Towing with new 6.4L

[BGaero]

BGaero, just the stock 3.73 axle. Gotta love the torque of the Hemi.

By the way, I just read an article that Ram updated ECU program to keep the engine in ECO more often. I do notice the 6.4 does stay in ECO around town more than my 2019 5.7 1500 did.

I currently have a 3500 Cummins and have decided to get a 6.4 in addition for personal and work when I need it. Not a lot of options out there for 4.10 but I think the 3.73 will do just fine. Thanks !

 

[cmac7203]

New member here. Week old 2019 2500 4x4 Big Horn with the 6.4L and 3.73 gear ratio. Took it out this morning to start the "break-in" towing. Made a loop of 103 miles. From computer, 10.4 mpg avg. This was combination of level and hilly areas , and two lane/interstate. About half in tow/haul mode and half in D just to see the difference. In D pulled level at 50 mph in 7th gear, shifting down to 6th and 5th to negotiate the hills. In tow/haul mode didn't come out of 6th gear except on hills. Bumper pull TT with 12000 lb Equalizer hitch. Gross weight rating for trailer is 8995, dry 6932. Running with all of our gear loaded except food and clothes. Probably in the above 8000 range. Tongue weight close to 1K. Really satisfied with the performance, coming from towing this same rig with wife's '19 1500 Laramie. No sway or feeling the large trucks passing on the interstate

I just ordered my almost the same thing...just a 4.10 vs 3.73. What is the height of the receiver? I, too, bumper pull a 9K trailer with 12000 Equalizer.

 

[BillnLA]

I just ordered my almost the same thing...just a 4.10 vs 3.73. What is the height of the receiver? I, too, bumper pull a 9K trailer with 12000 Equalizer.

Answered In your other post should be around 24" to top of receiver . I tow a 2019 Rockwood Ultra Lite.

 

[davis2]

Just completed a the longest tow so far, only 185 miles of mixed terrain interstate driving. Traveling from eastern to western part of New York to the Finger Lake region. Averaged 10.3 mpg on the 6.4L Hemi and with TOW/HAUL selected. The only problem I had was after setting up 5th wheeler my truck lost the camera system. On boot up it said camera system not available. Poked around and opened the fuse box and push down on the fused to make sure they were seated correctly. The problem has disappeared so far, will have the dealer check when I get home from camping. Anybody interested the Fuse is #95 for the camera system.
PS. Truck total mileage is 3400 miles.

Hi Jim, was that on I90?

 

[RiverRunner16]

Just replaced my 06 Cummins DRW 2WD with a 2019 3500 6.4 4X4, can't believe how nice it rides empty.
I know I will miss the 5.9, mainly upgraded for 4X4 and just a newer truck.
Can't wait for spring to load the camper and see how it hauls my boat/atv tariler.

 

[tnord]

Has anyone had the chance to tow with the new 2019 gasser? I am looking at upgrading to a 2500 soon to tow a TT. The trailer we are looking at has a GVWR of 10500lbs. I was wondering how the previous gassers handled that much weight, and how much better the new 19s would be with the 8 speed trans. Would I be hurting myself taking the discounts on an 18? What are your thoughts???

I have read all the pages and want to know city/hwy mileage you get with the 6.4l and 4.10 gears with the 2019 and 8 speed. Thanks

 

[SethTN]

I have read all the pages and want to know city/hwy mileage you get with the 6.4l and 4.10 gears with the 2019 and 8 speed. Thanks

I have 3.73 gears so I would not have a good perspective in this case

 

[ChemTrails]

I have read all the pages and want to know city/hwy mileage you get with the 6.4l and 4.10 gears with the 2019 and 8 speed. Thanks

1400 miles on 6.4L 4.10/8 speed. Early flat-Florida numbers around 10mpg in the city and 15mph on the highway at 70-75. I think 17/18 is possible at 60-65.

