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The Outdoorsman

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Came across this forum because there are a few Guru's (you know who you are) that definitely know what they are talking about when it comes to 2020 HD mods Here's my quickest down and dirty story/brief history -

I bought a super awesome 2015 Ram 2500 Outdoorsman loaded with all the bells and whistles earlier this year, damn I loved that truck! Looked fantastic, well-kept, low miles, w/Ram Boxes, Navigation, Remote Start, fold flat rear storage, ect... Anyway, it rocked as a pickup, but it definitely wasn't a 'puller', meaning it had major tranny issues everytime we took out 27' trailer out on a trip. It really sucks to be stuck in limp mode (4th gear) going up a mountain pass at 15 mph and being passed by EVERYONE including tanker trucks. Anyway, I suspected the tow/haul function was the culprit, took it to the dealer, told them what I though, they said the trans fluid was brown and needed to be flushed. I said, wtf? I just bought this truck used and you said it had all the fluids changed 1 week prior. Anyway, they re-evaluate and end up rebuilding the entire trans after keeping it for a few weeks during peak camping season during this f***ing COVID nightmare. So I get it back, immediately take another long camping trip over mountain passes, same thing happens again. I stopped using tow/haul mode, but the same crap eventually still happened. Inevitably, we took that truck back to the dealer 4 times within 2 months of ownership and they had the truck for about 5 1/2 of those weeks. The dealership's solution was to have a tech ride with me for a 4-hour roundtrip to test the truck pulling our trailer up the nearest mountain pass. I said BS, we need to ditch this truck even though I love 95% of it (with exception to the towing).

Dealer general manager gets involved and says, I'll by the Outdoorsman back at the price we sold it to you for, if you trade it in for a brand new 2020 Ram and buy from us. I was sort of in a pickle, because I already scoped out other Ram dealers within 200 miles and they would have been about $3-4k lower on trade-in value and this particular Outdoorsman was a lemon IMO . So, I went to my max budget and ended up with a nice looking 2020 Ram 2500 Tradesman Crew Cab 4x4. However, this sucker is pretty much bottom of the barrel, no frills.

SO THAT IS WHY I'M HERE FOLKS.

I want to turn this bottom of the line towing machine into something a bit more comfortable with some cool gadgets etc., as time passes. Please help when you see one of my threads as I really miss the features I am used to on nearly all of my vehicles...but this one is pretty much here just to pull our TT, and we camp, ALOT.

Thanks for the advice so far, and I look forward to making some of you laugh once in a while. Be gentle on the NOOB.
 
Well I know my tradesman lacks a lot of the neat things my Prius and other vehicles have but it's never squatted or struggled to move a load. And that's why I bought it.

I'm also curious to hear about testing the new one one a hill. Apparently the 6.4/8 can do it but gets thirsty.


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Came across this forum because there are a few Guru's (you know who you are) that definitely know what they are talking about when it comes to 2020 HD mods Here's my quickest down and dirty story/brief history -

I bought a super awesome 2015 Ram 2500 Outdoorsman loaded with all the bells and whistles earlier this year, damn I loved that truck! Looked fantastic, well-kept, low miles, w/Ram Boxes, Navigation, Remote Start, fold flat rear storage, ect... Anyway, it rocked as a pickup, but it definitely wasn't a 'puller', meaning it had major tranny issues everytime we took out 27' trailer out on a trip. It really sucks to be stuck in limp mode (4th gear) going up a mountain pass at 15 mph and being passed by EVERYONE including tanker trucks. Anyway, I suspected the tow/haul function was the culprit, took it to the dealer, told them what I though, they said the trans fluid was brown and needed to be flushed. I said, wtf? I just bought this truck used and you said it had all the fluids changed 1 week prior. Anyway, they re-evaluate and end up rebuilding the entire trans after keeping it for a few weeks during peak camping season during this f***ing COVID nightmare. So I get it back, immediately take another long camping trip over mountain passes, same thing happens again. I stopped using tow/haul mode, but the same crap eventually still happened. Inevitably, we took that truck back to the dealer 4 times within 2 months of ownership and they had the truck for about 5 1/2 of those weeks. The dealership's solution was to have a tech ride with me for a 4-hour roundtrip to test the truck pulling our trailer up the nearest mountain pass. I said BS, we need to ditch this truck even though I love 95% of it (with exception to the towing).

Dealer general manager gets involved and says, I'll by the Outdoorsman back at the price we sold it to you for, if you trade it in for a brand new 2020 Ram and buy from us. I was sort of in a pickle, because I already scoped out other Ram dealers within 200 miles and they would have been about $3-4k lower on trade-in value and this particular Outdoorsman was a lemon IMO . So, I went to my max budget and ended up with a nice looking 2020 Ram 2500 Tradesman Crew Cab 4x4. However, this sucker is pretty much bottom of the barrel, no frills.

SO THAT IS WHY I'M HERE FOLKS.

I want to turn this bottom of the line towing machine into something a bit more comfortable with some cool gadgets etc., as time passes. Please help when you see one of my threads as I really miss the features I am used to on nearly all of my vehicles...but this one is pretty much here just to pull our TT, and we camp, ALOT.

Thanks for the advice so far, and I look forward to making some of you laugh once in a while. Be gentle on the NOOB.
Thats a shame on the old 15 model. I had the 16 2500 6.7 plain Jane tradesman and she handled the mountains with 13k easily and never had any issues at all. I to loved that truck, ram boxes were great storage. Probably a good thing that you got out from under that tranny nightmare.
 
Wasn't the 2015 still using the 5.7L? I know they switched over to the 6.4L in like 2017?
 
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