Towing with 1500 and air suspension

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ramffml

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Every thing is set up properly. The truck is level with the air suspension and WDH. When in Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida it towed really nice. The problem is that I live in Arizona and everywhere I travel I have mountains to climb. That is when she struggles. If I leave the cruise control on it will be at 42 - 4400 RPM all day long trying to maintain speed. To keep it from screaming I just let it slow down when going over a pass and large prolonged elevation changes so that I can control the RPM. I don’t have any bounce or sway. It tows wonderful on flat level roads and never gets out of 7th gear. If I have any incline whatsoever it is in 6th gear until I hit the big climbs then it will downshift again and be in the 42 - 4400 rpm range. Not sure how good it is to have the RPM that high all day long. My oil life went from 100% to 12% over that trip to Florida so I know the engine was working very hard.

To be honest I would never ever use cruise while towing. There are a lot of minor dips and inclines in a road that cruise control will blindly (stupidly) try to maintain an exact speed over, it's much easier on your truck to "run" down the dip and "coast" up the blip. Your speed may vary, but if you're in truck traffic they'll probabyl be doing the same thing anyway. Bonus points for saving gas

Your experience sounds like mine, just ahead 1 gear (I have a 3.21) so I normally tow in 6th though 25% of my last trip was in OD which was a shock for me.

I had to get over the screaming RPMs as well. I think it hurts me more than the engine, as normally if my truck goes past 2000 RPMs then something is wrong and I'm in a hurry. But at 4400 RPM its making pretty much peak power for towing so that's where it wants to be at if you're working it hard.

The biggest thing is to pay attention to your temps, oil and transmission. If your oil starts bumping past 250 then definitely change to a full synthetic (and I would also recommend a 30 weight but that is somewhat controversial it seems) and slow down. If you run past 250 for too long, dump the oil as soon as you can regardless of what the little monitor says as it's not all that smart.
 

Randy Grant

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To be honest I would never ever use cruise while towing. There are a lot of minor dips and inclines in a road that cruise control will blindly (stupidly) try to maintain an exact speed over, it's much easier on your truck to "run" down the dip and "coast" up the blip. Your speed may vary, but if you're in truck traffic they'll probabyl be doing the same thing anyway. Bonus points for saving gas

Your experience sounds like mine, just ahead 1 gear (I have a 3.21) so I normally tow in 6th though 25% of my last trip was in OD which was a shock for me.

I had to get over the screaming RPMs as well. I think it hurts me more than the engine, as normally if my truck goes past 2000 RPMs then something is wrong and I'm in a hurry. But at 4400 RPM its making pretty much peak power for towing so that's where it wants to be at if you're working it hard.

The biggest thing is to pay attention to your temps, oil and transmission. If your oil starts bumping past 250 then definitely change to a full synthetic (and I would also recommend a 30 weight but that is somewhat controversial it seems) and slow down. If you run past 250 for too long, dump the oil as soon as you can regardless of what the little monitor says as it's not all that smart.
Dash display.jpg
 

Randy Grant

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To be honest I would never ever use cruise while towing. There are a lot of minor dips and inclines in a road that cruise control will blindly (stupidly) try to maintain an exact speed over, it's much easier on your truck to "run" down the dip and "coast" up the blip. Your speed may vary, but if you're in truck traffic they'll probabyl be doing the same thing anyway. Bonus points for saving gas

Your experience sounds like mine, just ahead 1 gear (I have a 3.21) so I normally tow in 6th though 25% of my last trip was in OD which was a shock for me.

I had to get over the screaming RPMs as well. I think it hurts me more than the engine, as normally if my truck goes past 2000 RPMs then something is wrong and I'm in a hurry. But at 4400 RPM its making pretty much peak power for towing so that's where it wants to be at if you're working it hard.

The biggest thing is to pay attention to your temps, oil and transmission. If your oil starts bumping past 250 then definitely change to a full synthetic (and I would also recommend a 30 weight but that is somewhat controversial it seems) and slow down. If you run past 250 for too long, dump the oil as soon as you can regardless of what the little monitor says as it's not all that smart.


I tow in cruise all the time with no problems at all, but to each his/her own. Cruise doesn't maintain a perfect even speed anyway on up and down roads .I easily run in 8th at 60, no problem with temps on trans or water. And, on my last 3000 mile trip averaged a little better than 12mpg hand calc.20210114_111811.jpgDash display.jpg
 

ramffml

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I tow in cruise all the time with no problems at all, but to each his/her own. Cruise doesn't maintain a perfect even speed anyway on up and down roads .I easily run in 8th at 60, no problem with temps on trans or water. And, on my last 3000 mile trip averaged a little better than 12mpg hand calc.

So your 8th with the 3.92 is equal to my 7th with the 3.21, that makes sense. I got about 10.5 mpg on my way up and 12 mpg on the way back on my last trip. I was just surprised how much better my truck is towing this year, my first year it wanted to live in 5th quite a bit and would settle for 6 but not even think about 7th, this year it has done quite a bit in 7th so far. Maybe the ole hemi is finally broken in lol.

Your trailer is huge, bigger and heavier than mine, but the physics is probably different as well. I suspect the air flow over a 5w is better than over a TT as with a TT the face sits much farther back from the truck and the air is flowing over the cab of the truck and then down toward the bed and then back up over the face of the trailer again; with a 5w it reminds me of those big rig setups where they put a air spoiler over the roof of the cab, you have less air trying to pass over the face of the trailer.

Of course I could be way out to lunch on all that.
 

Randy Grant

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So your 8th with the 3.92 is equal to my 7th with the 3.21, that makes sense. I got about 10.5 mpg on my way up and 12 mpg on the way back on my last trip. I was just surprised how much better my truck is towing this year, my first year it wanted to live in 5th quite a bit and would settle for 6 but not even think about 7th, this year it has done quite a bit in 7th so far. Maybe the ole hemi is finally broken in lol.

Your trailer is huge, bigger and heavier than mine, but the physics is probably different as well. I suspect the air flow over a 5w is better than over a TT as with a TT the face sits much farther back from the truck and the air is flowing over the cab of the truck and then down toward the bed and then back up over the face of the trailer again; with a 5w it reminds me of those big rig setups where they put a air spoiler over the roof of the cab, you have less air trying to pass over the face of the trailer.

Of course I could be way out to lunch on all that.
Don't know that much about the aerodynamics and all, although you are probably right, but the weight over axle as opposed to behind axle makes towing much more stable. Especially in windy conditions, although I won't tow when it gets unsafe.
 

Irishthreeper

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Between Florida and the Mich UP I’ve driven the past 2 weeks I used cruise for the first time towing. Granted it’s fairly flat with some significant inclines lol. I tended to run mostly at 2200, some 2800 and less 3500 rpm, set at 65 mph. My mpg was probably a mile better than not using cruise. I’ve actually gotten used to enjoying hearing my 6.4 Hemi run at 2800 and 3500 rpm…it’s like she wants to run!
 

Elcorbs

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I would always watch the temps when climbing those hills. Love being able to see them all on 1 page. Yes it is probably me that hurts the most listening to the Hemi making power to pull the RV.
 

runamuck

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I recently towed our 28' 6000# travel trailer from DFW to woodland park, co. and back. no problems in the mountains or even Raton pass. traveled a little slower than usual at 67-68 and got 9.8 for the whole trip.
 
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