Hey Guys!
Here's my Heavy Duty Towing report for a 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel.
My journey began in beautiful Western Wyoming.
Picked up an empty Kaufman Trailers custom made full tilt bed 20FT 10000 lb rated trailer in Nebraska and hooked it up to my 2014 Ecodiesel. Here's the photo:
Then we kept on driving heading east on the well know i-80. What a fun drive with a Ecodiesel pulling an empty Gooseneck. It's so nice when you have no sway and just cruise on the highway doing 80.
Stopped at a Home Depot and thought I should snap another photo. It just looked so good! No rear sagging! And there's a reason for that! Truck has Airlift 1000 ( @15 psi since we're empty) and Tuftruck 35% Variable Rate rear coil springs. Ride quality is great! I also installed Bilstein 5100 Heavy Duty Rear Shocks along with the airlift
And we kept on going ... After 3 days on i80 and some crazy narrow i-476 Turnpike in Pensylvania (by the way, trucks must use left lane for multiple sections of construction - fun times), we made it to the Marvelous State of NJ. Boy oh boy..... Marvelous NJ.... That's all I'm gonna say about NJ.... Or maybe not - if you ever want to make a left turn, you have to drive all the way to Philadelphia, where you can make a Uey and then go back to NJ and reach your destination. I am sure the NJ guys hear it all the time. Oh yeah, one last good NJ street sign. Left turns use Right Lane !!! Y - Only in NJ !!!!
As we reached our destination, we determined truck had an average of 14 - 15 MPG towing the empty trailer about 1700 miles at highway speed limit +5. Not bad at all! Did not use Tow/haul mode until I got to Pennsylvania and went up and down some nice hills! Transmission temps never went pass 195 F. Ambient temperature in daytime was no more than 70 F at most.
Spent a couple of days in NJ and then got the trailer loaded. Here's what we towed back to beautiful Wyoming.
Truck sitting level! Airlift 1000 @ 25 psi; BFGoodrich 8 Ply D rated. Front @ 40 psi cold, Rear @ 50 psi cold. Had to load the Tractor backwards in order to put some weight on the rear axle. Estimated weight was no 1300 to 1500 lbs in the bed of the truck.
And we started on out trip back, I was a little nervous about the rig and had the genius idea of buying a truck app and follow the directions for a semi!!! Boy was that a bad idea. It took me across NJ on these little highways, crossed a bridge and ended up in Wilmington around 4:15 PM on US 30 in stop and go traffic. Little tank (the EcoDiesel) was working hard. Found out the hard way that although I have an integrated trailer brake controller, the truck can still side on all 4 wheels when someone cuts in front of you. There's a slight delay when you break between the truck and the trailer, especially when slamming on the brakes! once this happened, I remembered what a good friend with a Ram 3500 told me: keep your right hand on the trailer brake controller while in town and don't be afraid to squeeze it! Yes! It does make a HUUUUGE difference!
Once I passed Wilmington and the crazy rush hour traffic, I decided to ditch the truck app directions and use my built it NAV along with Google Maps for traffic alerts! If you put your destination in G Maps, it will tell you about accidents, construction and delays on your route! Got on i76 Penna Pike. Took 222 from Harrisburg towards i80, It was night time and I was reading signs. Suddenly, I see a sing: use flashers under 50 MPH. And I was thinking - "Man, that must be for semis only". A minute later and sure enough I slowed down to about 40 going uphill. Guess it was a fairly steep grade. Had signs to keep it in low gear and so I did! It wasn't too bad.
I finally made it to i80 and start driving west. I thought Pennsylvania would be difficult on i80 due to the Appalachians. I only had to slow down to about 55 mph a couple of times. Overall truck had no problem with the ups and downs.
After 3 and a half days of towing, I learned that the Tow/Haul mode helps a lot! It keep transmission temps down. Also, the speed paired with the right gear will keep your transmission temps down. My goal was to never exceed 200 F for transmission. The only time it got to 199 and 201 was in Illinois when I had a really strong head wind - you could definitely feel it. I ended up slowing to to around 62-65 mph in 6th gear. Noticed that the transmission stays cooler as the engine RPMs are higher. For example doing 65-68 in 7th at around 2300 RPM has a tranny temp of 195 to 197 vs running in 6th gear at about 2750 RPMs with a tranny temp of 190 or 188.
