Did you buy a Gasser or a Diesel?

[Trap_Shooter]

View attachment 201536

Less than 5 weeks and I have nearly 700 miles on this.

Came at a bad time in life but we took the plunge. With a baby on the way. I got my own baby! 2019 2500 tradesman 6.4 with 4.10


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How’s it tow with the 4.10s?


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[farmallboy]

How’s it tow with the 4.10s?


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I'm restricted to "being easy" on the throttle and top speed at the moment but I'll say it just takes off like nothing. My last truck had same rear end but I think the torque band on the 6.4 matches well to this gearing. Staying under 50 at the moment is hard because without trying you're there. Now this load was the heaviest I've hauled a distance. Only 6500 with trailer. But it moves it easy. I'm wanting to get a couple of my antiques loaded this summer after few more miles and push 11k on the trailer and see how she performs.

The gearing just seems to make a difference. I had a stock 03 CTD and it took good amount of RPM to move about 9k up a fair grade. I can duplicate that experience soon and I'll be curious to see what I think.


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[RandomRam]

I have a 2015 Mega Cab 2500 CTD and torn on gas or diesel for our next truck. The extra purchase cost does not bother me as that money comes back when you sell it but the maintenance costs and at least my view on reliability is pushing me towards gas. I no longer race so no big trailer to haul, it is now just tows a wakeboat and family road trip vehicle with our big dogs loving the lay flat back seats. If there was a half ton mega cab I would be all over that but not an option. The one thing I have noticed in DFW area is finding a gas mega cab is nearly impossible even though there are about 600 2500 new trucks for sale in the metroplex. This has me strongly considering sticking with the CTD since if there was a market for gas mega cabs some dealers would stock them.

There are a lot of factors as to what’s stocked by dealers. You will find the 6.4 is very common in the Tradesman trim but not so much on other trims. I think a large part of it is most fleets are going to gasoline engines and fleet purchasers are not going to want a Laramie. I also think your average consumer who buys a gas HD truck is looking for overall value, which the Tradesman is hard to beat against Ford and GM. Too bad Ram doesn’t make a Tradesman Megacab.

I made an interesting observation at my dealer. They had a 2013 Laramie Megacab 4x4 with the 5.7 Hemi on the lot. Truck had 100k miles on it but was relatively clean. It was listed at 33k and sold in a week. Just because it’s not commonly on the lot doesn’t mean there isn’t a demand, especially in the used market.

 

[MXZGUY]

After reading all the posts here I am going to be in the market this coming fall. Either order or find a 2020 on the lot some place. Have had diesel before in a ford. 6.0 and the 6.7 in the 350. Went to the 5.7 hemi in the half ton in the 2017 model rebel with the air ride. I do not tow as much as I used to but still like the bigger truck at times for that purpose. Not sure yet if I want the 1500 or 2500 yet. Some of you here use your 2500 6.4 as a daily driver. So question here are the newer 2500 models riding any better than some of the half tons?? I rode in a 1500 Laramie 2400 miles round trip just a month ago with just the club cab or extended cab whatever Ram calls them but not the full Crew cab and that truck rode just terrible as far as I am concerned. NO air ride and the 6.5 box. Thanks

 

[MXZGUY]

One other note of interest is how are the leather bucket seats in these 2500 Laramie?? The ones in the 1500 just sucked to me and I have had leather in all my trucks but this Rebel I have now is the cloth vinyl combo and they sit nice.

 

[farmallboy]

I won't weigh in. I had a 2500 last 3 trucks. Drove dads 1500 occasionally but it was well worn. This truck rides SUPER nice compared to any truck I have driven in years. But again I'm comparing to an 03 Silverado 2500. I also don't daily this thing. Got the Prius for that [emoji57]


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[RandomRam]

Ride feel is pretty subjective. As far as HD trucks go the Ram 2500 is one of the nicest riding. I like mine, it’s firm but not harsh.

 

[sandawilliams]

5000# of landscaping rock makes my 2500 ride like a Cadillac.

 

[Sandevino]

I went with the 6.4L Hemi as the value proposition was difficult to beat in Tradesman trim. The $9,000 uptick for the CTD would cover approximately 160 31 gallon fill-ups which is difficult if not impossible to argue against. I also wanted higher payload as we do a good deal of camping and don’t tow often enough. The higher payload with the 6.4L Hemi helped seal the deal.

