Need some info on these heavy duty Rams

[manuellabour]

Hey guys, I'm going to be selling my F-150 soon to buy a bigger truck. My being a Ford guy, I'm partial to Ford, however I have little faith in any heavy duty truck they produced after 2007. Anyway, now I'm looking into buying a Ram as I think they look nice but I have a couple questions. Pardon some of the stupid questions that I could look up online, I'm at work so very little time to do much, this thread took me 3 hours to make haha.

1. What makes a Ram a "power wagon"? I see a few of them around, and always wandered what the deal was.

2. Is the coil spring rear suspension any good? In my mind it would make the truck able to sway a lot more making it a lot harder to tow something.

4. Is the front axle still a solid axle?

5. In the diesels, I hear that the same 6.7L has 3 different power options based on the transmission. Are the 6.7's the same just tuned different for a different tranny? Or are they 100% completely different engines?

6. Is there any known issues with these trucks? Any trans, any engine as I'm not sold on any of them yet, just doing some research.

7. What kind of MPG do these trucks get? Again any engine / trans configuration. I'm not buying a full size truck for gas mileage, just curious to see how much Ram differs from Ford.

8. When did Ram start using DEF? Is there anyway of deleting that? I don't live in an emissions area and I hear that emissions these days are killing all the diesel engines, especially true for Ford right now.

9. Is the dial shifter in these trucks? If they are, is that the only option?

10. Do they offer airbags for the coil spring rear suspension?

11. What axle gear ratios are available?

12. Do these diesel engines need to be worked? I know the older Ford 6.0's needed to be driven hard, if you daily drove them unloaded you would nuke the engine. The reason I ask is because I do plan on hauling a camper or 5th wheel, however my "local" jobs might make me drive 500 miles so I want to make sure the truck can handle those miles being unloaded.

13. Is there a real difference between the 2500 and 3500? Ford's superdutys are the exact same truck, their numbers differ like 100 lbs.

14. Has anyone had a 2011+ Superduty they have experience with and sold / traded / got a new Ram instead? If so, why did you make the switch from Ford to Ram?

15. Any complaints or bugs with your truck?

I'm sure there will be more so please bear with me haha. Any other useful information would be greatly appreciated.

 

[BoldAdventure]

Think of the Power Wagon as an HD Raptor, except it's been around since the 1940's.



Today's Power Wagon receives a 2-inch factory lift. Different shocks and springs that allow for greater articulation than any HD truck on the market. 3 differentials, manual transfer case, 4.10 & 4.56 gears (depending on years), disconnectable sway bar, 17 inch wheels with internal bead locks and 12,000lb Warn winch all from the factory.

It's basically a Jeep with truck body.

2. Is the coil spring rear suspension any good? In my mind it would make the truck able to sway a lot more making it a lot harder to tow something.

4. Is the front axle still a solid axle?

5. In the diesels, I hear that the same 6.7L has 3 different power options based on the transmission. Are the 6.7's the same just tuned different for a different tranny? Or are they 100% completely different engines?

6. Is there any known issues with these trucks? Any trans, any engine as I'm not sold on any of them yet, just doing some research.

7. What kind of MPG do these trucks get? Again any engine / trans configuration. I'm not buying a full size truck for gas mileage, just curious to see how much Ram differs from Ford.

8. When did Ram start using DEF? Is there anyway of deleting that? I don't live in an emissions area and I hear that emissions these days are killing all the diesel engines, especially true for Ford right now.

9. Is the dial shifter in these trucks? If they are, is that the only option?

10. Do they offer airbags for the coil spring rear suspension?

11. What axle gear ratios are available?

12. Do these diesel engines need to be worked? I know the older Ford 6.0's needed to be driven hard, if you daily drove them unloaded you would nuke the engine. The reason I ask is because I do plan on hauling a camper or 5th wheel, however my "local" jobs might make me drive 500 miles so I want to make sure the truck can handle those miles being unloaded.

13. Is there a real difference between the 2500 and 3500? Ford's superdutys are the exact same truck, their numbers differ like 100 lbs.

14. Has anyone had a 2011+ Superduty they have experience with and sold / traded / got a new Ram instead? If so, why did you make the switch from Ford to Ram?

15. Any complaints or bugs with your truck?

I'm sure there will be more so please bear with me haha. Any other useful information would be greatly appreciated.

I was a Chevy guy and came over. First with a 2010 1500, now with the 2015 Ram Power Wagon.

Point #2 - The coil rear is fantastic if you want a more comfortable and less jarring ride. You are completely wrong about sway. I tow full time.

Point #3 - you missed one

Point #4 - yes

Point #9 - No, it's a column shifter

Point #10 - Sure, but if you need Airbags your **** isn't setup right.

