Got the truck & now need "Diesel for Dummies: Towing Edition" lessons :)

Okay, so I had this great post written out, and I guess it timed out and I lost it all when I went to preview it. Argh!

Here's the jist:

We bought a 3500 Longhorn dually with the AISIN tranny and the Cummins diesel and are leaving in a week to drive to Colorado Springs from Dallas to pick up our partially finished 8600lb Tumbleweed tiny house. The User Guide (which is more confusing to me than helpful because it has info on ALL the truck models in it) says the Cummins doesn't need to be broken in, but then 2 paragraphs later it says that run-in is enhanced by loaded down driving in the first 6000mi. Point being, it sounds contradictory and confuses me. lol

So, couple quick questions from the dumb (non)blonde girl before I manage to blow up my truck on its first road trip!

1) Do I need to "break-in" or "run-in" the Cummins, yay or nay? Will driving 700mi unloaded and 700mi with an 8600lb trailer in tow do the trick? If not, what? A Chevy diesel driving buddy said to drive it hard some, drive various speeds on the highway, idle-up when possible (had to google that one!), etc. Not that I don't trust the man (I trust him with my life as a matter of fact), but I want to ask RAM owners since you guys are experts as far as I'm concerned.


2) Do I need to be using the engine brake while towing? User guide suggests it, but then I see "No Engine Brake" signs on highways a lot...

3) A RAM 1500 HEMI owning buddy told my husband we should get a new "fuel chip." WTF is that and do we need it?

4) Same buddy also said we should get all the fluids changed around 200mi, and I do see in the Guide where it says we need to monitor fluids carefully. Will we need to change any of that before we go to CO? After? Truck has 52mi on it currently, and the round trip is about 1400mi not counting any additional trips...

5) So, the little +/- symbols above the little slidy thingies for the trailer brake.... WTF are they, and do I seriously slide the little things together to brake the trailer while we're stopping?? lol Total chick question to ask, yes, but having never towed anything before that is perplexing to me. Seems a bit counterintuitive to have to take my hand off the wheel, reach over to slide little tabs together to stop. What if I do it too fast, too hard, not hard enough, etc...? OMG! :****sweak:

Now that you are all laughing heartily at the dumb girl's expense...

THANK YOU for even bothering to reply if you do! I really do consider RAM owners to be experts on operating them, so I trust y'all to know this stuff and be able to dumb it down for me better than the Guide can. I'm goign to hit up Google and YouTube as well, but I sincerely appreciate your help! Have a good giggle on me, and thanks again!

maighen said:

2) Do I need to be using the engine brake while towing? User guide suggests it, but then I see "No Engine Brake" signs on highways a lot...

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Use the engine brake everywhere except in residential areas where noise could be a problem.

maighen said:

3) A RAM 1500 HEMI owning buddy told my husband we should get a new "fuel chip." WTF is that and do we need it?

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It is nothing but sillyness. You can get more power if you modify/retune your truck, but I'm sure a) you have plenty of power for now and b) you like having a warranty.

maighen said:

4) Same buddy also said we should get all the fluids changed around 200mi, and I do see in the Guide where it says we need to monitor fluids carefully. Will we need to change any of that before we go to CO? After? Truck has 52mi on it currently, and the round trip is about 1400mi not counting any additional trips...

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Lots of folks like to change the factory oil soon after purchase as they believe it is full of junk from the break-in process. But with modern (in the last few decades) machining practices, there is hardly such a thing. If the manual doesn't call for early fluid changes, don't worry about it.

maighen said:

5) So, the little +/- symbols above the little slidy thingies for the trailer brake.... WTF are they, and do I seriously slide the little things together to brake the trailer while we're stopping?? lol

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Your truck has an integrated brake controller which will brake the trailer automatically. But your truck doesn't know how heavy the trailer is, so the +/- buttons adjust the GAIN. As you drive your first miles, use the brakes and adjust the gain, then leave it alone. When you brake, you shouldn't feel the trailer pulling the truck, and the truck shouldn't be braking the trailer. You'll feel this.

Use the slider to activate the trailer brakes independently -- say if the trailer begins to sway or something, or to gauge the brake gain. Most folks rarely use the slider.

maighen said:

Now that you are all laughing heartily at the dumb girl's expense...

