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Tow or not to tow, that is the question.

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Old Jan 25, 2010 | 09:03 PM
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Default Tow or not to tow, that is the question.

In about 6 months I'll be PCS'ing (Moving) back to Ft Bliss, Tx. I have 20" tires with 3.92 gears and the Hemi. I wanna tow my 2000 GT Mustang Vert(3100Lbs) on a trailor. I don't have the Tow/Haul option on my Ram. I've traveled this route before, its mostly flat with a couple medium grade hills towards the end. Total mileage is 645 miles. Any advice would be helpful, I don't wanna burn out my tranny..............Kevin.
 
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Old Jan 25, 2010 | 09:22 PM
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Just make sure if you don't already have a hitch to get at least class IV hitch (you might be able to manage with a class III but why tempt fate). Also while you are driving avoid overdrive. This is a good portion of the tow/haul function. In case you aren't sure how to keep it out of overdrive, use the manual shift and keep it in 5 (or if your want you can just shift it yourself, just don't go higher than 5). Other than that, the car is well within your tow rating (assuming the trailer you use to tow it is less than ~3k lbs) so there is minimal threat to your drivetrain. Besides its a truck, its built to do stuff like this so just sit back and enjoy the drive.
 
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Old Jan 25, 2010 | 09:27 PM
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All the Hemi's have a tow/haul option on the tranny. And you have the best available gears for max towing. So you should be fine towing a car on a trailer.

How much do you figure the trailer and car weigh combined?
 
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Old Jan 25, 2010 | 10:06 PM
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You're not going to burn out the tranny on a 1/2 ton pulling only 5000 lbs. Even my truck with 3.21's is rated to pull 6K, yours should be rated for more like 9K
 
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Old Jan 25, 2010 | 10:28 PM
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How do you not have tow/haul.....Is that an option???
 
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Old Jan 26, 2010 | 12:24 AM
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Maybe it is part of the trailer tow package? I thought they all had it too. I would say if you are doing this once....no biggy but if you are gonna tow on a regular basis if you don't have a separate trans cooler maybe get one, cheapest and most bang for you buck upgrade, mine has all kinds of coolers.
 
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Old Jan 26, 2010 | 06:02 AM
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Originally Posted by tombogue09
How do you not have tow/haul.....Is that an option???
I was looking at previous threads on the Tow/Haul topic and saw a pic of a gear shift with the Tow/Haul button on it, I don't have this. I read a few of the posts and guys would mention"when you press the Tow/Haul button, so I figured the above mention button was the one they were refering to, I could be wrong. Maybe the button was'nt from an 09-10 Ram Hemi, I'll try shifting with the ERS switch on my way to work this morning and see if the tranny will shift from 5 into T/H mode. Last night I was'nt driving when I was fiddling with the ERS switch. Stay tuned.

P.S. Thanks for the previous info, such as a class IV hitch requiement, will purchase one before I leave.Thanks again guys...........Kevin.
 
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Old Jan 26, 2010 | 08:38 AM
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Well I found where the T/H button is on our vehicles, right in front of me When I looked up in the manual under the overdrive section, there it was. Funny thing is last night, in the manual, under T/H, there was no pics of it. Well mystery solved, thanks again guys for the input
 
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