2014 2500 6.7 ctd

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sandsailor1

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6.7 CTD
Not sure why this didn't show in the thread earlier.

I haven't seen anyone posting about the 2014 Ram 2500s yet, so I will begin.

First, I am new to this forum, but not new to Ram trucks or diesel, so I have some reasonable experience with the topic. I have previously had a 1998 Ram 1500 SLT and a 2001 Ram 1500 Laramie, a 2008 Ford F450 and multiple diesels at work.

So last week I traded in my 08 F450 Lariat (got tired of the repair bills) for a 2014 Ram 2500 4X4 SLT with the CTD. The new truck has several things I think are absolutely great, and some things that I have minor issues with. No truck is perfect, we just get the best truck we can afford at the time.

The good:
The MPG is great. The EVIC currently says I am at 17.2 MPG, and that is driving mostly back and forth to work, 18 miles evenly split highway and secondary road with traffic lights. I am very light on the pedal, and always have been. But coming out of the F450 with 10-12 MPG, 10 on the highway, this is great.
The acceleration is smooth, with plenty of torque, nothing that sets you back in your seat or anything, but I will get to that later. So far it shifts real smooth, although at a little low RPM for my taste, may have to go into the "manual" shift mode and see how that does.
The new coil spring rear end is awesome! Makes for a nice stable smooth ride that absorbs the roads real nice. Even with a car trailer on (standard pull, no trailer brakes) with a car on it, there was no sway in the rear end, and the integrated exhaust braking worked well, although I wish it stayed active to a lower rpm, I think it shut of at 1200 RPM, and with the RPMs staying so low anyway, it would only activate for a second or two at a time.

The bad:
The SLT package really lacks in gauges, I wish I had the spare cash at the time to get the Laramie package. But the lack of a engine temp gauge, trans temp gauge, or any of the other standard gauges other than RPM and speedo gas and DEF. Should have sprung for the Laramie, but I would have had to wait because I got the absolutely last CTD truck on the lot at the time.
The ULINK is finicky. Phone will lag a lot, and the truck phone speaker sounds muffled. When using the Bluetooth pairing, it is very noticeable when you are using any nav feature on the phone, most of the direction is lost in lag. The USB hookup sometimes recognizes my phone to get my playlist, most of the time it says USB device not recognized. I am sure if this worked well it would solve my nav lag issue.
And the last negative is the headlights, they are not bright enough at all. The brights are as bright as my F450 stock headlights on normal.

Overall, I like this truck very much, it does what I need and gets me good MPG while doing it. I don't tow heavy all that often anymore, but this will handle the occasional heavy load when I need to, while not killing me the rest of the time.

I have not had the chance to hand calculate the MPG yet and only have the EVIC to go by, but I am nearing 500 miles on the first (dealer filled) tank of gas.


Happy driving.
 
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sandsailor1

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I forgot one thing that I noted as I was reading over this...

This truck is a dog off the line, not sure what rear end I have, I will have to check that later, but this thing accelerates soooo slow. Although my F450 had a 4.88 rear end and could smoke the duelies at any time, this thing sure is not putting you back in your seat.
 

NWRQC

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Welcome to the site. Here is a link to get your build sheet.
Email Dodge

That should give you your build sheet for your rear end gears . Hand calculate your fuel mileage and report back, the EVIC is not known to be very accurate. My overhead shows 19-20mpg highway and 14mpg city. I get 14.1-15.3mpg hand calculated highway and 12.7 - 13.3 city, but that's mixed with some highway. My highway calculation is 99% highway as I take the same trip 2x a month.
 

Rotzilla

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You more that likley have 3:42 gears, thats the norm.
My 13 off the line is a little laggy until boost hits about 20lbs, at this point its its pretty common to break the rears loose at about 3/4 throttle.
Mind you its is completly stock.
I can't help but giggle like a little girl when I stop on the skinny pedal.:manos:
 

Power247

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6.4 HEMI
Welcome to the forum!! You may be the first '14 CTD on the site.

Mine is a '12 but I share your frustrations on several fronts...

The lack of gauges on the dash... I picked up an Edge Insight CTS and a pillar mount. It shows pretty much everything I like to watch. Also, I've read that there are some options for setting up the EVIC on the '13s and up but I have no experience with that.