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No one is laughing, and for the better safety of everyone on the road around you, I think most people prefer you ask questions than just go out and endanger everyone and yourself.

So Thank You.

Good info above, I'll add my $0.02

maighen said:

1) Do I need to "break-in" or "run-in" the Cummins, yay or nay? Will driving 700mi unloaded and 700mi with an 8600lb trailer in tow do the trick? If not, what? A Chevy diesel driving buddy said to drive it hard some, drive various speeds on the highway, idle-up when possible (had to google that one!), etc. Not that I don't trust the man (I trust him with my life as a matter of fact), but I want to ask RAM owners since you guys are experts as far as I'm concerned.

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I've had 3 diesels for work in the last 5 years and I get them all with less than 200km on them. They tow regularly and they tow heavy from day 1. The most important thing with any diesel is to make sure that the engine is warm before you start hauling with it. Never just fire it up and take off; the most wear occurs on warm-up with a diesel. If I'm towing I personally have a minimum 5 min warmup in warm weather and about 20 min in winter.

2) Do I need to be using the engine brake while towing? User guide suggests it, but then I see "No Engine Brake" signs on highways a lot...

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Use it everywhere, I do agree about the residential area though, they can be loud. You don't have to follow the 'no engine retarder brake' signs because you're in a personal vehicle, unless you've got GVW/Tare decals on it. Your jake brake is not as loud as the big diesel pushers so it's less of a problem with noise and it really saves your brakes for those times when you really need them.

3) A RAM 1500 HEMI owning buddy told my husband we should get a new "fuel chip." WTF is that and do we need it?

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You can get a programmer if yo want, but unless you want to delete the DFP filter, race, or pull up hill at full throttle with a nice cloud of black smoke behind you I'd advise against it, especially if you want to keep your warranty.

4) Same buddy also said we should get all the fluids changed around 200mi, and I do see in the Guide where it says we need to monitor fluids carefully. Will we need to change any of that before we go to CO? After? Truck has 52mi on it currently, and the round trip is about 1400mi not counting any additional trips...

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Just check the fluids when ever you pull over to see if they're still full and you're not losing fluids anywhere or have a leak. That's just preventative maintenance, especially on a brand new truck that you don't know the ins/outs of yet.

5) So, the little +/- symbols above the little slidy thingies for the trailer brake.... WTF are they, and do I seriously slide the little things together to brake the trailer while we're stopping?? lol Total chick question to ask, yes, but having never towed anything before that is perplexing to me. Seems a bit counterintuitive to have to take my hand off the wheel, reach over to slide little tabs together to stop. What if I do it too fast, too hard, not hard enough, etc...? OMG! :****sweak:

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You want to set the brake gain before you start getting going. The easiest way to do this is to find a flat area and from a stop, let off the brakes and accelerate until you start rolling then slide the 'thingy' together, the trailer brakes should slow/stop you in a short distance. Lower the gains if you stop right away, raise if it takes more than a truck length. Setting this first allows you to control the weight of the trailer with the brakes.

Next, accelerate a bit then lightly step on the brake pedal, you want to feel the trailer brake activate before the truck's brakes but not lock them up. Adjust the +/- gains until this just begins to happen. Doing this ensures the trailer is going to be pulling back on the truck when you apply the brakes and not pushing it forward which can cause it to jack knife in some situations. You don't want the trailer brakes to grab and pull back drastically on the truck. Once these are set, leave them alone for the duration of the tow. If the trailer ever starts to sway, you can activate the trailer brake and maintain your speed, this should straighten the trailer out nicely, never hit the brakes when that happens.

Also, whenever you stop, get out and put a hand on the trailer's brake drums, if they're both the same temp you're good, if one's hotter than the other then you have either a pad stuck or a is riding on the drum. Doing this is just another form of preventative maintenance when towing.

1 thing I did when I got my 1st diesel, was buy a green fuel tank fill cap from genos garage, and use it.

It gives you 1 final warning to prevent you from putting gas in the tank, which would be a very expensive oops.

It also gives a warning to anyone filling it (like if you let someone one borrow it), and it wasn't too bad price wise either.


BTW those exhaust brake signs are geared for semis with a 'jake brake' which is totally different from the exhaust brake your truck has, and much louder.

