6.4 hauling the 5’ver Tow Report

[Grateful Dad]

Took the first decent road trip (700+ miles round trip) hauling the 5’ver so I figured I’d share my findings and overall impressions. Truck specs: 2021 2500 CCSB, 6.4 w/3:73’s rolling on stock wheels/tires. 5’ver is a 2022 GD Reflection 150 Series 278BH. Ran across a scale on the trip home:
gcw 17,580 lbs
Steer 4,240 lbs
Drive 5,060 lbs
Trailer axles 8,280 lbs
So the bad, no surprise here but the fuel consumption was abysmal however, I drove how I wanted and what traffic allowed(maintaining the speed limit or slightly above) just to see how bad it would be. I had 3 tanks that were pure towing, those calculated to be 7.8 mpg, 6.9 mpg, and 7.5 mpg, sure do miss the solid 11 mpg the ole CTD would churn out! The Hemi works pulling this load on the Hwy but to be fair, she’d run just as fast as I was willing to go and sounded good doing it. On the flats, she’d hum along in 7th but any hills and it was 2500-3,000 rpm in 6th, and for some long stretches she stayed in 6th (wind was hellacious) but she didn’t mind one bit, temps stayed ROCK SOLID the whole trip. Trans stayed at 167, coolant 210 and oil was 226. As stated above it was really windy on the way home, having the stability of a 5th wheel really shined and I’m happy to report I don’t need airbags with this set up. I’m sure I’m forgetting half the stuff I wanted to share, I’ll circle back if I remember. Anyhow, if you have any questions, fire away.

 

[Jsboening]

Great to hear these reports. I feel more confident of the 6.4 I ordered. Thanks for you efforts.

 

[Grateful Dad]

Trip details for context: We started out from the Atlanta area making our way down thru Alabama to the Florida panhandle. Out of Atlanta it was I85 to Montgomery then I65 until we hopped off around Georgiana/Greenville to cut due south heading thru Andalusia towards Crestview……. It’s a relatively flat trip but plenty of rolling hills and whatnot. This route is interstate highway or 4 lane for 90% with a short distance of 2 lane Hwy and county roads. Having said that, speed limit for most of the route is 65-70 with some of the 2 lane @ 55.

As I said before, the Hemi has to work a bit but she don’t struggle at all. Just wanted to clarify the route and terrain as a trip thru the mountains would be a bit different.

 

[Jacob]

7 mpg sounds reasonable pulling a 5th wheel

 

[Bricknhank]

Great to hear these reports. I feel more confident of the 6.4 I ordered. Thanks for you efforts.

I feel the same way with the 6.4 2500 that I ordered. I specked out the 4.10 though.

 

[Grateful Dad]

I feel the same way with the 6.4 2500 that I ordered. I specked out the 4.10 though.

Seeing that fuel economy with the 6.4 is a moot point, especially towing, I’d definitely prefer the 4.10’s.

 

[Jsboening]

I feel the same way with the 6.4 2500 that I ordered. I specked out the 4.10 though.

Same with mine. I ordered with the megacab and figured it would need all the help it could get. 3.73’s seem plenty capable though. Great to hear.

 

[Jsboening]

Sincere thanks for posting this. We hear all about towing with the ctd, but not much on the hemi. I’ll be going from a 1500 cc 5.7 with 3.92’s and have been really happy with its performance. The suspension shows it’s weakness before the power train for sure so I’m expecting a huge improvement with the 2500.

 

[jdefoe0424]

Sincere thanks for posting this. We hear all about towing with the ctd, but not much on the hemi. I’ll be going from a 1500 cc 5.7 with 3.92’s and have been really happy with its performance. The suspension shows it’s weakness before the power train for sure so I’m expecting a huge improvement with the 2500.

The 2500 definitely makes a big difference in comfort while towing, it will benefit from more tongue weight than the 1500 too.
I find the extra torque low in the RPM band really makes a big difference in how it drives over the 1500, with or without the trailer.
Your unloaded MPG's might be 2-3 worse depending on your normal drive but towing mileage will likely be the same as it was.

 

[gimmie11s]

Sounds like a solid and honest review.

That 5er is light at just over 8000 lbs unloaded. Your GVWR of 17 k is also light--this is at the top of 1/2 ton territory to be honest.

Im also kind of surprised to see the Hemi consumed that much fuel and could not stay in top overdrive gear with that light of a load.

Moral of story
--if you plan to tow with the 6.4, get the 4.10's.
--if you plan to tow more than 10k lbs, get the diesel.


Not trying to be a downer, just figured folks out there need to be clear-eyed about their towing expectations with the Ram HD offerings.

 

[Ewoodard]

There isn’t a gas engine on the road that will stay in overdrive even while empty. The 6.4 does a great job in my opinion. Not everyone has a need for a diesel or the extra cost at that comes with them.

 

[gimmie11s]

There isn’t a gas engine on the road that will stay in overdrive even while empty. The 6.4 does a great job in my opinion. Not everyone has a need for a diesel or the extra cost at that comes with them.

Im assuming this was directed at me. Care to point out where I said "everyone needs a diesel"? Further, I used to tow with a 1999 454 3/4 Suburban that would pull 8k lbs and stay in overdrive all day long and 2x on Sunday on flat land.

Next?

 

[Ewoodard]

Im assuming this was directed at me. Care to point out where I said "everyone needs a diesel"? Further, I used to tow with a 1999 454 3/4 Suburban that would pull 8k lbs and stay in overdrive all day long and 2x on Sunday on flat land.

Next?

