Towing with a 2500 5.7

Kev12 · Sep 18, 2017

I've been on a couple of trips with what I would consider a light weight travel trailer, probably 6K loaded. The 1st trip was a short trip with flat roads, very few small hills(very pleased with overall experience). The 2nd was a 6 hour round trip, mostly interstate and a lot of hills. Very disappointed with the overall performance. Felt like the truck struggled just as much as my Tundra did with hills(not mountains by any means). Gas mileage was hovering around the 7mpg mark, running about 60-65 mph. I have a 2017 2500 5.7 with the 3.73 ratio. Is that about par for the course for my truck while towing a travel trailer? I looked at the light weight 5th wheels but would be getting tight with the payload capacity. Thanks

SouthTexan · Sep 18, 2017

I believe that the reason for the lower payload and GVWR in the 5.7L over the 6.4L is due to the 17 inch rims/tires and everything else is the same axles and all(besides the engine of course). I am not 100% on this though. Looking at the tire chart in the Ram Bodybuilder, the 17 inch rims/tires have a considerably lower rating per tire.

Kev12 · Sep 18, 2017

Thanks for the info, hope this is true. Dealer traded out my factory rims/tires for the black 20" wheels.

sandawilliams · Sep 18, 2017

Kev12 said:
I've been on a couple of trips with what I would consider a light weight travel trailer, probably 6K loaded. The 1st trip was a short trip with flat roads, very few small hills(very pleased with overall experience). The 2nd was a 6 hour round trip, mostly interstate and a lot of hills. Very disappointed with the overall performance. Felt like the truck struggled just as much as my Tundra did with hills(not mountains by any means). Gas mileage was hovering around the 7mpg mark, running about 60-65 mph. I have a 2017 2500 5.7 with the 3.73 ratio. Is that about par for the course for my truck while towing a travel trailer? I looked at the light weight 5th wheels but would be getting tight with the payload capacity. Thanks

A couple of suggestions. Always use tow/haul. When you see a hill approaching manually downshift before incline. If you wait for the tranny to downshift you will already be behind the eight ball on pulling the hill with any momentum. Our hemis do great up the hills if you keep your RPM's over 3500. I tow a lot in the mountains of Colorado and this sequence works great.

SouthTexan · Sep 18, 2017

Kev12 said:
Thanks for the info, hope this is true. Dealer traded out my factory rims/tires for the black 20" wheels.

If they did that then the tire load sticker on the side of your door is useless since that is only for factory tires. You probably have more payload ability then that now with 20" tire/rims.

Kev12 · Sep 18, 2017

sandawilliams said:
A couple of suggestions. Always use tow/haul. When you see a hill approaching manually downshift before incline. If you wait for the tranny to downshift you will already be behind the eight ball on pulling the hill with any momentum. Our hemis do great up the hills if you keep your RPM's over 3500. I tow a lot in the mountains of Colorado and this sequence works great.

Thanks for the info and advice

Ratket · Sep 18, 2017

Another option-you have lots of performance upgrades available for your 5.7- a custom tow tune may help you out a bit. The next thing that would help prolly more than a tune would be gears. If ur tires are 33" or larger I would suggest 4:56 up to a 35" tire. Only thing is gears are not cheap.

MADDOG · Sep 18, 2017

My suggestions would be:

1. Use Tow/Haul mode
2. Add a cold air intake
3. Add a freer flowing exhaust
4. Add a programmer with a custom tune

theviking · Sep 18, 2017

IMO, gears should be your first mod. My old 5.7 truck had exhaust, intake and tune. The exhaust and intake just made the truck annoyingly loud when towing up a grade. Especially the K&N intake. The programmer was great but didn't do anything much noticeable when towing. While the gears are expensive they will make a big difference. If you look at the Ram Body Builder Guide towing chart, you will see that gears alone have a significant impact on GCWR and Max Tow ratings.

https://www.ramtrucks.com/en/bodybuildersguide/2016/ramHD/

theviking · Sep 18, 2017

Dup post.

theviking · Sep 18, 2017

SouthTexan said:
I believe that the reason for the lower payload and GVWR in the 5.7L over the 6.4L is due to the 17 inch rims/tires and everything else is the same axles and all(besides the engine of course). I am not 100% on this though. Looking at the tire chart in the Ram Bodybuilder, the 17 inch rims/tires have a considerably lower rating per tire.

View attachment 92215

Spot checking a few tire manufactures ratings on tirerack.com it seems like the 17" specifically have a lower load rating than most other sizes. Even over most 16" or 18" tires in a similar diameter and PSI ratings. Strange.

2015HD · Sep 18, 2017

I towed my ~6K TT about 1,200 miles this summer with plenty of long steep grades and my 5.7 w/ 3.73 did fine; however, it worked hard. It wasn't unusual to be screaming up a hill at 4500+ RPM's but as was already pointed out, it's better to grab that lower gear before you hit the incline. The big difference I noticed when I graduated to the HD was the 'stability' of the tow. My last trip home through mountains involved 20 mph sustained winds with 35 mph gusts. I was running 50-60 mph most of the time and not one of my knuckles turned white

Also, I never believed octane made any difference until last year. I switched to mid-grade fuel after my 1st tow (and reading owner's manual) and found my MPG's went up a bit. I also swear the truck performed better when towing but that's hard to quantify, just a gut feeling.

GsRAM · Sep 18, 2017

Good advice posted here so far, try to get a runny When approaching a hill, use haul mode, consider upgrading to 4:10 or 430 gears. Gears will make a big difference. I also notice a performance difference when I use mid-grade gasoline over the 87 octane, and I believe our owner owner's manual say mid-grade is recommended. Good luck

Kev12 · Sep 18, 2017

Very good info. Anyone know what kind of cost is involved in upgrading to the 4.10 gears?

2015HD · Sep 18, 2017

There are a few good reads here, here is one of them:
http://www.ramforum.com/f158/6_4_hemi_gear_swap-77499/

Too rich for my blood

theviking · Sep 18, 2017

Kev12 said:
Very good info. Anyone know what kind of cost is involved in upgrading to the 4.10 gears?

Skip right past the 4.10's and go to a 4.44 or 4.56. If you do the math (SouthTexan provided some #'s in a prior thread), 4.10's still results in lazy overall gearing with the diesel trans ratios present in our 66rfe.

Ratket · Sep 18, 2017

^ it's a couple grand- and everyone who has done gears has been extremely happy with it.

Iron Outlaw · Sep 18, 2017

I'd trade the truck in before spending that much for gears.

MN-Ram · Sep 18, 2017

Iron Outlaw said:
I'd trade the truck in before spending that much for gears.

What he said.

If all you are doing is towing with this truck, go to a 6.4, or even better, a Cummins.

If you are set on keeping this truck, and want to re-gear, go lower than the 4.10's. From everything I've read on this forum, and others, 4.10's are alright but lower gears are much better.

Ratket · Sep 18, 2017

I have a 6.4 with 3:73"s.. even if I had 4:10"s I would still want to regear as bad as I want to now. If I towed a lot I would of probably re geared by now.

Only way it will "tow better " is with gears and using all the tools listed above I.e early down shift and such.
And as far as trading it in.. only thing worth trading it in on would be a diesel and the used diesel market is a fckn joke and way over priced IMO

Towing with a 2500 5.7

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