I'm paying close attention to this thread also- getting ready for my first tow in my gas Hemi. I have many of the same questions as you!

OMG THANK YOU GUYS!! That clarifies all of that soooo thoroughly, especially the slider "thingy." That's really what had me worried the most, and yes - I'm terrified of jack knifing! We'll have our 2.5yr old little boy with us, too, so that adds an extra pucker factor when I think about making absolutely sure we're being as safe as possible, so thank you so very much for deciphering some of the sanskrit in that manual!

So, a couple direct replies:

TRCM: There actually is already a green cap thing on the fuel port that says diesel on it, and yes - that's totally another fear of mine! Thankfully I think I can program my inner tree hugger to always get the "green gas" without too much trouble.

toofart: First, thanks for the reassurance and restraint from laughter. It's one of those things where I researched and researched and STILL feel like I'm totally clueless, so I genuinely appreciate any and all direction and clarification. Also, I DO value my warranty, especially since I got the extended one because we plan to do extensive traveling/towing with our tiny house when it's done. That buddy of ours is a good guy, but there have been times where his well-intentioned advice was counterintuitive to our particular situation. Apparently no one told him he had to break-in his HEMI, so he was trying to do us a favor. Thanks for the clarification!

charonblk07: Okay, so first I need to essentially roll forward and use the slider to stop the truck/trailer to see how well the trailer brake is set, yes? Then I should adjust (+) if I need more stopping power and (-) if it feels like the trailer is pushing the truck, right? As for the brake drums on the trailer, dumb question - it's a triple axel flatbed, and from what I remember each axel has its own brake. Should I be checking right side vs. left side or just compare each individually?

Last but not least.... MyRamHemi, I hope you find the info you need here! So far between this post and my original post back in January asking about what features we do/don't need in the truck itself I've had a great experience and received some excellent information. Nice to know there are such knowledgeable and willing folks out there ready to share their wisdom with us n00bs!

Oh yeah, and is there anything particular I need to look for when buying a 2-5/16" tow ball for the 3500? The receiver looks quite a bit bigger than the one on my Flex (which I think is a Class iii), but I've never bought a tow ball before - just the silly little Jolly Roger receiver cap.

I saw some that have 3 balls of different sizes welded to them, and I've also seen some that are just the plates that slide into the receiver that I would have to add a ball to myself. My feeling is the fewer moving parts the less likely there is for user install error, so my instinct says a pre-welded ball on a bar that slides into the receiver would be best. Yay? Nay? Any brands that are better or worse?

I do have a UHaul location within a few miles of me and thought about just going over there and asking, but same deal - you guys are experts as far as I'm concerned!

Thanks!

maighen said:

Oh yeah, and is there anything particular I need to look for when buying a 2-5/16" tow ball for the 3500? The receiver looks quite a bit bigger than the one on my Flex (which I think is a Class iii), but I've never bought a tow ball before - just the silly little Jolly Roger receiver cap.

I saw some that have 3 balls of different sizes welded to them, and I've also seen some that are just the plates that slide into the receiver that I would have to add a ball to myself. My feeling is the fewer moving parts the less likely there is for user install error, so my instinct says a pre-welded ball on a bar that slides into the receiver would be best. Yay? Nay? Any brands that are better or worse?

I do have a UHaul location within a few miles of me and thought about just going over there and asking, but same deal - you guys are experts as far as I'm concerned!

Thanks!

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the tri ball hitch is nice but keep in mind you'll also want to have your trailer as level as possible which usually won't happen with a straight hitch. there are some adjustable versions but most i've seen are rated for 5000lbs or less. also i'm not sure they even make tri balls for a class 5 which i'd assume is what you have

maighen said:

Should I be checking right side vs. left side or just compare each individually?

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I use one of those infrared thermometers and check the temps of each wheel, in 3 spots: at the hub (are the bearings good), near the brakes (is one stuck) and the tire itself.

I usually do this check after 40-50 interstate miles once when I leave, again when I return. What you're looking for is an oddball wheel/hub that is much hotter than the others. If they're all within the same range, keep on trucking..

maighen said:

Oh yeah, and is there anything particular I need to look for when buying a 2-5/16" tow ball for the 3500?