 

[LifeSTRONG]

Think of the Power Wagon as an HD Raptor, except it's been around since the 1940's.







Today's Power Wagon receives a 2-inch factory lift. Different shocks and springs that allow for greater articulation than any HD truck on the market. 3 differentials, manual transfer case, 4.10 & 4.56 gears (depending on years), disconnectable sway bar, 17 inch wheels with internal bead locks and 12,000lb warn winch all from the factory.



It's basically a Jeep with truck body.

That thing is f-ing sick! [emoji1360][emoji1377][emoji1598]

 

[BossHogg]

5. Same engine, different calibrations between the manual, 68RFE, and the Aisin which is only available on the 3500s.

6. I haven't had any issues with my 2015 3500 outside the brake controller. There is a thread over in the towing section.

7. MPG starts with your foot, I see around 19 to 22 in my typically drive of freeway/city.

8. Yes, there are delete kits but you may want to keep it in-tacked, The Cummins emissions/treatment system works very well.

10. Yes, you can get the factory rear air leveling system for both the 2500 and 3500s, works very nicely.

11. With a 2500 Diesel, your selection is 3:42s.

12. If your thinking 5th wheel, then start thinking 3500 for the additional payload the the 5th wheel puts on a vehicle.

13. Payload

 

[manuellabour]

Thanks guys, I'll probably be looking more into Ram and defintely about the deisel emission systems. I'm kinda leary about any diesel emissions after reading thread after thread of engines blowing up from Ford.

Since it sounds like a Power wagon is more geared for offroad, I won't be exclusively looking for one, but they look nice so I'm defintely not opposed to buying one. Are they only 2500's, or are there 3500 power wagons?

 

[theviking]

2500 with the 6.4 and 4.10's is the only configuration.

 

[theviking]

Keep in mind that the rated towing capacity goes way down with the PW to just under 10k.

 

[Danno]

Ford has made ALOT of changes since the 6.0 and 5.4. They are leading the pack in technology. The 6.2 is no slouch by any means, 6.8 unstoppable and the 6.7 is a power house. We have a fleet of them both gas and diesel will not a single regret.

Ram 2500 has coils and 3500 has leaf springs. If your looking for payload get a 3500 as the 2500 leave room for improvement.

The three different engines power ratings are according to the transmissions. 6 speed manual, 6 speed, 6 speed aisin.

Stay away from the gas engines, mated to the wrong transmissions unless you want to do a 4.56 gear swap. If you want a used 545rfe 5 speed go with it over the 656rfe 6 speed.

The cheapest truck will be the Ram, but you get what you pay for.

Keep in mind your on a ram site asking about ram trucks, do you think you will hear much negitivity on ram?

Look up some real world test and reviews.

Pickuptrucks.com the special reports has head to head comparisions
Tfltrucks.com real world driving comparisions under load.

 

[gustheram]

Stay away from the gas engines, mated to the wrong transmissions unless you want to do a 4.56 gear swap.

OP, there's a ton of people that will disagree with this statement. While most will agree that the transmission is somewhat less than ideal for the gas engines, there are many many people happily driving gassers and pushing them all the way to the limit and then some. I couldn't be happier with my 6.4/6 speed auto/3.73 combo and there are many others equally satisfied. The best thing you can possibly do is not listen to any of us when it comes to driveability. Go drive them all and decide for yourself if the Ram meets your needs. If you're going gas, the 6.4 is definitely worth the upgrade though.

 

[MarkV]

I have driven a ram 2500 megacab 5.7 hemi pulling 17,000 lbs. It did sit a bit low but it has amazing power! Pulled it quite easily. It did that trip once a week for a couple years. The tranny and engine is still good after doing that for a couple years. I am very impressed with it.

 

[manuellabour]

I've looked at Fords 6.2, while it looks good on paper, it's horrible on gas. Again I'm not buying a truck based on gas mileage, but this will be my daily driver for probably a year or two so it does somewhat factor in.

I understand that there will be a lot of mixed reviews for the engine options, just like the V8 vs ecoboost for Fords F-150's lol.

As far as gas engines, which one would you recommend? I see a lot of 5.7's, however my mindset is still thinking there is no replacement for displacement making the 6.4 "better" lol.

As far as diesel, I assume the asisen trans is what everyone like / wants?

Right now I'm leaning more towards a 3500 strictly because it's on leaf springs. I'm not opposed to different ideas, but leaf springs have worked for a lot of years and they are far from not working. That and I can put more leafs in if that's what I need to do.

As far as ride quality, it's a full size truck so I'm not worried about it. My last truck was a '99 F-350 with a 6" lift on 37" swampers and my current truck is a '97 F-150 lifted on 35's so any stock truck will ride better than what I'm used to haha.