 

[Duluth Diesel]

I’ve had 5 diesel pickups. 2 Ford and 3 Ram Cummins. My last Cummins was a 2010 3500 Crew Cab 6.5’ box. Daily drove it, loved it, pulled like a freight train. Luckily 2010 was before Ram slapped DEF on their diesels (2012 was the last year of no DEF). I was pulling a 34’ camper and also had a 14,000 lb rated dump trailer, and I hauled many loads of rock and soil. So the diesel had benefits and you can’t beat low-end torque.

But nowadays I don’t tow heavy. I have a 23’ travel trailer and it maxes out at 7,000 pounds. So it’s fluffy compared to what I’ve towed in the past. I was towing it with a 2017 Ram 1500 5.7 3.21 gears. Before you cringe at the gearing, the truck was a DD and towed very infrequently. Towing I limited it to 5th on mixed terrain or I’d let her grab 6th on flat highway runs. No lack of power and I was very impressed with that 5.7, even with the highway gearing. Mileage while commuting empty was the goal. Rode amazingly nice empty but squatted a lot towing, so I added a 10k rated E2 load leveling hitch to help it out.

But once you own 2500/3500 trucks, you always know what you’re missing. I upgraded to a 2019 2500 6.4 Mega Cab. This might just be the perfect truck for me. The 6.4 doesn’t have a ton more in hp/tq numbers compared to the 5.7, but real world feel she’s stronger because it produces torque at lower RPM. Tows my fluffy camper like nothing and the 2500 suspension is more than up to the task. I went with 3.73 gears to stick around something resembling mileage, but I don’t really worry about it. Empty with this truck being nice to it and stick around the speed limits I’ve managed to squeak out 18.2 mpg. Reality I’m seeing in the 15.8 to 16.5 average.

So I’ve owned the spectrum. I went with the 6.4 because 1) this truck sits in the garage most weekdays and is my weekend hauler. 2) I didn’t want to pay another $10k to get a CTD even though they hold their value better when selling and 3) biggest reason - I hate the emissions garbage. To get a new CTD running right, you’d spend another 8 grand easy deleting and programming it. The EPA regs have ruined the fun of diesels.

I’m very impressed with the 6.4. It’s a great engine, but what makes it great to own is also the 8-speed. My 2017 1500 had the lighter duty version of this 8-speed and that transmission blew me away. They finally put a decent auto in a truck. It’s beyond decent. It’s a great transmission. So getting a 6.4 and a beefier version of the 8-speed just made sense to me.

On extra note, I DD a car these days. So my truck gets to sit a lot, which I’m happy about because I plan to keep it a long time. Diesels don’t like to sit; they like to work. Diesel fuel can grow algae if it sits a long time and that just causes a pile of issues. I run 91 premium without any ethanol in my 6.4, so she can sit just fine. It all boils down to how often you tow and how heavy you tow. I’m super good in gasser world these days.

 

[MXZGUY]

I’ve had 5 diesel pickups. 2 Ford and 3 Ram Cummins. My last Cummins was a 2010 3500 Crew Cab 6.5’ box. Daily drove it, loved it, pulled like a freight train. Luckily 2010 was before Ram slapped DEF on their diesels (2012 was the last year of no DEF). I was pulling a 34’ camper and also had a 14,000 lb rated dump trailer, and I hauled many loads of rock and soil. So the diesel had benefits and you can’t beat low-end torque.

But nowadays I don’t tow heavy. I have a 23’ travel trailer and it maxes out at 7,000 pounds. So it’s fluffy compared to what I’ve towed in the past. I was towing it with a 2017 Ram 1500 5.7 3.21 gears. Before you cringe at the gearing, the truck was a DD and towed very infrequently. Towing I limited it to 5th on mixed terrain or I’d let her grab 6th on flat highway runs. No lack of power and I was very impressed with that 5.7, even with the highway gearing. Mileage while commuting empty was the goal. Rode amazingly nice empty but squatted a lot towing, so I added a 10k rated E2 load leveling hitch to help it out.