The engine temp stayed at an average of 235 F for oil and 220 F coolant. It did get up to 245 F oil on some hills but nothing alarming. I did not use cruise control unless I was on flat good roads with no head wind. The cruise control scared me once when it downshifted from 6th to 5th. For whatever reason, it was a fairly violent shift. After that, I decided to use it with caution. if I was in 7th and i saw the gearbox downshift to 6th I would disengage the cruise control.
Very Important Lesson Learned: When towing a heavy load uphill, I would try to keep as much momentum as possible. If I had to downshift from 6th to 5th, I would lift my foot of the accelerator, downshift to 5th from the Gear - button and then push the accelerator as the transmission got into 5th. You lose momentum just for about a second and half, but the downshift is smooth - not violent like it would be under full throttle load.
Overall truck ran in 6th or 7th gear. Kept RPMs at no more than 2800. I did not use 8th at all. Had it limited to 7th. I did get to 75 MPH (3000 RPMs) on the better roads of Nebraska and Wyoming, but only when I had to pass some semis. I would say my speed was mostly between 65 and 70 mph. On the way back, after 2400 miles, the truck got between 11.7 and 12.5 MPG depending on driving conditions. Not bad at all for towing 10000 lbs loaded trailer. (My 2012 Tundra V8 4.6 got no more than 15 mpg empty). Engine braking from GDE works quite well, especially around 3000 to 3200 RPM. Even going down a 6% grade on Elk Mountain in Wyoming, I only had to use the brakes normally. Truck was under control.
Lastly, once you pull a Gooseneck, you don't want to go back to a bumper pull. Gooseneck is sooo much nicer. I installed a B&W Gooseneck hitch on my RAM 1500 Ecodiesel. The only downside is that you cannot turn over the ball because it does not clear the exhaust pipe which is just a couple inches below the main plate. I've seen some guys asking about a fifth wheel hitch - B&W offers an adapter that can be used with this gooseneck.
Hope you enjoyed reading my story and learned a couple of things!
Have a great day!
Edit 1: Truck has 3.92 Gears and Hawk LTS Brake pads on front and back! What a difference they make!
Thanks everyone for all your likes!
Here's my Heavy Duty Towing report for a 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel.
My journey began in beautiful Western Wyoming.
Picked up an empty Kaufman Trailers custom made full tilt bed 20FT 10000 lb rated trailer in Nebraska and hooked it up to my 2014 Ecodiesel. Here's the photo:
Then we kept on driving heading east on the well know i-80. What a fun drive with a Ecodiesel pulling an empty Gooseneck. It's so nice when you have no sway and just cruise on the highway doing 80.
Stopped at a Home Depot and thought I should snap another photo. It just looked so good!
No rear sagging! And there's a reason for that! Truck has Airlift 1000 ( @15 psi since we're empty) and Tuftruck 35% Variable Rate rear coil springs. Ride quality is great! I also installed Bilstein 5100 Heavy Duty Rear Shocks along with the airlift
And we kept on going ... After 3 days on i80 and some crazy narrow i-476 Turnpike in Pensylvania (by the way, trucks must use left lane for multiple sections of construction - fun times), we made it to the Marvelous State of NJ. Boy oh boy..... Marvelous NJ.... That's all I'm gonna say about NJ.... Or maybe not - if you ever want to make a left turn, you have to drive all the way to Philadelphia, where you can make a Uey and then go back to NJ and reach your destination.
I am sure the NJ guys hear it all the time. Oh yeah, one last good NJ street sign. Left turns use Right Lane !!! Y - Only in NJ !!!!As we reached our destination, we determined truck had an average of 14 - 15 MPG towing the empty trailer about 1700 miles at highway speed limit +5. Not bad at all! Did not use Tow/haul mode until I got to Pennsylvania and went up and down some nice hills! Transmission temps never went pass 195 F. Ambient temperature in daytime was no more than 70 F at most.
Spent a couple of days in NJ and then got the trailer loaded. Here's what we towed back to beautiful Wyoming.
Truck sitting level! Airlift 1000 @ 25 psi; BFGoodrich 8 Ply D rated. Front @ 40 psi cold, Rear @ 50 psi cold. Had to load the Tractor backwards in order to put some weight on the rear axle. Estimated weight was no 1300 to 1500 lbs in the bed of the truck.