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As mentioned, a quality Class IV or V adjustable. Trailer should be as level as possible.

maighen said:

charonblk07: Okay, so first I need to essentially roll forward and use the slider to stop the truck/trailer to see how well the trailer brake is set, yes? Then I should adjust (+) if I need more stopping power and (-) if it feels like the trailer is pushing the truck, right? As for the brake drums on the trailer, dumb question - it's a triple axel flatbed, and from what I remember each axel has its own brake. Should I be checking right side vs. left side or just compare each individually?

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You've got the right idea. Once you've done it a few times you'll know the range that each trailer likes to sit at. My breathing air trailer sits a 2.5, my 35' rescue trailer is maxed at 10, and the hovercraft is a 4.0; you get the idea, it's all based on their weight and braking power.

maighen said:

Oh yeah, and is there anything particular I need to look for when buying a 2-5/16" tow ball for the 3500? The receiver looks quite a bit bigger than the one on my Flex (which I think is a Class iii), but I've never bought a tow ball before - just the silly little Jolly Roger receiver cap.

I saw some that have 3 balls of different sizes welded to them, and I've also seen some that are just the plates that slide into the receiver that I would have to add a ball to myself. My feeling is the fewer moving parts the less likely there is for user install error, so my instinct says a pre-welded ball on a bar that slides into the receiver would be best. Yay? Nay? Any brands that are better or worse?

I do have a UHaul location within a few miles of me and thought about just going over there and asking, but same deal - you guys are experts as far as I'm concerned!

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Pick a hitch that will keep the tongue of the trailer as level as possible, that might require a drop hitch with a bolt-on ball. As for the ball, I have 3 types of hitches; a drop bar with the ball bolted on, a welded tri-ball, and a pintle/ball hitch. None have or will ever fail, they are all solid. I would only get a tri-ball if you tow several different trailers with different ball sizes. The bolt-on balls all come with a lock washer, so put the hitch into the receiver then bolt the ball to the hitch. Either have your hubby put his weight into tightening it or hold the wrench and you give it a few solid kicks, it won't ever move on you.

toofart said:

I use one of those infrared thermometers and check the temps of each wheel, in 3 spots: at the hub (are the bearings good), near the brakes (is one stuck) and the tire itself.

I usually do this check after 40-50 interstate miles once when I leave, again when I return. What you're looking for is an oddball wheel/hub that is much hotter than the others. If they're all within the same range, keep on trucking..



As mentioned, a quality Class IV or V adjustable. Trailer should be as level as possible.

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Agreed, and I like that idea. I have a few IR thermos kicking around for testing the intake manifold temps at the track, I just never thought to throw one in the work truck, I've always just used my hands. Since I'm a DOT mandated driver I have to do a stop/check within the first 80km so it's just habit now.

WE NEED PICTURES PLEASE provide when you get it hooked up! I am excited to see.

Bah! Once again the site timed out on me and I lost my reply. That's what I get for trying to do this while I'm working!

Okay, so thank you all again for your advice! I will definitely pick up an IR thermo for the trip and check the trailer about 50mi in. I think that's where we switch roads anyway, so that will be a good reminder to pull over.

As for the ball mount and ball, since I don't know exactly how the trailer will sit compared to the height of the truck I'm thinking I'll pick up 2 different mounts and test them once we get to the pick-up location in Colorado Springs. I do see that most of them are reversible to rise or drop, though, so that might be excessive. If I do get two I'll get 2 very different ones for the widest options. Since the gross weight of the trailer is 15,000lbs I'm also presuming I need to pick up ones that exceed that rating, and I'm guessing the ball itself needs to exceed that weight, too.

I was going to hit the UHaul near us, but their website leads me to believe we won't have any luck there since their stuff seems to max out around 10,000lbs. I did find the following on etrailer.com. Tell me what you think bearing in mind I still need to confirm the size of the receiver (2.5" seems to be the most common, but I haven't found the specifics yet):

Reese Titan Ball Mount for 2-1/2" Receivers, 1-1/2" Rise or 3" Drop, 18,000 lbs Reese Ball Mounts RP45322

and

Trailer Hitch Ball with 2-5/16" Diameter and Medium Shank, 30,000 lbs GTW - Machine Finish Curt Balls C40041

Good? Bad?