But once you own 2500/3500 trucks, you always know what you’re missing. I upgraded to a 2019 2500 6.4 Mega Cab. This might just be the perfect truck for me. The 6.4 doesn’t have a ton more in hp/tq numbers compared to the 5.7, but real world feel she’s stronger because it produces torque at lower RPM. Tows my fluffy camper like nothing and the 2500 suspension is more than up to the task. I went with 3.73 gears to stick around something resembling mileage, but I don’t really worry about it. Empty with this truck being nice to it and stick around the speed limits I’ve managed to squeak out 18.2 mpg. Reality I’m seeing in the 15.8 to 16.5 average.

So I’ve owned the spectrum. I went with the 6.4 because 1) this truck sits in the garage most weekdays and is my weekend hauler. 2) I didn’t want to pay another $10k to get a CTD even though they hold their value better when selling and 3) biggest reason - I hate the emissions garbage. To get a new CTD running right, you’d spend another 8 grand easy deleting and programming it. The EPA regs have ruined the fun of diesels.

I’m very impressed with the 6.4. It’s a great engine, but what makes it great to own is also the 8-speed. My 2017 1500 had the lighter duty version of this 8-speed and that transmission blew me away. They finally put a decent auto in a truck. It’s beyond decent. It’s a great transmission. So getting a 6.4 and a beefier version of the 8-speed just made sense to me.

On extra note, I DD a car these days. So my truck gets to sit a lot, which I’m happy about because I plan to keep it a long time. Diesels don’t like to sit; they like to work. Diesel fuel can grow algae if it sits a long time and that just causes a pile of issues. I run 91 premium without any ethanol in my 6.4, so she can sit just fine. It all boils down to how often you tow and how heavy you tow. I’m super good in gasser world these days.

You sound like me>>>>I have towed a bunch with my ford diesel 6.7 350 and know what a heavier truck feels like towing>>>>I went to a half ton in the Rebel 5.7>>>>Now I just went back to the 2500 Laramie 6.4>>>>Only because of the pucker factor (white knuckle) towing on the edge with the half ton>>>>Thought about the Gen 3 diesel in the 1500 but like the more secure feeling towing with the 2500>>>>Oh BTW we have a house not to far from you>>>>>Drummond WI>>>>>And in southwest WI also>>>

 

[KansasBob]

I started shopping 2 weeks ago after the "shut down" I found what I thought was a decent price for a Tradesman 2500 Crew. 5th wheel prep, trailer brakes, and the 6.7. My 05 1500 5.7 pulled my 8000 lb 5th wheel "ok" for 2 years but I had to Drive it all the way, playing with the transmission to keep it in the right gear. I could get 10 mpg on a decent day though..... I was sure the 6.4 would probably pull my 5th wheel better than the 5.7, but I wanted to be able to set the cruise, and forget about it. I used the gas truck in March for a 1200 mile trip, and by the time I was home was convinced I wanted the Beast! Just towed my first 200 mile trip in the Cummins this weekend, and it was like being in a Dream. Set the cruise at 68 mph, up and down hills, with a headwind. 4 people and a Dawg in the truck. 1600 RPM all they way instead of 2500 to 3000 with gas. Cummins option was $9100, and of course part of my discount was on that amount. So if I paid $8500, I'll get at least $6000 more at re-sale over a gas truck. 5 year 100,000 mile warranty is reassuring. Bottom line for me is If it costs me $1500, more over the life of the truck, to be able to hit that cruise button and just coast along when towing............. Best money I ever spent.

 

[Senodil]

Traded in my 2018 1500 Laramie ecodiesel for a 2018 2500 Laramie Cummins, the mileage was better but reliability was an issue..... I am getting 20-21 with the 2500, was getting 25-26 with ED. My ED made several trips to the dealer with extended stays.... last one was a month, I fought with the dealer and they bought my truck back minus $1,000 and I even got 80% of my extended warranty money back, once I get the check I am going to get the extended on the 2500....

 

[Firebird]

I bought the Hemi. This is my 7th heavy duty, and honestly, the 6.4 drives better than the Cummins. I will clarify that statement more. My 05 and 07 Cummins 5.9’s drove fantastic, no throttle delay, no emissions. My 11,13, and 16 emission diesels, were a PITA.

