone forum. I was arguing like this on the forum and really not this open and got threatened by a moderator with the boot. The 2500 will be fine!

I had a 2008 Ram MegaCab 2500 Bighorn only had 1700 lbs payload. That was ridiculous, 1700 lbs might have squatted that truck by .5 inch. I should have never sold it.

I tow now with a 2020 Longhorn 3500 long bed and it has the SO Cummins and I have a Cedar Creek 38 ft 34IK. It weighs 14,500 lbs. Payload is 4156 lbs.

I had a 2018 Bighorn 3500 short bed w the HO Cummins. The payload was 3665 lbs on that truck. Even though the new truck is a SO, with the 3.73 gears versus 3.42 gears it seems like it has more power than the 2018 HO.

The 2020 is an amazing truck. First high end truck I’ve ever bought and I’m spoiled.

I did some work on comparing Ford and Rams 3500 HD payloads. Ford is obviously changing payload on 3500 truck just because of the tires they pick. Not sure about Ram yet.

I would weigh your truck. My 2020 is a pig. Weighs 9300 lbs with a smaller tool box and a aluminum 46 gallon aux tank and full of fuel and the B&W slider hitch. So just keep track of your tire capacity. You can move up to 295/70 18’s and get 4080 lbs per tire.

 

[Brutal_HO]

You all would have been kicked off the Keystone forum. I was arguing like this on the forum and really not this open and got threatened by a moderator with the boot. The 2500 will be fine!

I had a 2008 Ram MegaCab 2500 Bighorn only had 1700 lbs payload. That was ridiculous, 1700 lbs might have squatted that truck by .5 inch. I should have never sold it.

I tow now with a 2020 Longhorn 3500 long bed and it has the SO Cummins and I have a Cedar Creek 38 ft 34IK. It weighs 14,500 lbs. Payload is 4156 lbs.

I had a 2018 Bighorn 3500 short bed w the HO Cummins. The payload was 3665 lbs on that truck. Even though the new truck is a SO, with the 3.73 gears versus 3.42 gears it seems like it has more power than the 2018 HO.

The 2020 is an amazing truck. First high end truck I’ve ever bought and I’m spoiled.

I did some work on comparing Ford and Rams 3500 HD payloads. Ford is obviously changing payload on 3500 truck just because of the tires they pick. Not sure about Ram yet.

I would weigh your truck. My 2020 is a pig. Weighs 9300 lbs with a smaller tool box and a aluminum 46 gallon aux tank and full of fuel and the B&W slider hitch. So just keep track of your tire capacity. You can move up to 295/70 18’s and get 4080 lbs per tire.

Ford just got busted in a Class Action for overstating payload, then doing a recall to change the door tags to a lower payload. Needless to say owners, particularly commercial operators are pretty pissed.

 

[UglyViking]

Ford just got busted in a Class Action for overstating payload, then doing a recall to change the door tags to a lower payload. Needless to say owners, particularly commercial operators are pretty pissed.

Seems like that should be illegal. They should have been forced to upgrade each truck to meet the stated payload.