3.55 gear ratio

[Russell44]

I have a 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 SLT Crew Cab 4x4 Hemi and i would like to know how my gear ratio 3.55 handle towing a 24 ft travel trailer loaded at 6,000 pounds? My tire size is 275/55 R20 and is it safe to tow for a 2 days trip drive? Of course i'll be stopping overnights and about every 4 to 5 hrs drive. I have a WD for the trailer.

 

[jawzs2]

You should be fine, I have 3.55's in my 2010 and tow almost the exact same weight, a 27' TT, with no issues at all.

 

[Russell44]

We are going from Niagara Falls Canada to Nova Scotia ... Any suggestions for a best route? Least amounts of hilly drive lol

 

[jawzs2]

I've been to the US side of the falls, London and Toronto, but unfortunately we've never been up that way yet, sounds like a beautiful trip, hope you enjoy it and be safe.

 

[Russell44]

Yeah I hope so too...it'll be our first major trip with the trailer

 

[Marine Les]

I have 3.6 with 3.55 and wouldn't hesitate to pull your trailer. The Hemi will definitely be OK.

 

[Russell44]

Thanks

 

[markmiela]

I believe with 5.7 hemi, 3.55 gears it is rated for 8600lb.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Russell44]

Interesting... I have heavy duty coolant and heavy duty trany coolant also tow package class rated for 10,000 lbs

 

[Loudram]

Interesting... I have heavy duty coolant and heavy duty trany coolant also tow package class rated for 10,000 lbs

The OE factory hitch is rated for 10k but that doesn't mean your truck can tow that. To tow 10k with a 1500 you need 3.92 gears not 3.55. Also technically the '09 was never rated to tow 10k. Only '10 and newer. From my understanding there really isn't any difference between the '09 and '10 as far as the build goes to change the tow rating. It's just Dodge didn't rate it at 10k until all the other manufacturers started doing it. They had to keep up.

 

[TigreST]

We are going from Niagara Falls Canada to Nova Scotia ... Any suggestions for a best route? Least amounts of hilly drive lol

I've done the reverse route on a sport bike and I went this way:

*Halifax NS to Bangor MA on day one. HW-102 to 104 Trans-Canada to Moncton and then hooked up with the #1 Southwest bound aiming for St. Stephen as a boarder crossing point into the U.S.A. Took the #9 out of St. Stephen all the way into Bangor.

*Bangor MA to Amsterdam NY on day two. Did a section of I-95 then hit the #2 heading as much south and west as I could hooking up on the #115 and #116 into Littleton. The 93/302 out of Littleton. Hit the #91/302 out of Bath-Haverhill. Hit the #89 out of White River Junction / Hartford then the #4 to Fort Ann. Catch the 149/87 out of Fort Ann and run it down to Malt Ridge/Balston Spa and then #67 to Amsterdam NY.

*Amsterdam NY. to Sarnia Ontario, Canada on day three (home again). The run out of Amsterdam NY is a basic NY dash West on I-90 to the boarder crossing at Buffalo/Fort Erie.

I was not on a sight seeing trip. I flew out to ride the bike back after an inter-net purchase (mid life crisis in full swing It's bit of a crap shoot (in my humble opinion) when you transit the East coast area in New England states....it often time gets down to two lane roads which can be slow when normal rush hour traffic loads them up. Summer time transits are worse due to vacation traffic. I road this in July so lived a little bit of that dream...not fun. There will be hills and mountain terrain going this way. Great for a guy on a bike...not so much for the truck and trailer set up I'd imagine. The scenery is great, but that run out of N.S. and New Brunswick...wow..it a lot of tree's...and the fastest pick-up trucks I've ever seen....there on there way to the Beer Store!

"Three days on the road ...and I'ma gonna make it home tonight!"

T.
Yeah..thats the bike I rode back.

 

[TigreST]

One other item I've been mentioning at every chance when "pulling a trailer " is part of the topic. Google "tongue weight" and understand that you need to/want to load the tonque of the trailer/hitch assembly with a given amount of weight to keep the truck/trailer combo stable. Lightly loaded hitches can set the trailer to steering the truck and in short order your in the ditch or worse. It's worth a bit of education.

check the link: https://blog.legendboats.com/tongue-weight-the-key-to-safe-towing

 

[Russell44]

What did you mean by "lightly loaded hitches"? I have a weight distributor for the trailer (Blue Ox) ... Look like a better route is go on trans hwy Canada through Ottawa?

 

[Loudram]

What did you mean by "lightly loaded hitches"? I have a weight distributor for the trailer (Blue Ox) ... Look like a better route is go on trans hwy Canada through Ottawa?

Tongue weight needs to be about 10% to 15% of the trailer weight. You'll want the trailer sitting slightly nose down even with a wd hitch.

 

[Russell44]

Gotcha... So not even up but a little nose down right?

 

[TigreST]

Those unknowing types (waving my hands in the air here) tend to load the trailer weight over the trailer axle or to the rear of the trailer axle believing that a little less tongue weight or 50-50 split on the loading is good/best. This is not true. You need more weight on the tongue than we might think. As I said. Google is your friend and can educate you/us on the topic. Loudram is on to the math of it.

T

 

[Russell44]

Thank you

 

[TigreST]

War story: A friend built a kick ass 1984 Camora Z-28 back in the day. It went basically from the showroom to the garage and he began mods to turn it into a fast street car/bracket racer. Within a few years it was running 10.00 or a bit quicker and still street driven. He broke the rear end or transmission on a Sunday afternoon at the track after haven driven it to the track.

They hatched a plan to get the car home (bout an hour and a half away), a friend volunteered his trailer and tow vehicle to haul the Camaro. Because the nose of the car was way down in the weeds...they loaded the car on the trailer backwards so as not to trash the front end on the loading ramps (headlights facing the rear) engine behind the trailer axles. At about 45min's into the run home on HW-402.the trailer fishtailed and they lost control and the whole works ended up the ditch. It was repaired in time, but what a mess. Here's a video of the car making a pass after the repairs and after even more mods to make it go faster.

Even as this story played out I had no idea about tongue weight concerns.

:

T.

 

[TigreST]

What did you mean by "lightly loaded hitches"? I have a weight distributor for the trailer (Blue Ox) ... Look like a better route is go on trans hwy Canada through Ottawa?

I've never gone the Canadain way. I know some who have. Key would be checking on available services along the route. In some of the townships of Quebec they tend to roll the streets up at night and shut things down. Just what I've heard, no actual experience to relate. Also, when I mention New England states and traffic...that mostly relates to running up or down the coastal routes like off the Interstates..one road in particular is US-#1, which is about as close to the water as you can get. It gets comgested with vacation traffic...even when your on a bike it's difficult to make time.

T.

 

[Russell44]

Thanks