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

[hounddog]

Interested in hearing your opinions on how the truck tows and any disappointments. Thanks.

Yes I am.

I have a '14 bighorn crew cab 4x4 ctd with the Aisin and 3.73.
No disappointing things at all. It rides nicely for a dually, gets very reasonable fuel economy and pulls like a beast. Best of all loads don't control the truck, the truck controls the load. The dually is just vastly superior at handling a large trailer with amazing stability.

Word of advice: stay FAR away from the 3.42 gears and the 68rfe transmission. The lockup torque converter doesn't like the programming in combination with the gearing and you end up with a seriously confused transmission and super hard shifts or super sloppy shifts. Often both in the same acceleration upshift. Part of the trouble is that ram didn't give the learning software the ability to differentiate between tow haul and regular mode, so it confuses the programming.

My '14 2500 CTD with the 68rfe and 3.42s suffered SEVERELY from this. Two reflashes only let it act normally until it was hooked back up to the 13,400lb loaded weight 5er we have.

My new dually with the Aisin and 3.73 has NONE of those issues and is amazing.

My dad, a farmer by birth and an engineer by trade, suggested this; "You either have a truck that gets great economy or you have a truck thats meant for pulling. You can't have both."

My personal experience now is that he's right. You have to choose which you want.

 

[hounddog]

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.

Isn't the OEM 3500 air springs a complete replacement for the rear leaves? For some.reason that's what I was thinking anyway.

 

[loveracing1988]

Isn't the OEM 3500 air springs a complete replacement for the rear leaves? For some.reason that's what I was thinking anyway.

No, the air suspension in the 2500's replace the coils but the 3500's keep their leaf springs no matter what.

 

[hounddog]

No, the air suspension in the 2500's replace the coils but the 3500's keep their leaf springs no matter what.

Looks like the load springs are eliminated and the top springs are used as an axle locator. Interesting.

 

[Mega-Hemi]

Here you are bosshog.
What do you tow.... with pictures. - Dodge Cummins Diesel Forum

Ok, that just killed another hour..

 

[BossHogg]

stay FAR away from the 3.42 gears and the 68rfe transmission. The lockup torque converter doesn't like the programming in combination with the gearing and you end up with a seriously confused transmission and super hard shifts or super sloppy shifts.

Didn't expect to hear this and this is not what I'm reading on RV forums or the Cummins forum. Could the issue be unique to your vehicle?

I can't justify the cost of the Aisin tranny and I don't need a transmission designed for commercial duty (or PTO). I'm not towing that much weight with respect to the maximum capabilities of the vehicle with the 68rfe transmission and Cummins engine.

 

[hounddog]

Didn't expect to hear this and this is not what I'm reading on RV forums or the Cummins forum. Could the issue be unique to your vehicle?

I can't justify the cost of the Aisin tranny and I don't need a transmission designed for commercial duty (or PTO). I'm not towing that much weight with respect to the maximum capabilities of the vehicle with the 68rfe transmission and Cummins engine.

OK what is going on with this transmission? (2014 68RFE) - Dodge Cummins Diesel Forum

http://www.ramforum.com/f44/really_hard_downshifts_2013_ctd_68rfe-36822/

68rfe Headaches - Dodge Cummins Diesel Forum

There are many other threads in many forums all having similar issues. Some are even smoking transmissions. Its a disaster of a setup. However, if you're not towing more then 12-14k lbs you might seriously want to consider the 6.4l.

http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/news/tcm-debuts-2014-ram-3500

 

[hounddog]

And yes, mine was a bit worse then some others. It was also eating front high pressure fuel injectors, which made the decision to be rid of it quite easy.

 

[mbrooks43]

Asisn

I thought by going with the cheaper transmission they restricted the Cummins to around 660ft lbs of torque, not the 865lb it has with the asisn transmission.

 

[loveracing1988]

I thought by going with the cheaper transmission they restricted the Cummins to around 660ft lbs of torque, not the 865lb it has with the asisn transmission.

With the manual transmission it is around that torque output. With the 68rfe though it is 800 ft lbs.