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Such a shame they can’t put better gears in these truck. High gears work on flat land. But any terrain change and they suck. My 5.7 is fine in my 2500 if it’s FLAT. I don’t live in flat land hahaHi Beautfull trailer. Now i have 2015 DRW c/c long bed 6.4 that came with 3.73 rears. My trailer is a Millennium 44 ft
G/N weight is about 9,000 lbs empty loaded 14,000. Its a 3 axle .Mine was the same as yours a little slugish so I changed both
gear sets to 4.88. Pulls GREAT now!! Can stay in 5 gear most of the time. Fuel milage is at best 9.5.mpg
I also add a fuel tank /tool box combo in bed (60 gal) I go about 700 or 800 miles then get fuel.
Hi Beautfull trailer. Now i have 2015 DRW c/c long bed 6.4 that came with 3.73 rears. My trailer is a Millennium 44 ft
G/N weight is about 9,000 lbs empty loaded 14,000. Its a 3 axle .Mine was the same as yours a little slugish so I changed both
gear sets to 4.88. Pulls GREAT now!! Can stay in 5 gear most of the time. Fuel milage is at best 9.5.mpg
I also add a fuel tank /tool box combo in bed (60 gal) I go about 700 or 800 miles then get fuel.
Well, I am back from Oklahoma with my Sundowner. The good news is the chassis with 30 psi in the Airlift bags handled the weight with absolutely no problem. No bucking, no chucking, no hobbie-horseing whatsoever. Absolutely calm going down the road. Did over 900 miles Thursday.
The less than good news is, as I feared, the 6.4/66RFE will do it under protest, but are not up to this task. This trailer is just under 12K absolutely empty. On flat ground and lower elevation, cruise set at 65, it would pull 5th gear , around 22-2300 rpm,reasonably well, sometimes 4th at around 27-2800. Add some elevation, and/or a little more roll to the hills, and 3rd at close to 4000 rpm. More elevation and steeper pulls by Albuquerque and south of Flagstaff and just too much time in 2nd gear spinning 5000 rpm for miles. To its credit, speed would drop off to 60, and she would hold it. Engine braking on steep downgrades was not very effective with this much weight. None of these were "legendary" grades, either.
MPG was mostly in the 7.5-7.9 range, which is pretty much what I expected. Couple that with the too small tank, with no aftermarket solution, and the range simply sucks. Hard to milk 200 miles out of it. Spent way too much time searching RV accessible fuel stops while driving. The chassis-cab with 74 gallons on board would be much, much better.
My Winter use will be mostly dune and desert destinations, so she'll get the job done, but I will have to go back to a Cummins for the locomotive torque, and the peace of mind of the exhaust brake.
Before anybody gets their panties in a bunch, I am not bashing the 6.4. These are my findings as someone who has towed a fair amount. Also, this trailer was not in the cards when I bought this truck. Life happens.
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Hats off to you, I would have never even considered pulling that with my 6.4. That is a big beautiful beast.
I have a 2014 2500 with the 6.4 and 3:73 gears. I tow 7,000 cargo trailer loaded with construction equipment and it works great! A buddy of mine has a f550 service truck with a crane and loaded with well parts and fittings, weighs 22,000lbs rolling, it broke down and I had to tow him 6 miles up a few good hills and got up to 50mph on the high way. Taking off it was grunting but did a lot better than I thought! These 6.4's are tough gassers
I have have never put the boat on a scale. If I had to guess it would be around 15K. Could be a little more
The only complaint I have towing is the transmission ratios in 2nd gear, getting going on a steep hill is a challenge.
4x4Another issue I've seen on steep hills is wheel spin. Watched a dually Powerstroke pulling a heavy horse trailer try to get started and just spin repeatedly. Finally had to back down the hill after clearing all traffic.
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People think that if they feel the load behind their truck their engine is to small. I have towing bigger boats than this with my stock 2000 cummins and never thought I needed a larger motor. Now the new diesels have over double the Torque that that truck had.