As far as gears I want at least a 3.55, but I'd much rather go 4.10's. I don't know if Ram offers these gears, this is just my Ford knowledge coming into play lol. What are my options bearing that in mind? I'm not opposed to getting the truck I want and re-gearing, but I already know that's another 2k.

 

[MN-Ram]

The ram HD with the 6.4L has either 3.73's or 4.10's unless you get a power wagon. They come with 4.56's, I believe. The 2500 Cummins have 3.42's and the 3500 dually can come with 3.73's or 4.10's I think.

I have heard the Aisin is the way to go if you get a 3500 Cummins and want to tow a lot.

As far as air bags go, I would recommend Airlift 5000. They are easy to install and offer a lifetime warranty on their products. The kits only run about $300-$350 plus an air compressor if you want. Www.sdtrucksprings.com has been good when I ordered from them.

I have a 2015 Ram 3500 with a 6.4L and 3.73's. On Saturday when I filled up I got 15mpg's, hand calculated. In the cold MN winter I got around 13-14mpg's.

The biggest problem with the Ram HD is the transmission shutter when you try to accelerate from slow speeds. It's almost like the transmission isn't sure what gear to be in and you have to mash the accelerator to force the downshift, and then you take off. It doesn't happen all of the time, but it is frequent enough that people talk about it on this forum.

The brakes are nothing to write home about either. They aren't bad, but there is room for improvement. You have to remember though, the truck weighs almost 7,000lbs. I can negotiate rush hour traffic with no problem even with the less than ideal brake force.

 

[billa9b0ng]

I've looked at Fords 6.2, while it looks good on paper, it's horrible on gas. Again I'm not buying a truck based on gas mileage, but this will be my daily driver for probably a year or two so it does somewhat factor in.

I understand that there will be a lot of mixed reviews for the engine options, just like the V8 vs ecoboost for Fords F-150's lol.

As far as gas engines, which one would you recommend? I see a lot of 5.7's, however my mindset is still thinking there is no replacement for displacement making the 6.4 "better" lol.

As far as diesel, I assume the asisen trans is what everyone like / wants?

Right now I'm leaning more towards a 3500 strictly because it's on leaf springs. I'm not opposed to different ideas, but leaf springs have worked for a lot of years and they are far from not working. That and I can put more leafs in if that's what I need to do.

As far as ride quality, it's a full size truck so I'm not worried about it. My last truck was a '99 F-350 with a 6" lift on 37" swampers and my current truck is a '97 F-150 lifted on 35's so any stock truck will ride better than what I'm used to haha.

As far as gears I want at least a 3.55, but I'd much rather go 4.10's. I don't know if Ram offers these gears, this is just my Ford knowledge coming into play lol. What are my options bearing that in mind? I'm not opposed to getting the truck I want and re-gearing, but I already know that's another 2k.

I have a 14 Crew cab with the 5.7 and 3.73 gears. I tow maybe once or twice a month, anywhere from 5k-8k pounds. I don't enjoy it, I think I would be much happier with 4.10s or 4.56s or a 6.4L. That being said, it is capable of handling the load, I just don't like the high revs it takes to get the load moving.

I get about 10mpg around town and 15mpg highway. I have seen 17mpg on the highway on a 30 mi trip but that was with lots of monitoring the cruise control and taking it easy up hills.

 

[SouthTexan]

I have driven a ram 2500 megacab 5.7 hemi pulling 17,000 lbs. It did sit a bit low but it has amazing power! Pulled it quite easily. It did that trip once a week for a couple years. The tranny and engine is still good after doing that for a couple years. I am very impressed with it.

I would have loved to see that.

 

[MarkV]

I would have loved to see that.

 

[MarkV]

We would fill it full of chicken crates full of ducks. 120 lbs a crate. Full width hight and length. 17,000 might be off but not by much.

 

[SouthTexan]

As far as diesel, I assume the asisen trans is what everyone like / wants?
.

Not really. I know more people that wanted the 68RFE rather than the Aisin. However, the only gear ratio you can get in a single rear wheel Ram 2500/3500 is a 3.42 no matter what trans it has. Only the DRW trucks get different gear ratios. The 3.42 gear ratio is way more than plenty if you are towing anything under 16k due to the Cummins' torque output.

 

[SouthTexan]

That does not look like 17k. I have a cattle trailer that size that is way older then that one so it is all metal instead of aluminum and it isn't even 6.5k on the scales empty. A 17k load would put those trailer axles way over their GAWR which is why most trailers with a 17k GVWR are three axle trailers.

 

[MarkV]

That is empty

 

[MarkV]

And yes. It was way over the legal limit the truck and trailer. The ducks weigh 11 lbs. 10 to a crate. 5 crates wide. The width and length.