In vehicles equipped the same way with same chassis, cab configuration, gears, trans etc, the V10 will flat smoke a Hemi in acceleration "with traction". Now if you want to raise the compression of the v10 to the hemi's level, put in a similar spec'd camshaft and uncork the intake and exhaust to hemi standards, the beating would be even greater. You just can't get around the cubic inch advantage with the v10, even as severely handicapped from the factory as they were. You put the Mp cam, headers, exhaust and pcm on the V10 and you have a smog legal 390 hp, thats with the cam installed in the smog legal 112 degrees, degree the cam at 116 where it should be and you pick up another 25 hp. This is where the motor should have been from the factory, even with the pathetic 8.4-1 compression ratio. I was told by several Dodge engineers, the motor was kept mild because they didn't have a trans at the time that could live behind it when spec'd like the 5.2/5.9 motors.

 

I sail, as well (why I bought my truck), gonna upgrade to a capri 22 in the spring (only 4800lbs tops)... 20k lbs for a trailerable sailboat, it'd have to be a nimble, or a nonsuch, otherwise I'd have to see proof (more so I can drool over your boat you lucky bstrd)...

Pretty freaking impressive feat though! But I detect some fish tale in that.

But to answer the Hemi versus v10... looks like what these guys are saying, is it is more gearing... 4.56s, and 17 wheels, it'd be no problem towing that much (although you'd still be WAYYYYY over speced, making that pretty dumb thing to do - but hey I have done worse). SHNOOL <--- is pretty upset he has the 3.73 gears in his HEMI.. Want some highway manners, so might go 4.10s.. .but the consensus from the 1500 guys is the 4.56s are a better choice, EVEN if you stick with the stocker 17 inch wheels (search for gas mileage and 4.56, you'll see the argument that dragged on for pages).

Long and the short of it was, get the 4.56s if you are ever gonna increase the size of your tires/wheels... it won't hurt mileage (enough to matter), and you gain a tremendous mechanical advantage on the stops, and hills for towing large amounts.

Truly though, if you are towing much more than say 11k lbs... you should have a 3500, duallies, and the cummins. You want to have that margin of error. Launching the boat from a ramp, you'd want the 4x4, or at least a detroit locker, and as much torque as you can get. Gives you a reason to buy the $$$ truck though!

 

Nice infor but it is for the 09, not 08. I wish my 08 has the extra 45hp!!

 

20,000 pounds? Correct me if I'm wrong...but isnt that waaaaay over the legal weight limit of a 2500? I'm not saying it couldnt be done, but never safely as far as I'm concerned. I'm not real big on tempting fate, I keep my weights under what the truck is rated for. If I were pulling that kind of weight I would probably go with a 3500, maybe a 4500 with a cummins, I'm not certain even the 3500 is rated for 20,000.

Anyway, I'm sure that there's no way my 1500 Hemi would pull a 20,000 pound load, even if I were willing to try it, which I am not. My 21' travel trailer weighs 5000 pounds and it pulls it without any trouble, and I'm happy with it. Maybe there was something wrong with my V10 but it worked alot harder. If I upgrade to a bigger trailer (which will be several years) then like I say, I'll upgrade the size of truck I'm using accordingly.

I'd like to see that boat though....

 

Wow a lot of ppl are amazed by my pulling a big boat. I'll explain then. I have a 5th wheel hitch on my truck. We have a 2 masted iron hulled sailboat down in Florida that we had lifted out of the water onto a trailer. I have moved it from pensecola to carabelle twice .. not on the interstate.
It's not like I'm pulling this thing out of the water on a ramp... they have a big crane that they used to lift it out of the water. That thing is not that hard to get going.. but when it comes time to stop it pushes even with its own set of brakes.. not fun.. But the point is that truck will pull more than a hemi ... a hemi couldn't do it.. not enough torque and obviously the frame of a 1500 isn't stable enough.. and by the way I beleive my 5th wheel hitch is rated for 20,000 lbs.. I'll have to check on the sticker on the hitch... and my normal hitch says 14,000... is that abnormal???

 

That WAS how they originally came up with the idea. Dodge didn't have a big block to compete with the 454 and 460 (big block tooling had been scrapped by 1980). So Bob Lutz said, hey how 'bout we add 2 extra cylinders? The original design mule was a 360 block with two extra cylinders brazed or cast into it, I don't remember. It did run smoother than odd fire V6 on its first run. They originally envisioned it as a low power torque engine that would be more efficient than the big blocks because all it was basically a really long small block. They got it figured out for what they wanted in cast iron, then had Lamborghini (Chrysler owned them at the time) figure out how to cast it and make it work in aluminum. Presto, instant 400hp Viper engine (circa 1992). The V10 mutated over the years, I imagine a pair of cast iron jobs would make awesome boat engines for like a cabin cruiser. Dodge really needs to figure out an engine (besides the CTD) to field that will compete with the 8 liter chevy. A hemi derivative at that displacement would be....wow.

 

Or a V10 Hemi!!

 

if you have an engineering library anywhere close to you this paper on the 8L V10 design features can be read for free:

http://www.sae.org/servlets/productD...PROD_CD=933033

 

If the V10 was still an option when I bought my truck that is what I would have picked. My in-laws have a 1999 2500 Quad Cab with the V10. That thing barely breaks a sweat cruising up the mountain, in third gear and overdrive I am sure, where we live. Where my V8 struggles to maintain third gear and sometimes has to downshift to second.

 

Only time the hemi (mine anyway) ever struggled was going through the TN mountains with 6000lbs hooked behind it.