 

[g33k247]

I have read all the pages and want to know city/hwy mileage you get with the 6.4l and 4.10 gears with the 2019 and 8 speed. Thanks

Unloaded:
I have about 7,000 miles on my rig with a 6.4L 4.10/8 speed. My current mpg is at 13.2 after many short trips driving on a combination of city and country roads. I live in Michigan, so that number is also affected by extended warm up idling. Last summer on some longer trips I was able to achieve almost 18 mpg driving 55-65 mph.

Towing:
I've dropped down to as low as 9 mpg on the freeway going close to 70+ mph with varying terrain and wind conditions. Two lane highway going 55-60 will be closer to 11 mpg. That's towing a 7403 GVWR toy hauler travel trailer including fire wood, fuel, water, generator, two quads and all the provisions and gear for a 10 day camping trip.

 

[Bob_ag]

Did my first tow with the new 2500 since I'm at 900 miles and want to get some test runs in before camping season. The truck is a 2019 Ram 2500 Tradesman 6.4 4x4 with the 3.73 rear end. The camper is a 2016 Heartland North Trail 24BHS, GVWR 6900 lbs. Obviously this camper is not going to push this truck to its limits, but I wanted to contrast it to my 14 F150 5.0 V8.

I did nothing but back country roads with a max speed of 55 mph. I didn't even bother setting up the WDH for this run. Trailer brakes were super easy and it was almost the right gain right out of the gate. Kept tow/haul on and used the gear limiter so I could see which gears I was in. First, wow, the way they have this transmission programmed is perfect. It holds the gears perfectly for acceleration. My old truck always wanted to upshift way out of the power band so when I hit the next gear, I was lugging until I got back into the right RPMs. This Ram shifts so effortlessly. No major grades but a few rolling hills where I would downshift from 7 to 6 and was silky smooth.

As for power, I obviously wasn't pushing it, but there was clearly plenty in reserve. This camper will probably be close to its GVWR when loaded up and I will have two kids, wife, dog, and plenty of camping gear in the bed and I don't see this truck breaking a sweat. Its good to know since we will go quite a bit bigger with the next travel trailer.

The only slight negative I would say is I was surprised the ride didn't smooth out a little more with a load. However, that could simply be due to the hitch setup and maybe being slightly nose high on the trailer. I had the firestones at 65 psi all the way around, wonder if I could go a little lower?

Anyways, just thought I'd share and as for the OP, I don't think you will have any worries with a camper around the 10k GVWR. Very, very satisfied with how this truck pulled and will have no qualms getting a bigger camper in the future.

 

[RiverRunner16]

Bob_ag...thank you for the report.

 

[RiverRunner16]

Pulled our horse trailer today, pulled it great, transmission seemed to know exactly what to do.
Not far enough to get any MPG calculations (computer went from 9 to 20).
Had to lower the goose neck about 2" to make trailer sit level...we pull it with a 97 F250 sometimes.
The chain hookups that go in the pucks are pretty big, so had to buy a clevis to put in those so the trailer chain hooks would attach.

 

[Kimo7]

I just bought a 2019 2500 Laramie with the 6.4 because it was MUCH cheaper than the Cummins. I had a lot of engine problems with my 2017 Limited 2500 diesel. The crank seal was leaking and had to be replaced twice before 30k miles. FCA customer service was excellent helping me get it resolved but I no longer had confidence in reliability so I got rid of it. I opted for the 6.4 gas engine with a 3:73 rear end in the 2019. The Cummins was a beast and towed our 6500 lb travel trailer effortlessly but I just never bonded with that truck.

We recently traded our travel trailer so I had a chance to see how the new truck performed towing. I towed the old 6500 lb trailer about 150 miles to trade it in, most of the trip was on I-95 at whatever the posted speed limit was. I got a little over 9 mpg going down. The new trailer is 9100 lbs dry and we repeated the exact same route on the journey home. A lot of the time the truck did operate at higher RPMs than I felt comfortable with but the systems were within temperature and pressure ranges. I had to remind myself I was towing nearly 3 tons so it makes sense it would rev a little higher, even on flat level ground. I got a solid 8.8 mpg going home. The figures were from the truck EVIC system. By contrast the Cummins diesel only got in the 9 mpg range too while towing. It would also burn a lot of DEF fluid dependent on engine load.