No harm intended, just saying that you don’t have to have a Cummins to tow over 10,000 lbs. If you are full timing it then yes a diesel is best but for the occasional tow the 6.4 is fine. Any new gas engine will drop out of overdrive, gears are too short. My work truck is an ‘18 f150 with the 10 speed and the slightest headwind will make it drop to 8th with no load.

 

[gimmie11s]

No harm intended, just saying that you don’t have to have a Cummins to tow over 10,000 lbs. If you are full timing it then yes a diesel is best but for the occasional tow the 6.4 is fine. Any new gas engine will drop out of overdrive, gears are too short. My work truck is an ‘18 f150 with the 10 speed and the slightest headwind will make it drop to 8th with no load.

Fair enough, no disagreement there!

 

[Grateful Dad]

Sounds like a solid and honest review.

That 5er is light at just over 8000 lbs unloaded. Your GVWR of 17 k is also light--this is at the top of 1/2 ton territory to be honest.

Im also kind of surprised to see the Hemi consumed that much fuel and could not stay in top overdrive gear with that light of a load.

Moral of story
--if you plan to tow with the 6.4, get the 4.10's.
--if you plan to tow more than 10k lbs, get the diesel.


Not trying to be a downer, just figured folks out there need to be clear-eyed about their towing expectations with the Ram HD offerings.

I’ll have to politely disagree with a few of your points. While technically possible based purely on specs, you can find a 1/2 ton to pull this trailer but it’s either a 2 wheel drive or a very carefully optioned 4wd. In either case, you’ll be maxed out if not slightly over all the while having to very carefully figure out what you can and cannot bring. Is it possible, yes. You’d probably have to go with an F150 as it would have the best chance. Ram, not so much……while they offer a truck with a gcwr of 17k lbs, and a tow rating of 11,300, the max payload in that configuration is 1,940 lbs. the biggest issue is the rear axle though, rated at 4,100 lbs. The base weight (best case scenario mind you) on the rear axle is 2,091 lbs………….I’ve got over 2k added to the rear which right there exceeds the rear axle rating. I’m in the camp of it being ok to go a little over payload since in most cases you are no where near your max axle capacity, but once you cross that threshold is where I draw the line. Axle, rim, and tire capacities cannot be exceeded. Payload and gvwr number are manipulated to fit vehicle classification and for registration ($$$$$) , not solely on physical capability.

Now as far as the truck not holding the top gears, the total weight of the load was actually pushing 10k lbs. The weight isn’t the biggest issue imo, it’s the fact I was dragging a trailer @ 70 mph with a front cap that sticks up 12’3”. That’s a big frontal area with a lot of drag. Yes, I know I could have very easily slowed to about 62 mph and chugged right along but as I referenced in my previous post, I was not trying to drive conservatively at all, I wanted to see real world the worst case scenario driving the posted limits (weather and traffic conditions permitting).

To your point of my particular rig being light for a 5’ver, you’re dead on, couldn’t agree more! It’s light in every sense, maxing out at just over 10.1k lbs with conservatively 1,700 lbs of pin weight, it is very light for a 5th wheel.

Moral of the story, agree there too! Get the 4.10’s if you can and if towing more than 10k often or long distances, seriously consider a diesel. You said it best, folks need to be clear eyed about their expectations, I’ll add folks need to be honest about what they need, how they drive, how far and how often they’ll be towing, how the truck will be used when NOT towing, and lastly what you can afford. You answer those questions, the decisions become a lot easier.

 

[gimmie11s]

I’ll have to politely disagree with a few of your points. While technically possible based purely on specs, you can find a 1/2 ton to pull this trailer but it’s either a 2 wheel drive or a very carefully optioned 4wd. In either case, you’ll be maxed out if not slightly over all the while having to very carefully figure out what you can and cannot bring. Is it possible, yes. You’d probably have to go with an F150 as it would have the best chance. Ram, not so much……while they offer a truck with a gcwr of 17k lbs, and a tow rating of 11,300, the max payload in that configuration is 1,940 lbs. the biggest issue is the rear axle though, rated at 4,100 lbs. The base weight (best case scenario mind you) on the rear axle is 2,091 lbs………….I’ve got over 2k added to the rear which right there exceeds the rear axle rating. I’m in the camp of it being ok to go a little over payload since in most cases you are no where near your max axle capacity, but once you cross that threshold is where I draw the line. Axle, rim, and tire capacities cannot be exceeded. Payload and gvwr number are manipulated to fit vehicle classification and for registration ($$$$$) , not solely on physical capability.

Now as far as the truck not holding the top gears, the total weight of the load was actually pushing 10k lbs. The weight isn’t the biggest issue imo, it’s the fact I was dragging a trailer @ 70 mph with a front cap that sticks up 12’3”. That’s a big frontal area with a lot of drag. Yes, I know I could have very easily slowed to about 62 mph and chugged right along but as I referenced in my previous post, I was not trying to drive conservatively at all, I wanted to see real world the worst case scenario driving the posted limits (weather and traffic conditions permitting).

To your point of my particular rig being light for a 5’ver, you’re dead on, couldn’t agree more! It’s light in every sense, maxing out at just over 10.1k lbs with conservatively 1,700 lbs of pin weight, it is very light for a 5th wheel.

Moral of the story, agree there too! Get the 4.10’s if you can and if towing more than 10k often or long distances, seriously consider a diesel. You said it best, folks need to be clear eyed about their expectations, I’ll add folks need to be honest about what they need, how they drive, how far and how often they’ll be towing, how the truck will be used when NOT towing, and lastly what you can afford. You answer those questions, the decisions become a lot easier.

Great post, totally agree on all points!