I have a 97 Ram 1500 reg cab 4x4 with the 5.9 and am planning on doing some towing memorial day weekend. I have never towed a large load with it just maybe a ton tops or so. I have never had any kind of trouble out of the tranny and hope to keep it that way. But I am planning on towing a buddies jeep somewhere about 1 hour away. About 40 minutes highway and then about 15-20 minutes of steephilly curvy road. How bad is it going to be on my tranny for that 20 minutes of constant hills and what not? Is it something that I should just totally not do or is it something that I should only do once or is it even going to be a problem. I dont really know how susceptible to damagethese dodge tranniesare by towing.

 

The trannys arnt any more susceptible than anyother trans...

Just dont give it **** loads of throttle from a stand still.
Just the other day I towed a ~12,000 lb trailer about 4 miles, and the trans never missed a beat... My truck spent most of its life as a tow vehicle and have 85,000 on it now with out any probs...


Hook up that trailer and dont worry.

 

if you really that worried about it, change the fluid and filter on the trans before the trip just for some added insurance. And just do the obviouse, don't hot rod it. and turn off OD

 

I pull my jeep around 50 miles one way, on an 18' car hauler, almost every weekend for the last 2 years and have never had any trouble with the tranny.

Brad

 

I've towed Jeeps many times on trailers. Big built Jeeps to, not light stock ones. tis not a problem, I have the 5.2L too not the 5.9L

 

Do not tow in overdrive some people say you can don't believe them.

 

So when towing on the highway I should still keep the OD off I am assuming, or no?

 

Once you are up to speed, you can turn OD on. When you hit an incline, turn it off.

 

Consider a heavier oil in the warmer months... 15W-40 is designed for deisel trucks (tractor trailers)and meets gasoline engine oil requirements with the added benefit of higher TBN. Won't hurt your Dodge one bit.

 

My truck has almost 180,000 miles on it with a lot of them pulling fertilizer buggies and spreaders through soft sticky fields. It's also drug trees around after various hurricanes and towed my 77 jeep wagoneer (all ~2.5 tons of it). 318 Magnum in granny 4 low with OD off is awesome. Just keep OD off and keep right weight on the tongue . . .