Whats your Transmission on when towing?

redskinredtaco · May 16, 2016

I'm driving a 2015 Ram Crew Cab 2500 w/ 6.4 and 4.10 gears 4x4. I am towing a 35' travel trailer weighing about 9500lbs. I am wondering if everyone tows with there tranny in drive and tow haul mode on. I towed my travel trailer last weekend in manual shift mode staying in 5th gear with tow haul mode on the interstate, and averaged 9mpg. This weekend I towed with the tranny in drive with tow haul on and get 10mpg. The tranny shifted perfectly, and did not hunt for gears. Tranny temp stayed at 168. It seemed to me to tow much better just leaving it in drive. My last tow rig was a 2007 Tundra w/ 4.7. The Tundra had no business at all towing this camper. The weight and tongue weight was way too much.

cyclepuck · May 16, 2016

I tow very similar trailer and i will tire in D with tow haul on. If it's nice flat land i will sometimes turn tow off.

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redskinredtaco · May 16, 2016

And the factory brake controller is basically useless. I had set it all the way up to 10 to work at all. My old prodigy controller would flat out lock up the trailer tires if I had it set on 4 or more.

cyclepuck · May 16, 2016

Never had problem with brake controller as it is set half way but I have a 14 seems the 2015 have more issue with it.

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redskinredtaco · May 16, 2016

I rented a 2014 dually with the 6.4 before I bought my 2015. The controller in the 14 worked perfectly

PCT · May 16, 2016

i was pulling about 6900-7400# for about 15 miles in town, and my tranny was sitting around 168-174, i thought that was high, but sounds about average?

That trailer had 6 yards of multch, plus the trailer weights 2400#

cc rider · May 16, 2016

Its the '15s that have the issue with the factory brake controller. I myself have the problem and noticed it when stopping my 5er. Please dont tow heavy with the factory controller. You and your family can be injured or killed. There is a long thread on this topic titled "brake controller" started by kwhite with over 570 replies as of now. If you havent seen it , there is a lot of good info in there. You have a lot of reading to do

It seems like Ram knows about the issue but refuses to do anything about it right now.

redskinredtaco said:
And the factory brake controller is basically useless. I had set it all the way up to 10 to work at all. My old prodigy controller would flat out lock up the trailer tires if I had it set on 4 or more.

redskinredtaco · May 16, 2016

cc rider said:
Its the '15s that have the issue with the factory brake controller. I myself have the problem and noticed it when stopping my 5er. Please dont tow heavy with the factory controller. You and your family can be injured or killed. There is a long thread on this topic titled "brake controller" started by kwhite with over 570 replies as of now. If you havent seen it , there is a lot of good info in there. You have a lot of reading to do It seems like Ram knows about the issue but refuses to do anything about it right now.

I was a part of the thread as well. I have brought it in to the dealer 3 times for it.

2015HD · May 16, 2016

I towed my travel trailer (~6300lbs) with my 2015 2500 5.7 Hemi and 3.73 ratio 15 miles this weekend. Controller works great set on 3.5 and I got about 9mpg (big hills) but I kept it in drive w/ tow haul and it did fine.

2015HD · May 16, 2016

OK, after reading that controller thread I'm thinking I should play it safe and order a P2. I can't even imagine how bad it would be if that factory controller quit on me going down some of the hills I was on this weekend.

cableguy_hd · May 16, 2016

always in drive and t/h is used. 15 deg cooler for me on the tranny when in use

mtofell · May 16, 2016

2014 CC 2500 6.4 3.73 gears, 10,500# 5th wheel

No problems at all with the brake controller. It works far better than my Prodigy due to more settings on the fly.

Tranny temp is usually 170-180ish but can go up in hotter weather.

Shifting I'll only use D (w/TH on) when on the flat interstate or highway. When in the hills I manually shift to make up for the absolutely terrible shift points. It waits far too long to downshift and by the time it does it's already lugging in the new gear. Doing it myself makes it just a minor annoyance. Even with my old Duramax I'd often manually shift. Daily driving w/o towing, the shift points don't really bother me at all.

I think the different MPG in the OP is a coincidence rather than some miracle way to save fuel. The whole fuel usage thing is funny to me. I paid 40K for my truck and 30K for my trailer. Whether it costs me 38 or 40 dollars to drive to the campground couldn't be further from my mind.

Whats your Transmission on when towing?

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