Just some anecdotal observations from a recent trip.
This past weekend I needed to do a last minute trip from the San Jose area to LA to drop off a few things. Rented a promaster cargo 159 tall version. Would have rented a truck but could not find on given the short notice.
So driving the ~ 450 miles each way, was watching how various vehicles were doing in the strong and variable cross winds and very mixed road quality of I5. It was only 95 F out, so not really hot for I5. By mixed road conditions, I mean some areas were in decent shape, but blacktop is just the wrong road surface for the hot / heavy use conditions there and at least 50% of the road is in constant need for replacement.
Since I am thinking about a 3500 SRW, I was especially interested in seeing how those behave.
Starting with the full size semi trucks and trailers, the ones with loads you can tell right away, because they stay pretty stable, but a few were having trouble with the trailer being blown sideways. I was watching one that must have had a really light load and in some areas, he had to keep bringing that trailer back off the shoulder and into the lane. It was impressive to watch him at work.
One of the most stable setups out there was a 3500 HD ram dually with a massive lance bed camper ( as in tall ) and pulling a decent size boat and outboard. Absolutely rock solid, no sway, obviously the guy knew what he was doing with weight distribution, etc. No sag from the weight, etc. Just a very planted setup. It seemed like it was completely immune to the road conditions and wind.
In general, most of the pick ups out there were fine, clearly some should have purchased 3500s instead of 2500s based on how the rear sag was with a trailer.
Also saw a ram megacab 2500 in LA in a brownish color that I didn't recognize on the paint charts.
Also a 3 axle jeep of some kind that I guess was pure custom.
Starting to really like the lighter silver colors in a truck.
The stability of the electronics in that rental promaster were not so perfect, so it is difficult to know how this transfers over to the trucks. The mirrors were not sufficient to be able to see vehicles right next to me, no matter what I did. This was a real safety problem for changing lanes. It would have been really helpful if I could just drive with the rear / back up camera on, but that didn't seem possible, at least on this one. Not sure if that capability is available on the newer ram 2500 / 3500s or not, but it sure would be nice and improve safety.
The other observation was that this promaster has a tire pressure monitor and one tire was indicating 50% of what was in it, the others seemed to work just fine.
This past weekend I needed to do a last minute trip from the San Jose area to LA to drop off a few things. Rented a promaster cargo 159 tall version. Would have rented a truck but could not find on given the short notice.
So driving the ~ 450 miles each way, was watching how various vehicles were doing in the strong and variable cross winds and very mixed road quality of I5. It was only 95 F out, so not really hot for I5. By mixed road conditions, I mean some areas were in decent shape, but blacktop is just the wrong road surface for the hot / heavy use conditions there and at least 50% of the road is in constant need for replacement.
Since I am thinking about a 3500 SRW, I was especially interested in seeing how those behave.
Starting with the full size semi trucks and trailers, the ones with loads you can tell right away, because they stay pretty stable, but a few were having trouble with the trailer being blown sideways. I was watching one that must have had a really light load and in some areas, he had to keep bringing that trailer back off the shoulder and into the lane. It was impressive to watch him at work.
One of the most stable setups out there was a 3500 HD ram dually with a massive lance bed camper ( as in tall ) and pulling a decent size boat and outboard. Absolutely rock solid, no sway, obviously the guy knew what he was doing with weight distribution, etc. No sag from the weight, etc. Just a very planted setup. It seemed like it was completely immune to the road conditions and wind.
In general, most of the pick ups out there were fine, clearly some should have purchased 3500s instead of 2500s based on how the rear sag was with a trailer.
Also saw a ram megacab 2500 in LA in a brownish color that I didn't recognize on the paint charts.
Also a 3 axle jeep of some kind that I guess was pure custom.
Starting to really like the lighter silver colors in a truck.
The stability of the electronics in that rental promaster were not so perfect, so it is difficult to know how this transfers over to the trucks. The mirrors were not sufficient to be able to see vehicles right next to me, no matter what I did. This was a real safety problem for changing lanes. It would have been really helpful if I could just drive with the rear / back up camera on, but that didn't seem possible, at least on this one. Not sure if that capability is available on the newer ram 2500 / 3500s or not, but it sure would be nice and improve safety.
The other observation was that this promaster has a tire pressure monitor and one tire was indicating 50% of what was in it, the others seemed to work just fine.
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