And we started on out trip back, I was a little nervous about the rig and had the genius idea of buying a truck app and follow the directions for a semi!!! Boy was that a bad idea. It took me across NJ on these little highways, crossed a bridge and ended up in Wilmington around 4:15 PM on US 30 in stop and go traffic. Little tank (the EcoDiesel) was working hard. Found out the hard way that although I have an integrated trailer brake controller, the truck can still side on all 4 wheels when someone cuts in front of you. There's a slight delay when you break between the truck and the trailer, especially when slamming on the brakes! once this happened, I remembered what a good friend with a Ram 3500 told me: keep your right hand on the trailer brake controller while in town and don't be afraid to squeeze it! Yes! It does make a HUUUUGE difference!
Once I passed Wilmington and the crazy rush hour traffic, I decided to ditch the truck app directions and use my built it NAV along with Google Maps for traffic alerts! If you put your destination in G Maps, it will tell you about accidents, construction and delays on your route! Got on i76 Penna Pike. Took 222 from Harrisburg towards i80, It was night time and I was reading signs. Suddenly, I see a sing: use flashers under 50 MPH. And I was thinking - "Man, that must be for semis only". A minute later and sure enough I slowed down to about 40 going uphill. Guess it was a fairly steep grade. Had signs to keep it in low gear and so I did! It wasn't too bad.
I finally made it to i80 and start driving west. I thought Pennsylvania would be difficult on i80 due to the Appalachians. I only had to slow down to about 55 mph a couple of times. Overall truck had no problem with the ups and downs.
After 3 and a half days of towing, I learned that the Tow/Haul mode helps a lot! It keep transmission temps down. Also, the speed paired with the right gear will keep your transmission temps down. My goal was to never exceed 200 F for transmission. The only time it got to 199 and 201 was in Illinois when I had a really strong head wind - you could definitely feel it. I ended up slowing to to around 62-65 mph in 6th gear. Noticed that the transmission stays cooler as the engine RPMs are higher. For example doing 65-68 in 7th at around 2300 RPM has a tranny temp of 195 to 197 vs running in 6th gear at about 2750 RPMs with a tranny temp of 190 or 188.
The engine temp stayed at an average of 235 F for oil and 220 F coolant. It did get up to 245 F oil on some hills but nothing alarming. I did not use cruise control unless I was on flat good roads with no head wind. The cruise control scared me once when it downshifted from 6th to 5th. For whatever reason, it was a fairly violent shift. After that, I decided to use it with caution. if I was in 7th and i saw the gearbox downshift to 6th I would disengage the cruise control.
Very Important Lesson Learned: When towing a heavy load uphill, I would try to keep as much momentum as possible. If I had to downshift from 6th to 5th, I would lift my foot of the accelerator, downshift to 5th from the Gear - button and then push the accelerator as the transmission got into 5th. You lose momentum just for about a second and half, but the downshift is smooth - not violent like it would be under full throttle load.
Overall truck ran in 6th or 7th gear. Kept RPMs at no more than 2800. I did not use 8th at all. Had it limited to 7th. I did get to 75 MPH (3000 RPMs) on the better roads of Nebraska and Wyoming, but only when I had to pass some semis. I would say my speed was mostly between 65 and 70 mph. On the way back, after 2400 miles, the truck got between 11.7 and 12.5 MPG depending on driving conditions. Not bad at all for towing 10000 lbs loaded trailer. (My 2012 Tundra V8 4.6 got no more than 15 mpg empty). Engine braking from GDE works quite well, especially around 3000 to 3200 RPM. Even going down a 6% grade on Elk Mountain in Wyoming, I only had to use the brakes normally. Truck was under control.
Lastly, once you pull a Gooseneck, you don't want to go back to a bumper pull. Gooseneck is sooo much nicer. I installed a B&W Gooseneck hitch on my RAM 1500 Ecodiesel. The only downside is that you cannot turn over the ball because it does not clear the exhaust pipe which is just a couple inches below the main plate. I've seen some guys asking about a fifth wheel hitch - B&W offers an adapter that can be used with this gooseneck.
Hope you enjoyed reading my story and learned a couple of things!
Have a great day!
Edit 1: Truck has 3.92 Gears and Hawk LTS Brake pads on front and back! What a difference they make!
Thanks everyone for all your likes!
