Anyone Towing a Fiver with a 13/14 RAM3500 Cummins?

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14hemiexpress

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I did some work on a guys trailer that does marketing. He had a 53ft goose neck and I noticed his truck sitting under a tree and asked how he liked it and he said he loved it plenty of power. It was the HO 6.7 with the Aisin. He said going up a grade he could gain speed with no effort. He was hauling a mock jet weight in at 2800lbs but he had a lot of equipment I would say no less than 15000 rolling down the road I should of asked but didn't.
 
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BossHogg

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Go to cummins forum.com and you will read of many satisfied people.

Thank you for the suggestion, yes many happy people there but I'm looking for more results on late models tugs. This is why I asked about MY13/14, doesn't seem to be many results posted yet in the Cummins forum or any where else I can find.

I'm looking at the 3500 SRW Cummins, 3.42 axle ratio (all I can get), and the 68RFE transmission. I can't justify the Aisin since I'm told (dealer) that transmission is for full time heavy pulling. I'm going to pull a fiver (less than 14K) for a year or so while my wife and I tour the country.

Since I can't test drive tugs with a fiver behind them, I need opinions before dropping 70K.
 

14hemiexpress

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I haven't towed many goosenecks/ fifth wheel trailers, I have towed and have experience pulling a 39ft enclosed goose neck with race car and tools generator, ect weighing about 12000 with a f-250 6.0 plenty of power, a new 6.7 will be more than enough power, Aisin or not, but if it was me and I'm pulling a decent sized trailer for a year I would go DRW the SRW on the 250 seemed a little unstable. Although our trailer had a generator and 50-60 gallon tank on the front so all that weight was in the bed.
 

Jerry1984

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Here you are bosshog.
What do you tow.... with pictures. - Dodge Cummins Diesel Forum
I have been researching between 2500 cummins, 2500 gas and 1500 gas. I tow a ~6500 pound camper with a 4 wheeler and dirt bike either in bed, or on a trailer behind the camper. I think I'm going to go with the 1500 as the other 99% of the time it will be better and will still tow the camper okay. If not I'll go with a lighter camper. If I was towing as heavy as you it would be the diesel. Good luck.
 

Ratket

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Thank you for the suggestion, yes many happy people there but I'm looking for more results on late models tugs. This is why I asked about MY13/14, doesn't seem to be many results posted yet in the Cummins forum or any where else I can find.

I'm looking at the 3500 SRW Cummins, 3.42 axle ratio (all I can get), and the 68RFE transmission. I can't justify the Aisin since I'm told (dealer) that transmission is for full time heavy pulling. I'm going to pull a fiver (less than 14K) for a year or so while my wife and I tour the country.

Since I can't test drive tugs with a fiver behind them, I need opinions before dropping 70K.




then drop 40k and go with the 6.4 hemi, it will pull that easy.
 
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BossHogg

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I would go DRW

Don't want to do that. The wife and I explore lighthouses and a few we visited this summer are on single lane, very narrow dirt roads that are miles long (they have areas where one vehicle can pull to the side when two vehicles meet). The width of the DRW is too much for a few of these roads we traveled this past summer.
 
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BossHogg

BossHogg

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Here you are bosshog.
What do you tow.... with pictures. - Dodge Cummins Diesel Forum
I have been researching between 2500 cummins, 2500 gas and 1500 gas. I tow a ~6500 pound camper with a 4 wheeler and dirt bike either in bed, or on a trailer behind the camper. I think I'm going to go with the 1500 as the other 99% of the time it will be better and will still tow the camper okay. If not I'll go with a lighter camper. If I was towing as heavy as you it would be the diesel. Good luck.

Thanks for the link, I saw that thread a few weeks ago when I started looking for experiences. That thread doesn't talk about tow experiences but is a show-and-tell of what they hook up too.
 

loveracing1988

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then drop 40k and go with the 6.4 hemi, it will pull that easy.

I don't care what the rating says. If I were going to pull over 12000 pounds on even a semi regular basis I would be going with a Cummins.

To the OP, why are you looking at the 3500 if you sticking with the srw? The 2500 tow rating is pretty much the same and the ride will be much better, especially if you got air suspension.
 

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but the fuel consumption of the gasser is unrealistic.

