Diesel to Hemi-part 3- towing

[ronheater70]

Had my first towing experience with the new 2500 Hemi. Rv has a dry weight of 8900K. Black tank was full, fresh water was nearly full and my Mother in-law stays in it most of the time so it has a full fridge plus many belongings so I don think its out of the norm to assume about 10K +/- a bit. Gotta say, performance wise I was happy. My complaints that I had with my 2016 2500 hemi are gone. The gear spacing with the new 8 speed was good. At no point did I need to floor it to get up to speed, even with an incline up onto the highway. Driving backroads at 55 mph it would run in 6th gear unless I gave it some more throttle. On the interstate I hit 65 MPH once, but settled at 60 MPH which is the speed limit for the road I was on. Since out RV is only about 6K pounds, it should be an even better experience.
Compared to my Diesel 3500, towing performance was lacking, but I expected that and its a concession I was ready to make for other perks like no diesel emissions or turbo, or a buck more a gallon for fuel.
The only relative negative I experienced was stability. Going from a 3500 with Leaf springs to a 2500 with Coils is noticeable with that weight in terms of stability.
I thought my old 2500 stable , but once I got used to the 3500 with leaf springs, going back to the coils in the rear and softer suspension is going to take some adjustments. I will make some adjustments to the weight distribution hitch and im sure that will help. The biggest area I could feel the difference was in the curves. But any rate Im very pleased for a first tow. And besides Ill only tow that camper about once every 5 weeks or so and only about 20 miles away.

Edited to add:
Oh that back up camera in that big ipad in the middle of the dash is the bomb. My 3500 tradesman had that lil square up in the rear view mirror, which was laughable compared to this. being able to hit a button and look straight down on the hitch was very nice.

 

[stevenP]

Ditto, came from a 3500 to this 2500. And the coil sprung rear acts like its wobbling, or rocking back and fro at times. Really kicking myself for not just keeping my 3500.

 

[Dredger]

Have you considered installing air bags?

 

[ronheater70]

Ditto, came from a 3500 to this 2500. And the coil sprung rear acts like its wobbling, or rocking back and fro at times. Really kicking myself for not just keeping my 3500.

Yea I dont recall it being so noticeable with my 2016 2500, did the spring rates change or anything? But then again I didnt have the 3500 as benchmark against it either.

@Dredger , if your talking to me, nah Im not gonna worry about it. I dont tow that heavier weight far enough to consider it an issue, was just an observation. Our normal RV that we take on Camping trips is only about 6K pounds.

 

[stevenP]

My 2500 has the ramair, rear only air suspension. The obvious reason for the coils, is to make it a smoother less harsh ride. And I would say it does that. Never saw the how much instability there is over rough stuff under load.
Test drove a new sliverado 2500, today. Man its rides nice, and the springs didnt seem too harsh in the rear. Take test ride and get $50 from GM

 

[Dredger]

My 2500 has the ramair, rear only air suspension. The obvious reason for the coils, is to make it a smoother less harsh ride. And I would say it does that. Never saw the how much instability there is over rough stuff under load.
Test drove a new sliverado 2500, today. Man its rides nice, and the springs didnt seem too harsh in the rear.

Coils or leafs on the Chevy HD? I'm not familiar.

 

[stevenP]

GM, and ford all use leafs still on their HDs

 

[jejb]

My 2500 has the ramair, rear only air suspension. The obvious reason for the coils, is to make it a smoother less harsh ride. And I would say it does that.

Same suspension setup here, and a properly setup WDH. Pulled my trailer yesterday in the very hilly ozarks at up to 80mph (which was the speed limit on one stretch). On and off rain too. No instability at all. Trailer is 7-8k with tires rated to 81mph. Oh, got diesel for $2.59 a gallon at my destination in Oklahoma.

Take test ride and get $50 from GM

Good to know!

 

[Bearcatrp]

When I had my 2017 2500 Ram, I put airbags in for my 5th wheel RV. Helped allot. Upgraded to a 21 3500. Surprised you didn’t stay with a 3500. Not sure about your state but Minnesota has flat rate of $120 for tabs. Has gone up to $130. Heck of allot cheaper than the 2500. Was over $400 for tabs.

