500 Miles of Towing

[Cudapower]

I just finished a trip with my camper which is a 28 foot high profile trailer that weighs around 7500 lbs. I had a 2013 1500 Ram Big Horn, hemi, air ride, 8 speed 3.92 that I pulled with and now have a 2019 Laramie hemi, air ride, 8 speed 3.92. Here are a few differences I have noticed. Note: people tend to over react on the internet. I am not upset or mad or suicidal. I am just talking about the differences I see in the trucks. I like Rams very much. I have noticed that both empty and loaded the new truck gets about 1 mile per gallon better mileage than my old truck. Empty it will run 19 to 21 depending on the hills, and dragging my open car trailer with a 4500 lb car it got 13. Dragging my camper it did 9 to 9.4. This is on the computer with a tank of gas burnt each reading. I noticed that the 2019 when it pulls to 3000 rpm there is a definite change in the engine sound that my old truck did not have. It almost sounds like the turbo kicks in but nothing happens. Its just a strange something kicks in sound that I wonder if anyone else has noticed. Next observation is I am pretty disappointed with the navigation system. it is very hard to program and the map runs at about 900 feet which does not show the road ahead much at all. Yes it has a plus and minus zoom on it but it automatically switches back to about 1 block range to see the road. It could be me being inexperienced with it but my wifes Murano has a Nav that works much easier and more efficient. Another observation that I don't care for is they have changed the hitch receiver so that there is hardly no place to hook the safety chains for the trailers. They used to have standard loops on each side same for all trucks but not now. The sides have a slot, a small round hole and a small square hole. I have no idea what some engineer was thinking. The air ride I have always liked works faster and is more responsive I really enjoy it. The trucks interior is beautiful although I have the bench seat with folding center and the storage in the arm rest is about half of what the 2013 had. Just some observations, I love the truck.

 

[Mike Ruocco]

You can change the auto zoom. It is in the settings for the map.

 

[Cudapower]

Thanks Ill check on that.

 

[crash68]

I just finished a trip with my camper which is a 28 foot high profile trailer that weighs around 7500 lbs. I had a 2013 1500 Ram Big Horn, hemi, air ride, 8 speed 3.92 that I pulled with and now have a 2019 Laramie hemi, air ride, 8 speed 3.92. Here are a few differences I have noticed. Note: people tend to over react on the internet. I am not upset or mad or suicidal. I am just talking about the differences I see in the trucks. I like Rams very much. I have noticed that both empty and loaded the new truck gets about 1 mile per gallon better mileage than my old truck. Empty it will run 19 to 21 depending on the hills, and dragging my open car trailer with a 4500 lb car it got 13. Dragging my camper it did 9 to 9.4. This is on the computer with a tank of gas burnt each reading. I noticed that the 2019 when it pulls to 3000 rpm there is a definite change in the engine sound that my old truck did not have. It almost sounds like the turbo kicks in but nothing happens. Its just a strange something kicks in sound that I wonder if anyone else has noticed.

It might be the cooling fan. It's electric now, when that kick into full speed it sounds like a small jet engine. Gen5 trucks use a same sized electric fan as the EcoD (850 watt).
Even building 25psi of boost(pulling an 8K enclosed car hauler), I think I can hear the fan over the turbo...lol When pulling that trailer, I get 14-15 mpg.

 

[dan212]

I have a 2018 2500 Diesel. over 7K Pounds.

The problem with the navigation system is that it is for a car. A passenger car.
It will send you down routes where you are not legal. My 2500 Diesel has commercial plates (per New York Law because of weight). It will send me down parkways and pikes that do not allow commercial traffic (which would be vehicles that say Commercial or truck).

I know the nav is wrong because it sends me on roads where I am not legal. I know this is true because I called FCA, tracked down the company that makes the 8.4 Screen (Navitech) who buys the actual hardware from Harmon-Becker and then tracked down the engineer at Garmin (yes Garmin) who actually put together the Nav software. He was very specific. FCA asked for passenger Nav only. Garmin obviously can deliver Nav that will at least keep me off no commercial traffic routes because I have my GARMIN Truck Nav attached with a suction cup right above me useless built in passenger car Nav.

observation is I am pretty disappointed with the navigation system. it is very hard to program and the map runs at about 900 feet which does not show the road ahead much at all. Yes it has a plus and minus zoom on it but it automatically switches back to about 1 block range to see the road. It could be me being inexperienced with it but my wifes Murano has a Nav that works much easier and more efficient.