Headlights... A common remedy for the dim-ish headlights is to replace the fogs with 9005 high beam bulbs. The bulb sockets are a direct match and you can pick up a set of standard Sylvania 9005s on Amazon for about $13. I never use my high beams since making the switch.

Lag off the line... You think yours is bad you should have drove my '12 before I deleted ;-) the old DPF setup really robbed the truck off the line. Add to that 3.42 gears.... Let's just say that it was different experience after having a tuned Hemi in my last truck. To me that was never a bid deal since the low end torque was still there and that was why I bought a CTD in the first place. But I have to say it is even more fun to drive now :-D

Hope you continue to enjoy your new Ram!!!


sent thru a cloud of smoke
 
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sandsailor1

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Yes, deleting and tuning makes a big difference in the performance. My F450 had that work done, but I am more concerned with the warranty with this one, so it will probably be several years before I do those items. I will end up buying pillar gauges to monitor boost and temps till then.

As well, to keep with the trend, I will post pics, and update as I do mods. For now, it is bone stoke as it came off the lot.
 

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Power247

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That is one beautiful Cummins!!!!

sent thru a cloud of smoke
 

1500ram12

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All the "gauges" are in the evic (screen between the speedo and tach) you can view them it sucks you can't see all of them at once (that I know of) it's the same in all trim packages as far as I know. Pillar pod and gauges or if you could get your hands on a bullydog tuner and just used it for the gauges would be a good route to go


Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk
 
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sandsailor1

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Just an update...

My MPG, going back and forth to work....mostly...38 miles round trip 50/50 highway and semi suburban, hand calculated two complete tanks of gas at 16.3 MPG. EVIC indicated 18.5. Close, and still not complaining about it coming from 10 - 12 MPG.

Troubles so far, putting the heat to the floor vents sometimes does not work, not sure why, but sometimes I just get a lot of air noise from the front of the dash where I assume the air distro box is and nothing out the bottom.

The rear view backup camera has spontaneously come on on two separate occasions while driving down the highway. Look over to change the radio station and...hmmmm, backup camera.

Other than that, its been great so far.
 

Statcher1

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Good looking truck man. Take it into the dealer for them to check your heat vents and camera out
 

katokahn99

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Just an update...

My MPG, going back and forth to work....mostly...38 miles round trip 50/50 highway and semi suburban, hand calculated two complete tanks of gas at 16.3 MPG. EVIC indicated 18.5. Close, and still not complaining about it coming from 10 - 12 MPG.

Troubles so far, putting the heat to the floor vents sometimes does not work, not sure why, but sometimes I just get a lot of air noise from the front of the dash where I assume the air distro box is and nothing out the bottom.

The rear view backup camera has spontaneously come on on two separate occasions while driving down the highway. Look over to change the radio station and...hmmmm, backup camera.

Other than that, its been great so far.

Your MPG looks about right. I've had mine since July and have averaged 16.3 over the life of the truck.

Do you have CHMSL lamp with camera?
 
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sandsailor1

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CHMSL lamp with camera? I have no idea what that means. Maybe, maybe not. Probably not as I have no idea what it is.
 

spankis

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CHMSL is the "Center High Mount Stop Light", and there is an option to have a camera in that lense, which can look down into the bed of the truck for hooking up 5th wheels. In order to have that option the 8.4" display is required I believe, so I doubt you've got it....

As for you truck's doggy feel (LOL) I myself have a 2007.5 Cummins with the 6.7, and the G56 manual. Dad had a 2010 Cummins with the G56 manual before his newest truck. My truck has 3.73 rear, and dads old one had the 3.42.

Now, dad recently bought a 2015 3500 Megacab Laramie with the Aisin HO (850 torque) and the 3.42 rear. I can tell you for sure that it is not the gear ratio killing your off the line performance. The lag you feel is what's called "torque management", and it's pretty conservative in stock form, and really holds back power until mid rpms from a stop. From what I understand this is intended to prevent driveline shock and damage. Dad's new truck is also a bit underwhelming from a dead stop, but by 15-20 mph it's pulling like a freight train and will almost keep up with my truck once full power is on. I figure I have a unique perspective having "sampled" a variety of 6.7 trucks myself.