Anything else you guys can think of that we should address before, during, or after this trip?

And yes, I will post pics! Thanks for asking!!

What kind of trailer is this @ 15,000 lbs ??

Usually trailers that heavy are 5th wheel , gooseneck, or pintle hitch. In which case an insert & ball like you are talking about won't work.

Those at interesting little trailers

I would ask your salesman what they recommend for a hitch and start there

Your trucks bumper hitch is rated for 10k lbs I believe while the te over axle hitch can haul a small planet

Well, the trailer itself isn't where the weight comes from. It's the stick-built house that sits on top.

What we've bought is a Tumbleweed Tiny House Co Amish Barn Raiser Cypress 24' framed and sheathed "house" that we will finish at home. Here's the page about them:

Amish Barn Raiser

I'm basing the 15,000lbs on the MAX load the trailer/house will weigh, and they are bumper pull. The dry weight of the houses they build are 10,500lbs in the 24' size, and we're hoping to shave a little off that weight with some additional limitations on products we use to finish the build. Then one must add the weight of personal belongings to the mix, and that's where the 15k-lb limit comes into play. Regardless, though, we have to assume we'll be towing the max weight in order to assure we have covered all the bases for safety.

Here's the towing guide they have on their site, followed by the specs of the physical trailer our house is being built on. In its present state, by the way, it will weigh about 8600lbs.

Towing A Tiny House

...and the trailer specs (note that we have the 24' triple axle one):

Tumbleweed Trailer Specs:

Trailer Highlights
Radial tires: 6 lug hub, ST225/75/R15 LRD
Gross vehicle weight rating (GVW) of 10,000 lbs (18-20' trailer) or 15,000 lbs (24' trailer)
All axles have brakes

Building Footprint
Actual Trailer Width: 8'6"
Trailer Bed Width: 6'11"
5/8"DIA. Zinc plated all-threaded rods, on corners (8)
Minimum tongue length of 4'

Trailer Elements
Exterior Structure: HSS 5x2x.120
Interior Structure: C3"x3.5 per linear foot
Threaded Rod Yield Strength: 45ksi, handles load of 8,900 lbs
Dexter Spring 5,200 lb axle
Flashing: 22 gauge galvannealed steel sheet

Towing Specs
7 Blade Trailer Connector for electrical wiring
Standard 2 - 5/16” ball hitch
Safety chains: rated for 7,600 lbs. each

Other Items
Hitch Jack: rated to hold 2,000 lbs
Scissor Leveling Jacks (4)
The trailer finish is a 2 part process with an epoxy primer and a urethane top coat
Bracket-mounted trailer lights for easy removal during building & reapplication after construction, with incandescent bulbs (8)

(here's the link to the trailer page: Tumbleweed Trailer)

If we had built the house completely from scratch we probably would have bought a gooseneck flatbed and done it that way. The primary reason we chose to have Tumbleweed do the framing portion, though, is because of my recurring nightmare of the house physically sliding off the trailer while going up a steep hill. They are professional tiny house builders; we are not. Since we plan to travel a lot with our house, which is not something done commonly with these houses actually since most folks park them in a backyard with friends/family, we felt the safest thing we could do would be to have the professionals do the framing and securing to the trailer itself. We can do all the finish work, but it is critical that the house is secured properly. The trade off, though, is a bumper-pull trailer vs. gooseneck/5th wheel since, but they did design their trailers from scratch specifically for tiny houses - another layer of safety literally built in!

Well, your truck is equipped to handle a 14,000lb GVW, so you will be over the GVWR, however plenty of us have gone over that from time to time, I've been made to redistribute equipment loads between several trucks after overloading my truck/trailer combos and getting stopped at scales by DOT.

Since it's tri-axle trailer you'll have most of the trailer weight centered on the axles, just pay attention to the tongue weight when you're loading equipment into it, try to keep as much centered over the axles as possible. I would see if they have a load distributing hitch option with the trailer, that's a much better/safer hitch type as it will basically lock the truck to the trailer and give you better steering control given the weight of the trailer.

If you want to learn more about weight distribution hitches here is some great basic info.

