New 2018 1500 Tradesman EcoDiesel

[Athlium]

Also forgot that I swapped the sun visors with the upgrade trim style for both sides to have mirrors and lights. Have not tapped the power for the lights. Also got the fancy upper glove box with door.. lost some space with that swap but like not seeing the mess.

 

[Athlium]

Had a scare last camping trip. Went for a drive / shopping in town, came back to camp site. upon turning off truck, the doors auto locked without me pressing anything.. didn't think anything off it. left the truck and then found that my after market programmed keyfobs are not working to unlock. I can see the dashboard powering on but nothing happens. luckily one of the back window was roll down enough for me to use a wired coat hanger to pull the lock latch to open the door. Was able to use key to start truck. I left it as is and was able to drive home next time. Remote is working again.

 

[Athlium]

Another food for thought. While towing camping trailer, going over i90 pass heading east bound.. paddle to the metal was getting 48mph.. was sad.. might need to get a real diesel eventually

 

[Cummins diesel]

How heavy is your trailer? I’ve had two eco diesel’s and both had plenty of power for what I needed to do. Sounds like your trailer is too big.

 

[Athlium]

How heavy is your trailer? I’ve had two eco diesel’s and both had plenty of power for what I needed to do. Sounds like your trailer is too big.

It's a Forrest River 25BRDs..

 

[nlambert182]

That's a Micro Lite I believe. Should be under 7k if fully loaded to max gross. Something is odd about that. That Ecodiesel should tow that just fine I would think. Don't know anything about i90 or the pass, so maybe it's a really steep incline. That might do it. An ED doesn't have a whole lot of HP/TQ but you definitely don't "need" a Cummins to tow that thing. Maybe a 6.4 at best if the ED isn't doing the job.

 

[20IndyRam]

I'm in agreement with the others. I would think the EcoDiesel would be a good match for your application. The following is a Torque/HP comparison of the 5.7 Hemi, GM 5.3, and the EcoDiesel. The spec's for Eco are from 2020, so your 2018 will be down a bit on power (20 - 30 hp).

The little Diesel makes power at lower RPM's. It likes the 3000 - 3500 rpm range for hauling grades. The gassers are typically spinning 4 - 5K under similar conditions.
The advantage of the turbo diesel is that it won't be giving up 3% of its power every 3k feet of altitude.

The elevation along I-90 in Washington isn't all that extreme (3000 feet?). You said East bound, so the wind was likely at your back. I'm thinking you are having other issues. You mentioned the truck was lifted. That's not normally a great move for a tow vehicle, but you have an 8 speed trans to make up for tire size increases. Any chance the speedometer wasn't corrected? Beyond that, it would be interesting to understand your speed/RPM's in gears. It's possible the transmission wasn't downshifting properly.