The new truck did great handling and was very stable with 1130 lb tongue weight on the bumper. The 6.4 Hemi has the power to move the trailer and is super responsive. The diesel was slow to spool up, no quick moves with that one but it definitely was unstoppable once it did get going. The 6.4 HD seemed like the best all around choice this time for what I wanted, daily driver, HD capable and can tow over 10,000 lbs, 10-12 times a year. Most trips are less than 400 miles.

As a daily driver and I’m getting around 12 mpg in the stop and go driving traffic of Northern VA. The 6.4 is quick and powerful, I’m very happy with it so far. I’m hopeful it hits the sweet spot balance of reliable daily driver that is HD capable. I very much prefer this truck over the diesel because of the Hemi.

I would strongly recommend going with the 2019. Newer model means newer technology and improved safety.

 

[Mark 47ak]

Has anyone had the chance to tow with the new 2019 gasser? I am looking at upgrading to a 2500 soon to tow a TT. The trailer we are looking at has a GVWR of 10500lbs. I was wondering how the previous gassers handled that much weight, and how much better the new 19s would be with the 8 speed trans. Would I be hurting myself taking the discounts on an 18? What are your thoughts???

I can share towing info on 2018 ram tradesman crew cab 6.4 hemi 2wd positracl 410 gears pick package. I had to order . The 2w drive cuts truck weight by 800 pounds with 410 gears moves tow to 15600 . I tow a loaded open range 310rls weight is right at 10k loaded. Mpg towing 9 not towing 17. I tow at 65mph hills or head winds go to 8 mpg. I use goose neck saves weight and trick bed space.

 

[Plum Cra Zy]

Yes. I went 3509 DRW.

Hey, what is a 3509? Is that some model I haven't heard about yet?

 

[CraigA]

Has anyone had the chance to tow with the new 2019 gasser? I am looking at upgrading to a 2500 soon to tow a TT. The trailer we are looking at has a GVWR of 10500lbs. I was wondering how the previous gassers handled that much weight, and how much better the new 19s would be with the 8 speed trans. Would I be hurting myself taking the discounts on an 18? What are your thoughts???

Wondering what you decided to go with and how it is performing. I am supposed to purchase a 2019 Ram 2500 Laramie 4x4 with 3.73 axle ratio and am on the fence because my current 2014 has a 4.10 axle ratio and is 6 speed.

 

[Plum Cra Zy]

Pass everything but a gas station towing. I drove a 19 not having never tried an older one and was most impressed!

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

3.73 and 8 speed ZF is a great combo for me. Good around town and highway, good towing.

I have 10,000 miles on my truck and my trailering page shows about 2,000 miles of that has been towing...So 80%/20% driving / towing.

 

[Vapor567]

Have a '19 2500 6.4 4x4. Just towed my travel trailer 700 miles round trip. Driving in hilly terrain south got 9 mpg at 68-70 mph. Coming home with wind and mostly up the hills around 8.2. My camper is 29' loaded about 7000 lbs. Very happy with the truck and the 8 speed. When a large hill approaches I can just tap the gas a little more to make it shift down usually to 7 or 6th gear and it will run about 65-67 mph running up at 2500 rpms. I don't like cruise control bc I find while towing it runs to 3k rpms a lot going up hills and I get worst mileage overall. Also, I installed Timbrens for this trip and really like them. I found before these under load my truck had a bouncy feeling I didn't care for. Now when loaded it feels like I'm driving a HD truck but no bounce at all. Takes about 45 mins to install them.

 

[Firebird]

I tow a travel trailer, 34.5 feet total length, roughly 9000 pounds loaded, and couldn't be happier with the 6.4!