Okay, now does that mean 14,000 max with the current hitch, because the paperwork that came with the truck said 16,650lbs max bumper towing. If it's a matter of switching out the hitch that's no biggie, but if my truck seriously can't tow over that then I got duped by the Ram truck website and the dealer, both of which clearly show well over 16,000lbs towing capabilities. I know the weight of the vehicle and the load/passenger affects the GVWR, but even on the website slider using my actual VIN with 1000lbs of load and 450lbs of passenger weight (which is WAY more than we would ever have in the truck itself and a whole extra person added to cover our 2yr old when he's grown) it still shows a max in the 22k range, though I do realize that's really the max with a 5th wheel vs. bumper pull. Surely there isn't a 8k-lb disparity between the two, and more importantly the paperwork I received from Dodge better not be THAT incorrect! :\

I'll figure out the photo upload option in a sec and post the screen grab from the towing configuration thing as well as a pic of the truck itself since someone asked. I'll get towing setup pics next week.

I'm also noticing that the towing tool says Laramie Limited not Longhorn, but then I'm not 100% familiar with all the variations of the packages. I just know it has Longhorn slathered all over it in badges. Not sure if that in any way invalidates the results, but I most definitely don't want to be breaking any DOT rules or, more importantly, break the damn truck. This thing better not be only rated for 14k-lbs of towing!! Grr!

As for the weight distributing hitches, I had already had that suggested to me and plan to look into them. We attended one of the Tumbleweed building workshops in April where they were discussed along with the need to balance the load to avoid going over the tongue weight, so we plan to pay careful attention to that. Unfortunately the way the houses are built they tend to be heavy on the tongue end anyway, but we're going to make sure we move everything that isn't nailed down to the center or slightly to the rear if needed when moving the house to help balance everything out. We will be living as lightly as possible, and I think the heaviest thing we'll have with us will be mattresses when it's all said and done.

Alright, kinda in freakout mode about the 14k-lb weight thing now, so I'm going to see what I can find out more formally with the paperwork tomorrow for sure as well as search around online even more to see if I can confirm the actual rating. I can't imagine a truck this damn big can't haul the house considering people do it with 150/1500 series trucks all the time, and for the specific tranny and engine we chose (especially for the $$ of those two features) it effing BETTER tow it well AND legally!

You'll find your truck on page 12 here
http://www.rambodybuilder.com/iph/iph2014/ph2014/phdocs/phram/phrammlup3500.pdf

GVWR is 12,400 lbs
Payload is 4,130 lbs
GCWR is 25,000 lbs
Trailer/Equipment max weight is 16,560 lbs

Take a look at your hitch, hopefully it is a class V hitch
If it is a factory class IV I'd be going back to the dealer very angry

Looking at the website it says the trailer and house dry weight is ~10,500 lbs

I doubt any one has brought this to your attention but with your trucks GVWR of 12,400 lbs and the trailers GVWR of 15,000 lbs you need a class A non commercial license to pull this combination, crazy I know
Even though your actual weight is under 26,001 lbs your rated weight is over

All of your other weights seem to be ok (assuming your 1 ton has a class V hitch)
Make sure your reciever and 2-5/16" ball are rated for that weight

Stangshcky12 said:

You'll find your truck on page 12 here
http://www.rambodybuilder.com/iph/iph2014/ph2014/phdocs/phram/phrammlup3500.pdf

GVWR is 12,400 lbs
Payload is 4,130 lbs
GCWR is 25,000 lbs
Trailer/Equipment max weight is 16,560 lbs

Click to expand...

Those look like the SRW specs from what I can see on pg 12, and we have the DRW model. They say:


6.7L DIESEL TURBO - ETK 6-SPD AUTO HD - DF2 XBS 3.73 - GVR 14,000 - Payload 5,370 - Base Weight Total 8,626 Front 5,085 Rear 3,541 - GAWR Front 6,000 Rear 9,750 - GCWR 32,000 - Passneger wt 150 - Option wt 20 - Trailer + Equipment Max Total 23,200

Now I'm totally confused! I'm going to go grab my paperwork from the glovebox and see if I can find anything else out. I know I saw the 16,560lbs towing somewhere, too, though that may have been online as well. Thanks for pulling that up for me! I had looked at it earlier but not thoroughly. I'll compare it to my papers.