For reference, I have my 2007 truck deleted and tuned using EFILive, with a dual disc clutch, and a 5" turbo back exhaust, and it's a completely different animal just with the stock turbo and injectors. I also have a tune that is specifically just stock power but with emissions deactivated and torque management disabled, and that alone REALLY wakes the truck up. Just don't go swapping rear ends expecting much of a difference. The factory turbo/timing/fuel control associated with torque management is what you're really noticing. Unfortunately there is not much in the way of tuning available for the 2013/2014 Cummins trucks, and there may not be for a while.

Congrats on the 2014!
 
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katokahn99

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CHMSL lamp with camera? I have no idea what that means. Maybe, maybe not. Probably not as I have no idea what it is.
Spankis explained it.

The reason I asked is that on my '13, the CHMSL video is displayed on the center stack in the 8.4 screen while my actual reverse/backup camera displays in my rear view mirror. Nevertheless, my 8.4 was glitchy at first and had to have the head unit replaced. Since whatever camera you have seems to be displaying on it, that could be an indicator that your 8.4 is having softwar, firmware, or electrical issues. I would have the dealer take a look.
Sure hope you get your issues resolved quickly and with no service department drama.
 

B-g-K

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As an employee of cummins I'll tell you the torque management ram put into these trucks is pretty big kick to the nuts.... Ontop of the restrictive aftertreatment needed to pass EPA requirements. Its easily one of the best aftertreatment systems on the market as several other manufacturers license the technology from cummins. It doesn't come without a sacrifice though. You have to add
DEF, you have to run very aggressive EGR, and you still
Have a DPF and DOC... Better this way than the crappy
Maxxforce equivalent found in international buses and such. The current international
Maxxforces have the deceased 7.3's rolling in their graves!
 

B-g-K

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Oh, and another thing....
Cummins just sells the engines as long blocks. We can't even work on them because ram does all the electronics. If you call me tomorrow and ask for a 6.7 with 850 lb/ft torque through us I can't provide it.
 
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sandsailor1

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That's some good information both on the engine and the camera, thank you.

I certainly have no complaints about the engine, and I do have to point out that my other diesel I compare it too was a heavily modified F450, deleted, tuned, etc. I have no plans to do anything to this truck in that form in the near future.

The alternate camera...one mounted by the upper brake light, I do have plans for that to ease the trailer hookup aspect. The lower one works perfect for the standard hitch, but getting the gooseneck is a pain in the ass.

My only thing I am concerned about and I will take it to the dealer concerning is a lot of slop in the transmission/driveline when downshifting. Sometimes when it finally decides what to do and it catches, there is enough jolt through the truck I have seen it slightly shift a load.


I will get it looked at when I get that free moment......
 

katokahn99

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That's some good information both on the engine and the camera, thank you.

I certainly have no complaints about the engine, and I do have to point out that my other diesel I compare it too was a heavily modified F450, deleted, tuned, etc. I have no plans to do anything to this truck in that form in the near future.

The alternate camera...one mounted by the upper brake light, I do have plans for that to ease the trailer hookup aspect. The lower one works perfect for the standard hitch, but getting the gooseneck is a pain in the ass.

My only thing I am concerned about and I will take it to the dealer concerning is a lot of slop in the transmission/driveline when downshifting. Sometimes when it finally decides what to do and it catches, there is enough jolt through the truck I have seen it slightly shift a load.


I will get it looked at when I get that free moment......

Yup, I got it when I ordered mine...it makes hooking up the goose neck crazy easy! The Mega makes it impossible for me to just look over my shoulder to hook up; so, I knew I would need it. Definitely worth getting it put in! Learned my lesson with a 1985 CC F250...we eventually started using a wide angle rear window lense to see the hitch. The camera is MUCH better!
 

Kbr0125

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Very nice, i will post mine when i get home tonight. I dont have the 2500 they didnt have one with what i wanted in the MEGAcab so i went with the 3500 TANK. the 2500 did ride smoother with the coils though.

For the upgraded EVIC you dont need laramine you just need to get the luxary package that includes the 7inch EVIC. If you though it was hard to find on 2500, it is really rare on the 3500 took forever to find one with that package for it unless you go top of line.
 
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