Again, I'm interested in 6.7L RAM3500 SRW 5th wheel towing experiences.
If you're only towing for a year, get the Big Hemi. You won't recoup the Cummins buy-in within a year. If you're keeping the truck for a long time, then go Cummins.
 

Birddog

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While I don't have a fiver or a 3500 my stats are near the same so I think my opinion would be valid. I'm towing a dual axle 35 foot 12K+ travel trailer (toy hauler) so all my weight is on the bumper with a weight distribution hitch. The fiver tows easier than my set up. While I don't have the SRW 3500 I do have a SRW 2500 Cummins and I beleive the only difference would be payload because of a different spring set up. My truck is leveled so I have the Airlift 5000 Ultimate air system to lift the sag when I'm loaded.

I love my truck!! The ride is smooth and the pull is effortless. I'm only getting 9.5 mpg average but that's because I have a 6" lift on 35 inch wheels. More air gets under my rig and there is a substantial weight gain, not just in equipment but in rotational weight. With stock wheels I was averaging near 20.5 mpg unloaded and 12 mpg loaded. Also, I'm not sure what cab configuration you want but I'm in a mega cab which also adds weight to the equation.

I don't know what you really wanted to hear but if you're asking my recommendation, I say "get your 3500 SRW Cummins, you won't regret it."

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14hemiexpress

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Don't want to do that. The wife and I explore lighthouses and a few we visited this summer are on single lane, very narrow dirt roads that are miles long (they have areas where one vehicle can pull to the side when two vehicles meet). The width of the DRW is too much for a few of these roads we traveled this past summer.

I would say go with your 3500 6.7 it will be plenty of power. what size of fifth wheel you plan on pulling? What's the hitch weight? If the hitch weight is easily handled by a 2500 you may consider that due to for the rear coil suspension a lot better ride unloaded for driving around. I know your looking for 13/14 but the 2015 3500 I believe are going coil also ( if someone can confirm or deny that would be great). The coil suspension will make a big difference in ride quality. The 6.7 is a powerhouse and you won't have any power issues the rest of it just comes down to the trailer weight and hitch weight of the camper you plan on pulling.
 

loveracing1988

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I would say go with your 3500 6.7 it will be plenty of power. what size of fifth wheel you plan on pulling? What's the hitch weight? If the hitch weight is easily handled by a 2500 you may consider that due to for the rear coil suspension a lot better ride unloaded for driving around. I know your looking for 13/14 but the 2015 3500 I believe are going coil also ( if someone can confirm or deny that would be great). The coil suspension will make a big difference in ride quality. The 6.7 is a powerhouse and you won't have any power issues the rest of it just comes down to the trailer weight and hitch weight of the camper you plan on pulling.

No, the 3500 is keeping leaf springs. You can get the air helper Springs which allows them to run softer springs but it isn't going to coils.
 
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BossHogg

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I don't care what the rating says. If I were going to pull over 12000 pounds on even a semi regular basis I would be going with a Cummins.

To the OP, why are you looking at the 3500 if you sticking with the srw? The 2500 tow rating is pretty much the same and the ride will be much better, especially if you got air suspension.

Yes the tow rating is identical between the 2500 and 3500 but not the payload. The pin weight of a 5th wheel runs about 20 to 25% of the trailer weight. This would pretty much consume and likely overwhelm the payload of a 2500.
 

loveracing1988

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Yes the tow rating is identical between the 2500 and 3500 but not the payload. The pin weight of a 5th wheel runs about 20 to 25% of the trailer weight. This would pretty much consume and likely overwhelm the payload of a 2500.

I forgot you wanted the Cummins. If you went the gas motor route you would have plenty of payload. When you go the Cummins route though it knocks pretty much 1000 pounds off of your payload.
 

Birddog

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Thank you, this is the feedback I'm looking for.

Since you do lots of traveling, I'd highly recommend getting the 4x4. Not necessarily because your intention is to go off road but I have been in a couple of situations with my heavy trailer where the ground was soft and the weight ran my rear into the ground. I shifted it into 4x4 and saved myself from a bad situation.

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Esgordon123

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I drive a tractor trailer for a living. I see a lot of guys out there that deliver the 5ers to the dealerships. I have talked to a few with newer model rams. The seem to all say they are very well built to do that task and none have has any problems. One guy I was talking to up in pa said his had 250.000 miles and all he had done was maint and batteries.


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