 

[ronheater70]

When I had my 2017 2500 Ram, I put airbags in for my 5th wheel RV. Helped allot. Upgraded to a 21 3500. Surprised you didn’t stay with a 3500. Not sure about your state but Minnesota has flat rate of $120 for tabs. Has gone up to $130. Heck of allot cheaper than the 2500. Was over $400 for tabs.

I thought about another 3500, But couldnt seem to find one the way I wanted to equip it. Gotta be honest though Im liking the unloaded ride compared to the 3500. This one will tow the 10K+ rig about 20-25 miles once every 5 weeks or so, otherwise it will be our 6K rv that we downsized too, Im sure it will be fine with that weight.

 

[Slick61]

Had my first towing experience with the new 2500 Hemi. Rv has a dry weight of 8900K. Black tank was full, fresh water was nearly full and my Mother in-law stays in it most of the time so it has a full fridge plus many belongings so I don think its out of the norm to assume about 10K +/- a bit. Gotta say, performance wise I was happy. My complaints that I had with my 2016 2500 hemi are gone. The gear spacing with the new 8 speed was good. At no point did I need to floor it to get up to speed, even with an incline up onto the highway. Driving backroads at 55 mph it would run in 6th gear unless I gave it some more throttle. On the interstate I hit 65 MPH once, but settled at 60 MPH which is the speed limit for the road I was on. Since out RV is only about 6K pounds, it should be an even better experience.
Compared to my Diesel 3500, towing performance was lacking, but I expected that and its a concession I was ready to make for other perks like no diesel emissions or turbo, or a buck more a gallon for fuel.
The only relative negative I experienced was stability. Going from a 3500 with Leaf springs to a 2500 with Coils is noticeable with that weight in terms of stability.
I thought my old 2500 stable , but once I got used to the 3500 with leaf springs, going back to the coils in the rear and softer suspension is going to take some adjustments. I will make some adjustments to the weight distribution hitch and im sure that will help. The biggest area I could feel the difference was in the curves. But any rate Im very pleased for a first tow. And besides Ill only tow that camper about once every 5 weeks or so and only about 20 miles away.

Edited to add:
Oh that back up camera in that big ipad in the middle of the dash is the bomb. My 3500 tradesman had that lil square up in the rear view mirror, which was laughable compared to this. being able to hit a button and look straight down on the hitch was very nice.

Interesting. I have a '16 Tradesman 2500 hemi & tow about the same weight... but I've got 4.10s. I have not really found a problem with shifts or being caught in the wrong gear. That said, I always tow in tow/haul mode & keep speed to 65-70 mph. I've thought of stepping up to the 8 speed transmission, as the 6 speed isn't the smoothest. It's fine when towing, but a bit clumsy when unloaded. I believe the final drive ratios (6/8 speed) are identical, though I rarely get into top gear when towing. But yea, a bigger backup cam would be nice. The size & resolution of my Uconnect5 could stand some improvement.

 

[ronheater70]

My biggest issue with the 6 speed was the gap between 1st and 2nd. One of our camping destinations has us running up a nice hill to merge into interstate traffic and with the 6 speed it would scream in 1st and then hit 2nd and fall on its face for a while before finally starting to gain rpms. Really, it never shifted bad or ever gave us any issues, but that 1-2 shift in the right circumstances was problematic for us. We towed up into WV once with it and came home and traded for a new Diesel (the one I just traded to get back into the gasser ironically!) That difference with the 8 speed is definitely noticeable the more weight you are towing.

 

[ronheater70]

Towed our smaller Camper this weekend to the lake about 90 Miles away. Its about 27 feet and 7K ish pounds I have now figured after understating its weight. It was a very Pleasant experience, however I started in tow haul mode and after about 25 miles, took it out. It wouldnt shift above 6th in the 60-65ish mph range. Once i took it out of tow haul it ran 7th pretty good with an occasional down shift to 6th and once or twice to 5th. Got 10 MPG, Im happy with that. I will say the 8 speed is such a Game changer in these trucks. No issues getting up to speed even up hill running about 1/2 throttle.