fat1
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2012
- Posts
- 157
- Reaction score
- 76
- Ram Year
- 2017 Rebel
- Engine
- Hemi 5.7
Well with approximately 487 miles on the odometer this morning I rolled out of the driveway with my bass boat in tow, finally. I've had the truck about a month and this was her maiden tow voyage. A little mini review:
I came out of a 2012 1500 express crew cab with 3.55, 6 speed and LSD to this 2015 sport crew cab 3.21, 8 speed and open diff. The truck had everything I wanted except LSD and I was actually torn on the gears. I test drove a couple 3.92, one even had 17" wheels but they just always felt like they had an engine brake or something when I was coasting down hill and in all honesty I just wasn't utterly blown away by the performance difference to make me sacrifice options and color over it. With all the nanny features these trucks have I think the true performance differences are masked or governed, bottom line is they all get up and go. And this is just my opinion.
I was a little nervous about how it would do here in the mountain state of WV but I live on the I-79 corridor so it's not true mountain range with lots of elevation change just a good bit of rolling hills. I have been travelling this route to the lake for 15+ years towing 3 different boats with 5 different vehicles so I have a good idea of what is good and bad. The short version of the story is this 8 speed is the real deal and this truck is the best I've towed with.
On 2 lane highways snaking through the woods with 45 MPH speed limit or down the interstate she never really seemed to hunt for gears, there are several steep grades to overcome along the way and I prefer the way this truck handled them over my previous truck. I just seem to have more options. I can drive at 2k RPM and take the speed it has (maybe lose a few MPH) or kick it up to 2500 and hold my speed or kick it up to 3k and accelerate or kick it to 4k and scream. In the 2012 your options were ride at 2k RPM and lose speed or kick it to 4k and scream. I was ok with that too but this is better.
The entire trip was just smooth, I generally just run in a certain RPM range and take the speed it has, I won't get too far under the speed limit but I won't tow at 80mph it's just too hard on the trailer long term. I made a little better time and a little better fuel mileage on the way down. On the way back I decided to keep it at 70 rather than 2k RPM and I noticed it very rarely kicked way down like it would have with the 2012, I didn't catch myself over 3k RPM hardly at all, where as in the 2012 it happened more frequently
The ramp I launch from is relatively steep, you definitely set the parking brake before exiting the vehicle and I had no difficulty launching or loading. Once back home I have to back down into a field to turn around before backing in my driveway at the correct angle for the designated parking space. of course it rained today but I had no trouble with this either, in fact it acted just the same as my other truck with tcs kicking in just as the left tire comes back on the road and the right tire is still in the grass. I realize my tires are brand new so my opinion in this area may change next year with 10k miles on them.
I apologize for the long post but I thought I hsould give my view directly comparing the towing characteristics of the standard option set from 2012 to 2015 (3.55 most common in 2012, 3.21 most common in 2015).
For the record I am towing a 2013 Skeeter zx200 with SHO. About 5000# Boat/motor/Trailer/Batteries/Tackle/Fuel/equipment/Tonneau and I weigh 160
I came out of a 2012 1500 express crew cab with 3.55, 6 speed and LSD to this 2015 sport crew cab 3.21, 8 speed and open diff. The truck had everything I wanted except LSD and I was actually torn on the gears. I test drove a couple 3.92, one even had 17" wheels but they just always felt like they had an engine brake or something when I was coasting down hill and in all honesty I just wasn't utterly blown away by the performance difference to make me sacrifice options and color over it. With all the nanny features these trucks have I think the true performance differences are masked or governed, bottom line is they all get up and go. And this is just my opinion.
I was a little nervous about how it would do here in the mountain state of WV but I live on the I-79 corridor so it's not true mountain range with lots of elevation change just a good bit of rolling hills. I have been travelling this route to the lake for 15+ years towing 3 different boats with 5 different vehicles so I have a good idea of what is good and bad. The short version of the story is this 8 speed is the real deal and this truck is the best I've towed with.
On 2 lane highways snaking through the woods with 45 MPH speed limit or down the interstate she never really seemed to hunt for gears, there are several steep grades to overcome along the way and I prefer the way this truck handled them over my previous truck. I just seem to have more options. I can drive at 2k RPM and take the speed it has (maybe lose a few MPH) or kick it up to 2500 and hold my speed or kick it up to 3k and accelerate or kick it to 4k and scream. In the 2012 your options were ride at 2k RPM and lose speed or kick it to 4k and scream. I was ok with that too but this is better.
The entire trip was just smooth, I generally just run in a certain RPM range and take the speed it has, I won't get too far under the speed limit but I won't tow at 80mph it's just too hard on the trailer long term. I made a little better time and a little better fuel mileage on the way down. On the way back I decided to keep it at 70 rather than 2k RPM and I noticed it very rarely kicked way down like it would have with the 2012, I didn't catch myself over 3k RPM hardly at all, where as in the 2012 it happened more frequently
The ramp I launch from is relatively steep, you definitely set the parking brake before exiting the vehicle and I had no difficulty launching or loading. Once back home I have to back down into a field to turn around before backing in my driveway at the correct angle for the designated parking space. of course it rained today but I had no trouble with this either, in fact it acted just the same as my other truck with tcs kicking in just as the left tire comes back on the road and the right tire is still in the grass. I realize my tires are brand new so my opinion in this area may change next year with 10k miles on them.
I apologize for the long post but I thought I hsould give my view directly comparing the towing characteristics of the standard option set from 2012 to 2015 (3.55 most common in 2012, 3.21 most common in 2015).
For the record I am towing a 2013 Skeeter zx200 with SHO. About 5000# Boat/motor/Trailer/Batteries/Tackle/Fuel/equipment/Tonneau and I weigh 160
