Buying a power wagon just because it’s bad @$$

[DrTron]

How do the Power Wagons, or the 2500 in general, ride compared to the 1500?

I just switched from a 2019 1500 Laramie to the PW last October. To answer your question: yes, it rides rougher, that's just Physics. A 7000lbs vehicle will require stiffer springs and dampers than a 5000lbs one.
But I got used to it pretty quickly.
Same goes for gas mileage. The 1500 would average about 18-19 mpg, and now I'm rarely seeing 14. Same reason.

My 1500 had the 33gal tank, so with the 31gal in the PW my range went down from 600mi to about 400. Admittedly, the PW is more conservative regarding fuel level, so when it reads 0 range there are still 2-3 gal left.

 

[Fatbob Frank]

I'll take the ride in my Power Wagon even after adding heavy 3ply 35s over my cousin's Chevy 1500 Trailboss...
And my other cousin has a F250 King Ranch and after using my PW to pull snowmobiles up north he's nearly ready to jump ship to a Ram...
But, my 2019 Laramie was like riding in a Cadillac...

 

[thkbaron]

The wagon I just bought rides way better than my 18 f150. Even with fox coilovers on the ford.

 

[Bad Tiki]

Yep I’m the same ! Have owned trucks almost exclusively my whole life, and started on my dads 1977 F150 300 in-line 6.
Love trucks, even had a Raptor. But the Power Wagon is the tank of trucks for me, solid, heavy, powerful, capable, bumper to bumper badass !!

 

[pjcodner]

Same for me. I traded in a 2015 for a 2023 and I agree it is a bad ass looking truck!!

 

[jabartram]

I purchased mine as a daily driver/**** hit the fan get away truck, absolutely love it.

 

[4xdad]

Love the colour

 

[ramffml]

I like the looks of them, except for the nasty labels on the side and the tiny donuts for tires. The labels wreck it, and the tires, well the proportions on them are just bizarre.

Good thing both can be changed, but I'm not ready yet to give up my cushy ride and I'd be concerned about towing 7000 pounds with it vs my 1500.

 

[olyelr]

I like the looks of them, except for the nasty labels on the side and the tiny donuts for tires. The labels wreck it, and the tires, well the proportions on them are just bizarre.

Good thing both can be changed, but I'm not ready yet to give up my cushy ride and I'd be concerned about towing 7000 pounds with it vs my 1500.

I tow an 8000 travel trailer with mine. Does it just fine. Certainly better than my half ton.

 

[ramffml]

I tow an 8000 travel trailer with mine. Does it just fine. Certainly better than my half ton.

Good to hear, I've read one or two negative reviews when it came to towing with a PW but who knows, I've read far more negative reviews on the 1500 towing that weight too.

 

[olyelr]

Good to hear, I've read one or two negative reviews when it came to towing with a PW but who knows, I've read far more negative reviews on the 1500 towing that weight too.

Yea u can certainly get some squat from the power wagon compared to a normal 2500, but with the hd running gear/frame etc. its still far superior to a half ton in every way.

 

[mtu1293]

Meh - I'm still not overly impressed with my PW (second one I've owned), but slowly getting all the stock crap replaced/ upgraded. Mine's apparently plagued by some electronic glitches lately. If I had to do it all over again would probably do something different, but now so much money invested will be keeping for awhile. Probably same size truck configuration but with a diesel. Then add lockers, winch, bumper and small lift. lol - at least my stock lockers are still working (so far). Next week new winch should be getting installed (waiting on the new bumper to arrive). One real nice thing is only needing 1.5" leveling kit to fit my 37s. Though might be going to 39s next since I've been stuck a few times with the 37s up in my neck of the woods.

 

[bcbouy]

mine tows my 22 travel trailer and a pair of fishing kayaks and all the gear with no issues at all.a good weight distribution hitch is essential.

 

[62Blazer]

Good to hear, I've read one or two negative reviews when it came to towing with a PW but who knows, I've read far more negative reviews on the 1500 towing that weight too.