 

[KansasBob]

I just finished 1800 miles in a gen III pulling pretty much the same thing. Same motor, and gears, but a 5 speed auto. On a calm day, or just a hint of a tail wind I get 10 MPG indicated. Head wind I drop to 8.7. That's pretty much my regular range. If I have a good tail wind I've seen 12, and If I can fall in behind a semi I gain 2 to 3 MPG. 3000 RPM may be where your cam phasers advance the cam and change the engine note? My clutch fan is a nucence, and will be swapped out for an electric one before next long trip.

 

[Karls-a-Rebel]

I just completed 3000km of towing with my new 2019, 5.7 Hemi, 3.92 non-air suspension. The first 1500km with a travel trailer weighing in at 4500lbs and the last half with a 6500lb travel trailer. Maybe I'm wrong but maybe the MPG will improve as the truck gets a little more broke in. I started towing with only 800km on the truck. I use a Blue-OX SwayPro WDH setup.

Here are my impressions.

During cross wind conditions I notice more trailer sway with the truck then I did with my Jeep Grand Cherokee when towing. It was all manageable and but I did not feel as confident as I was with my Jeep.

I had nothing but head wind or strong cross wind the entire trip except for the last day.

I got 11-12 MPG with the lighter trailer but the towing was also at reduced speeds (for break-in) and when I drove faster with the trailer I got about 10 MPG.
I got 8-9 MPG when towing the heavier trailer which was at or just below posted highway speeds.
On the last day I had a slight tail wind and averaged between 10-11 MPG.

I bought the truck because I wanted to feel more confident when pulling the trailer but the sway was a bit unnerving at times... Maybe the Jeep with the V8 would have been a better choice... I hope I'm wrong.

 

[KansasBob]

Wheel base will effect your "sway" with a given trailer. I pulled a 16' Hybrid with a 98 Explorer, and It HAD to have sway control. Over the last 4 years I've pulled a 21' hard side TT with the 05 Ram 1500, and it didn't sway, all the way up to 70MPH with No sway, or weight distribution hitch.

 

[Karls-a-Rebel]

Wheel base will effect your "sway" with a given trailer. I pulled a 16' Hybrid with a 98 Explorer, and It HAD to have sway control. Over the last 4 years I've pulled a 21' hard side TT with the 05 Ram 1500, and it didn't sway, all the way up to 70MPH with No sway, or weight distribution hitch.

My new RAM is a Crew Cab which has a 4" longer wheel base the then previous model... so any idea why mine would sway?

 

[ISellRams22]

sway is generally developed by weight distribution being wrong or by there being an incorrect amount of tongue weight. not to assume but i would imagine your ball on the hitch is in the incorrect height position. also make sure your loading your trailer with the correct distribution. i work for ram and have ridden in these new trucks with all variances of weights and i have never felt so confident in a truck with a trailer. not to sound like the over biased ram guy defending their every move but thats who i am lol. 99% of the time its not the truck its us not having the right hitch or weight distribution

 

[crash68]

My new RAM is a Crew Cab which has a 4" longer wheel base the then previous model... so any idea why mine would sway?

There is a member on here, VernDiesel. Check out some of his post on the in's and out's of getting the WDH set properly, trailer load and tongue weights. Shorter tow vehicles are more susceptible to swaying but if the trailer is set up correctly it's not a problem.

A recent post by Vern about trailer set up:
https://www.ramforum.com/threads/2016-ram-trailer-swaying.124834/

 

[runamuck]

towed my 6000# travel trailer with my new '19 the last cpl. days. got some shimmy that I think I can eliminate with the helwig sway bar upgrade. got the " incredibly loud jet motor" fan noise when stopped very long, the headache inducing drone sound at certain speeds, the annoying auto parking brake when trying to hitch/unhitch trailer on a slight incline, and when I plugged in my phone to charge, u-connect knocked my radio off the air and I had to fiddle with that while driving to get my tunes back....just annoying stuff but requiring some tweaks now that I am home.