Picked up the 6.4 today

[drittal]

After trekking all the way across the great state of Montana to Kellogg, ID with a detour up to glacier and a couple nights in Lakeside; we took delivery of our Bighorn Edition Ram 2500 CC SB 6.4l. I am impressed. my impressions...
1) the 6.4l feels powerful, but not race car like.
2) coming from an EcoBoost, I noticed the down shifts when climbing. The trade off is it holds 6th descending where the EB was down shifting to hold speed.
3) the trip from Boise to Spokane the Evic claimed 17.4mpg with avg speed of 68. The EB with same gears and bed would likely have done 17.5-19. I'm impressed so far.
4) noticably bog from 1-2 shift. Is this torque management or just bad gear spacing? Maybe both.
5) even with 78psi in all four corners the ride was not too bad. Not car like, but not unpleasant.
6) cab room is not quite as roomy as the 150 super crew.
7) absolutely massive in comparison! I feel the need to do the Tim the tool man Taylor grunts every time I climb in. Even at 6'3" I pretty much have to use the side steps.

400 more miles tomorrow.

PS: I read a lot about the hemi being noisy or ticking. This is quiet compared to an EB injector tick.

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[MADDOG]

Congrats!

So where's the pics?

 

[drittal]

I added one

 

[SouthTexan]

Nice truck! Congrats!

PS: I read a lot about the hemi being noisy or ticking. This is quiet compared to an EB injector tick.

The tick you heard on the EB was not an injector. It was the High Pressure Fuel Pump pumping at up to 2,000 psi for the direct injection.

 

[mtofell]

4) noticably bog from 1-2 shift. Is this torque management or just bad gear spacing? Maybe both.

By FAR my biggest annoyance with this truck is this shift. Really, the tranny shifting as a whole is pretty poor IMO. Coming out of a diesel I never know if I'm just missing the low end power or if it's just shifting at inopportune points. Likely, it's some of both.

As a daily driver the shifting is a minor annoyance. When towing I've found I really have to shift manually in many situations. It has a tendency to wait so long before downshifting that it hits the next gear already struggling to reach the power band.

Don't get me wrong..... I love this truck and am amazed on a daily basis about how advanced it is. I just wish the guy who designed the tranny had a clue.

 

[Skrap]

Good looking truck!

 

[Blazin383]

Congrats! Nice looking truck! Looks familiar!!

I have about 2,000 miles on mine now and so far I love it. Not perfect, but I'm willing to forgive a few things for all the good it offers!

 

[Ratket]

gratz looks good!!

 

[CMil527]

congrats...nice rig!

 

[nationalminer84]

Beautiful Truck!

 

[smiley]

Once they put the 8 speed in there look out. Perfect truck.

 

[drittal]

From Spokane to Boise via the Payette scenic highway was amazing. Coming out of Lewiston we climbed for ever and leveled off. Climbed some more, and leveled off, then climbed some more! Then down down down. The views were amazing. Pulled into boise with the Evic at 18.0.

Then the fun. 80mph with a stiff crosswind knocked the trip mpg under 16. Lol.

Pulled into twin falls to police, fire trucks, and ambulances on the bridge over the Snake River. A base jumper got his parachute tangled in the bridge and was dangling under the arch. Wee!

PS: I'm not going to worry about hand calc. I didn't with the EB and it was off about .5-1.0mpg. This is close enough for me.

 

[NewBlackDak]

From Spokane to Boise via the Payette scenic highway was amazing. Coming out of Lewiston we climbed for ever and leveled off. Climbed some more, and leveled off, then climbed some more! Then down down down. The views were amazing. Pulled into boise with the Evic at 18.0.

Then the fun. 80mph with a stiff crosswind knocked the trip mpg under 16. Lol.

Pulled into twin falls to police, fire trucks, and ambulances on the bridge over the Snake River. A base jumper got his parachute tangled in the bridge and was dangling under the arch. Wee!

PS: I'm not going to worry about hand calc. I didn't with the EB and it was off about .5-1.0mpg. This is close enough for me.

If you're like everyone else, you can subtract 1.5-2 from the EVIC number. On my actual 18.52 run, the EVIC said 20.2.

Once the truck learns your driving style, the shift will be a little better. The gear spacing is still bad. RAM would've had complete command on gas HD trucks with 86RFE/88RFE behind the 6.4.
I'm sure they will do it right after ford does, and just be keeping up with the Jonses.

 

[drittal]

I just filled up and it came to 15.8 mpg, which is where my trip is sitting on evic.

 

[6.7CumminsDrvr]

OP, beautiful truck, been thinking about going with a 6.4 2500 myself.

In regard to the 1-2 shift, remember the 66RFE is just a lighter duty version of the 68RFE. The 68 was built from the start to go behind the new 6.7 Cummins where there is no issue because of the amount of torque the Cummins produces. It was like what, 4 years before the "66" was put into service in the HD gassers? I personally believe it was an attemp to put something a little better than the "old 5/6 speed" which sometimes struggled to survive in the 1500's. The 68 and 66 share the same gear spread so it's not like it's ideal for a gasser.

Now if they would slap an 8 speed behind the 6.4 I just might have to go back to a 2500.

And for reference, I owned an '08 and '10, both with the 68RFE and CTD, miss the '10 a little

 

[tjfdesmo]

I just filled up and it came to 15.8 mpg, which is where my trip is sitting on evic.

So far mine hasn't shown the inclination to get that kind of MPG going downhill with a tailwind. I sure hope she loosens up a bit. I don't have hemi-foot, but maybe I should

 

[wyo2track]

From Spokane to Boise via the Payette scenic highway was amazing. Coming out of Lewiston we climbed for ever and leveled off. Climbed some more, and leveled off, then climbed some more! Then down down down. The views were amazing. Pulled into boise with the Evic at 18.0.

Then the fun. 80mph with a stiff crosswind knocked the trip mpg under 16. Lol.

Pulled into twin falls to police, fire trucks, and ambulances on the bridge over the Snake River. A base jumper got his parachute tangled in the bridge and was dangling under the arch. Wee!

PS: I'm not going to worry about hand calc. I didn't with the EB and it was off about .5-1.0mpg. This is close enough for me.

Congrats on the new truck! Your mpg's are what I'm seeing on good long trips too. Yeah, at 80 your probably down around 13. But keep it at 67 and under and it will turn 15+. Enjoy your new truck.

 

[drittal]

The stiff crosswind didn't help. The flags were flying straight and to the north as we traveled East. I am not unhappy with the mpg so far. Probably only 2mpg less overall compared to the "efficient" ecoboost. Lol

 

[wyo2track]

The stiff crosswind didn't help. The flags were flying straight and to the north as we traveled East. I am not unhappy with the mpg so far. Probably only 2mpg less overall compared to the "efficient" ecoboost. Lol

Owning my truck for just shy of a year now, I've found that these trucks are more sensitive to wind resistance than grades. The 6.4 will pull you thru them, but add high speeds and it will drink the octane.

 

[HD4]

Nice truck