I bought my first 6.4 HD, and it was a 2018, and although I didn’t like the 6 speed, it drove way better than my diesels. You see, I drive 90% in town, and the emission diesels just weren’t happy with that. Sadly, I fell off the roof, paralyzed my leg, and had to get rid of my 2018 (too tall for me to get in)

Just picked up my new 2500 with the 8 speed, and I’m in love! I even drove a new Cummins again, but the 6.4 just flat out drives better.

 

[Chasing]

Is the length of time you plan to own a track a factor at all? Would keeping the truck for 10+ years and 150K miles+ be a factor in the Diesel vs gas decision?
I've pretty much decided a 2500 MegaCab Hemi will do all I need, but wondering what sort of longevity to expect out of the gas engines??

 

[Ed Ross]

I bought a gasser 10 months ago. Just traded it for a diesel. Even with the little amount of towing I do, I was very disappointed in the fuel economy of the gasser. I drove nearly 1000mi towing a 5k lb 20ft travel trailer from AZ to TX. Was getting 6.6mpg until I got into Texas and it only slightly improved. It will pull and haul, but at the major expense of fuel economy. I was towing it back to Texas to trade it on on a 12k lb fifth wheel. Pulling that fifth wheel with my gasser wasn't gonna happen. Can it do it, yep, I'm sure, but at what expense in fuel economy? I wasn't gonna find out. I may only tow a few times a year, but for me I traded it in on a diesel. And man, it was night and day! Pulling that fifth wheel the opposite direction I got just at 10mpg and my range increased of course. Wasn't stopping every 150 mi to fuel up. I was averaging 15.5 mpg to work and back with the gasser...40mi round trip. With the diesel I'm getting 20mpg on the same daily trip. I feel that 6.4 will last. The diesel will last even longer and will get you better "resale" value if that means much after 10yrs. I'll always own a diesel truck from now on. Shoulda learned my lesson with my VW Touareg TDi. I towed that same 20ft TT with it from TX to AZ and it gave me 10+mpg! Still own it. Have two diesels now

Traded my 2019 2500 6.4L Hemi 4x4 Off Road Big Horn Crew Cab (18k mi.) for a 2020 2500 6.7L Cummins 4x4 Crew Cab Tradesman.

BTW, for me the Cummings rides better. Might be because I didn't get the Off-Road package. That extra strut stiffens things up. It also had 20" wheels and lower profile tires. The Cummins has the same tires but in 18" with taller profile. The whole truck rides better. Might also be the extra weight of the Cummins eng. Acceleration is better and deceleration under load with the exhaust brake is fantastic!

CEL came on with 300 mi to go on the 6.4 Hemi. Not sure why. It drove great the rest of the way no issues. Still under warranty. Service rep started it up and it went away...go figure. Diagnostics showed and Evap Leak. They performs and ECM update. It's for sale at Nyle Maxwell CDJR in Taylor TX! Ha.

 

[dhay13]

My son has towed his 8000lb TT with his 2018 2500 6.4 4.10's from Pittsburgh to North Dakota and back and we just towed it from Pittsburgh to Baytown, Texas the other day. I hand calculated 4 tanks of fuel and the worst was 8.0 and the best was 8.5. Not great but much better than the 6.5 you said you got. May have been something wrong with that truck? I also tow my 9500lb boat with my truck (identical to his truck) and get about 9.0 in mine. We did between 65-70 the whole way turning between 3000-4000 RPM most of the way.

His truck


Mine

 

[Ed Ross]

Could have been. The CEL did come on after around 700 miles. Once checked out I did ask the service rep if he felt that played a part with the horrible fuel economy. He didn't seem to think so but I think it might have a bit. Like you i was between 65 and 70 mph. Also I will say the hilly passes through AZ and NM didn't help. My best was 8mpg. Like I mentioned, once getting into TX the mileage improved...flatter land. I know the mpg would have been horrible towing 12k+ lbs. The Cummins just did everything effortless as I would expect it to. Gasser is a great truck and I used it more for off roading and originally just didn't want to pay the price for the diesel. Payload capacity is awesome too.

Felt like this could be towed much more efficient with the Cummins.


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[OC455]

Responded way back in this thread but gasser to tow our 9000lb boat.Just picked it up from storage this morning and this was taken as we were leaving.

That there is a sexy boat....

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[dhay13]

That there is a sexy boat....

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Thanks. Just dropped it off at winter storage yesterday. Here are a few I took while waiting for the workers to come lead us back.