Can the 3.73 do it

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ACEd

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Need to pull fifth wheel with a 13000 lb dry weight. Looking to buy 2018 Ram 2500 6.4l. Having a hard time finding one with 4.10 rear axle. Whould I be risking breaking my truck if I bought a 3.73. Most diesel options are not in my budget.
Current Specs for 2021 2500 with 6.4 Hemi and 3.73 is 14,000 +/- depending on Cab and Drive. The bigger the cab, the lower the Tow Spec - Megacab 13,970. The 2WD are lighter and therefore have higher Tow Capacity - 2WD Standard Cab 15,040.

This makes certain assumptions as to other load in tow vehicle - number of passengers, other weights such as luggage, and as you are no doubt aware, dry weight of a towed RV would be increased significantly by fluids and other content.

The 6.4 Hemi with 4.10 ranges from 16,460 Megacab to 17,540 2WD Standard Cab, as above. For reference,the 6.7 Diesel with 3.73 shows up to 20,000 for everything except 8 ft bed 4WD and Megacab.

So I would say you would be at/above the limit with 6.4 Hemi and 3.73 gears and would be significantly unhappy in hill country.
 

Elkman

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My concern with a heavy trailer is the ability to accelerate to safely merge with traffic with a 50+ foot long rig. It also affects the ability to safely pass a slow moving vehicle on the road in terms of amount of time I am exposed. It comes down to the lb ft of torque and at what RPM. My pickup with the diesel V-8 produced maximum torque at 1700 RPMs whereas my gas powered ones needed more than 3400 RPM's and produced less torque even then.

Acceleration lanes on older highways can be very short and the majority of motorists and truckers will not go out of the slow lane to let other motorists safely merge. This can mean needing to go from 20 mph to 55 mph in less than 200 feet to have a chance of merging without incident.

With a 13,000 lb trailer I view the diesel engine as a form of life insurance for myself and my passengers. If I could not afford the diesel pickup then I would get a much lighter trailer. Unfortunately with the Trump tax on aluminum still in effect and lighter trailer is much more expensive to buy so it is worth looking for a used one and taking advantage of the depreciation.
 

dwade

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You will be money ahead to hire it moved if it is a one time thing.

Charles
+1 on this.

One the OP doesn't mention is how far he's going to pull it and what kind of terrain he's going to pull it through. I've been pulling all sorts of things for 45+ years and I know that if you're going short haul on flat roads and not using major highways you could use what you're looking to buy. The whole game changes if you moving this more than a couple hundred miles and you're terrain is everything between flat and mountainous.
 

runamuck

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if you are thinking diesel but they dont fit your budget, buy used. the ram 2500/3500 diesel models have not changed much the last few years so look at 16-18 models. the main reason to buy newer is if you are considering a gasser you get the 8 speed.
 

dhay13

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there is a nice 2016 2500 Laramie at a local dealer. all white, CCSB, Cummins, leather, sunroof. 47,000 miles. $58,000. looks nice but hard to justify $58,000 for a 5 year old truck with 47,000 miles. I'm not interested. Even if i was in the market it doesn't have the full console so that is a deal breaker for me. My son just bought a 2021 Cummins for $68,00 brand new with full console but his is the night edition without leather, sunroof and sliding rear window
 

tgrfan2

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Need to pull fifth wheel with a 13000 lb dry weight. Looking to buy 2018 Ram 2500 6.4l. Having a hard time finding one with 4.10 rear axle. Whould I be risking breaking my truck if I bought a 3.73. Most diesel options are not in my budget. To clarify, I am only moving the 5th wheel once, not multiple times
I wouldn't worry about it if you are towing it one time or even a few times. I drove my bro-in-laws Hemi pulling a 8500# TT and it did fine. I think you have an 8 speed tranny. That is 2 more gears than I have ever had! just use that dial!
 

Bigdaddy

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I had a 2500 3.73 gears and I had a 2500 with the 4.10 gears and if you can get the 4.10 gears now it will be hard to find one on the lot so I had to order mines and I can tell you after having the 4.10 gears I wouldn't want the 3.73 gears but if you never had one with the 4.10 gears you wouldn't know.
 

Bigdaddy

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there is a nice 2016 2500 Laramie at a local dealer. all white, CCSB, Cummins, leather, sunroof. 47,000 miles. $58,000. looks nice but hard to justify $58,000 for a 5 year old truck with 47,000 miles. I'm not interested. Even if i was in the market it doesn't have the full console so that is a deal breaker for me. My son just bought a 2021 Cummins for $68,00 brand new with full console but his is the night edition without leather, sunroof and sliding rear window
You should be able to get a brand new one for that but it will probably be a Tradesman trim level you even might be able to get a 1 ton which that is what I would try to do, I know I been there. Oh forgot one more thing 13,000lbs dry weight is not going to be that look at more like 15,000lbs.
 

dhay13

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You should be able to get a brand new one for that but it will probably be a Tradesman trim level you even might be able to get a 1 ton which that is what I would try to do, I know I been there. Oh forgot one more thing 13,000lbs dry weight is not going to be that look at more like 15,000lbs.
I'm not in the market, just posting about it. My son bought a 2021 2500 Cummins Night Edition a few months ago. Sticker was $68,000 and they wouldn't budge off of that. His has the full console, 8" touch screen nav but no sliding rear window. Seems to be pretty loaded other than that.
 

Bigdaddy

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How do he like it? That's how the market now.
 

dhay13

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How do he like it? That's how the market now.
He likes it. He isn't towing anymore though. When he had his other other truck (2018 2500 6.4 Hemi) he put 95,000 miles on it in 2 years with 9000 of those towing his 8100lb TT across the country for work. He changed jobs and is home every night now so is selling the camper now but there is a chance that next year he goes back to driving alot more. Not as much as before but still quite a bit. The high miles on his 2018 killed the value so he wants to try to minimize that next time so wanted the Cummins. His companies have always paid for his fuel so the mileage difference didn't matter to him, more the depreciation for high miles
 

Bigdaddy

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He's very smart.
 
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