The "negative" reviews are that the PW is not setup to tow as much as a regular 2500, not that it can't tow at all. A PW has a factory towing capacity of 10,000 lbs. versus an equivalent non PW 2500 with the 6.4 can be up around 14,000 lbs. A 10,000 lb. trailer is pretty decent size! The only major difference between a PW and regular 2500 in regards to towing is that the PW has softer springs....that is on paper and my personal experience. I have a PW with stock rear springs and tow next to a guy with a stock regular 2500 and it's obvious his does not squat as much. On the other hand I've towed a trailer with the PW that two different 1/2 ton rated trucks hooked to and it put both them on the bump stops. It did squat the PW more than what I like but it towed just fine. I am putting a set of air bags on mine this week.
Previous truck was a Chevy 2500HD that I bought new and put 150k miles on it, including thousands of miles towing. That truck had all of the tow package/heavy duty suspension/snow plow package options you could get. For just normal driving I honestly felt it rode just as good if not better than a stock PW. The last two sets of tires on the Chevy were the same size as the factory PW tires and ran all of the pressures about the same, so that wasn't the difference. Currently have Thuren 1.5" front springs, 1" rear spacers, and Fox 2.0 on the PW....daily driving on normal roads isn't much different, however it does soak up big bumps better, like rough railroad crossings and such.

 

[4xdad]

I guess it depends on what you want a pw wasn’t really meant for towing but it can to a certain extent. Want to tow a giant rolling house maybe a one ton is what you need. I bought my pw so i didn’t have to add winch etc. I have still added a lot of stuff to make it work the way I want but I started with a good base. There are some things I don’t like about the truck (exploding transmission) but overall it does what I want.

 

[4xdad]

I was a Chevy guy until 1987 the last year of the solid front axle. Pw solid front axle and a locker no weak a$$ ifs

 

[62Blazer]

I was a Chevy guy until 1987 the last year of the solid front axle. Pw solid front axle and a locker no weak a$$ ifs

Was always Chevy guy growing up and still own an older solid axle Blazer. Did drive a newer Chevy 2500HD for years but went with a PW (or Ram in general) for my last truck just because I wanted the solid front axle and ability to run larger tires fairly easy. Even on a normal Ram 2500 you can run 35's with just a leveling kit on the front where as you needed a full 6"+ lift kit on the Chevy for 35's, and now run 37's on my PW with just 1.5" front springs.
As I stated before the PW has a factory rated towing capacity the same as my previous Chevy 2500HD, and it never had an issue with anything I towed or hauled. Though I will say that the rear springs on the PW seem softer with more sag than the Chevy had.

Here a couple pictures of mine hauling some company trailers. This is 1.5" Thuren front springs and stock rear springs with 1" spacers on 37s. The truck cap is on the heavier side as it has flip up side glass on both sides with contractor shelves.

The first picture with the white trailer shows a decent amount of sag. Per my WeighSafe hitch (built in tongue weight scale) that was close to 1,300 lbs. of tongue weight which the PW didn't really like. The angle of the picture does make it look worse, but it does have more sag than I like. That trailer was not properly loaded and needed to have some weight moved rearwards. The total weight of the trailer was nowhere close to needing that much tongue weight. You generally ballpark tongue weight needs to be around 10-15% of the total trailer weight.....I'm guessing this trailer should of had closer to 700-800 lbs. of tongue weight. Don't worry, only had to go less than 2 miles on 35 mph roads to get to a different jobsite so no small children or animals were harmed in the process. I think it would have handled okay on the highway but would have changed the setup if I was travelling any significant distance and/or higher speeds. The trailer is setup for WDH but obviously did not bother for this trip.



This is a larger and heavier trailer (longer overall width and more heavy duty). Would guess total weight is similar to the above trailer (lighter load in it). This is about 800 lbs. tongue load which seems just right and it handles perfectly...I have towed this longer distances and freeway speeds. Haven't actually measured but would estimate maybe 1.5"-2" of sag. On paper that tongue weight would be good for around 6,000-7,000 lb. trailer, which is what I would estimate it weighed.

 

[4xdad]

Solid axles are the only way to go imho. The ride may be better with ifs but it seems to be harder on parts when you have big wheels and a big foot

 

[ramffml]

Solid axles are the only way to go imho. The ride may be better with ifs but it seems to be harder on parts when you have big wheels and a big foot

For a power wagon type of truck, yep solid axles make sense. For a tow rig, I dunno. IFS makes a ton of sense there, rides better and no death wobble.

 

[LugsLeadOut84]

I'm in the "If you like it and want it...buy it" camp. Who cares what the reason is - it's your money.
I surprised I haven't seen many of the responses I thought I would..."why buy a truck that will only see pavement", etc. Anyone berating someone for not using a truck or anything else to "its capability" is insecure, so I wouldn't be too worried. Not sure why people get bent out of shape when something doesn't concern them.