I was towing cars and trucks with a C30 Chevy 4 spd split rear when I was 16. I have driven many trucks and towed many things. I can say the new Ram pulls like a dream. I just posted my findings last week after towing what amounted to about 8500 lbs. The truck was stable, held its speed well up all grades accept for one steep grade. No disrespect intended but I have found its usually the driver thats causes the issues and/or expects too much.

As far as accidents go I could tow 10,000 lbs with a 1500 in a pinch if I needed to safely. 2500 and 3500 trucks are designed to pull more but as crazy as it may seem they are generally the ones that have the problems. I have had to tow and help way more 2500 and 3500 trucks back when I was driving a wrecker, saw more accidents too. Why? Usually driver in experience and or over confidence. Most where way overloaded too.

And as far as Fords towing better than Dodges or Chevys... Disagree there. I have driven the trucks and the wreckers. Truck wise the new Dodge wins hands down on the 1500 side. My friend has a Ford F150 and I have been in his truck while he was towing his 6500lb TT, SCARY STUFF!! The best test IMO is the wreckers. The Chevys are the best with the Dodges coming in at a close 2nd. The Fords are terrible. We are talking 3500 series or better. I spent more time picking up the broke down Fords we had. I had one time I had to pick up our Ford wheel lift. It broke down on 95. The problem was the truck had a car on the back and it was a wheel lift. It would not operate the wheel lift since the truck wasn't running. So I had my Chevy tow a Ford that so happened to have a Ford Tarus on the back 25 miles back to the shop. Lots of horn beeping from the Chevy guys!!

 

Reading through this thread and every page having an advertisment for the Ram stating it's a "weekend pulling machine". I find it ironic lol.

 

Ughhh.

15-20mph headwinds
4000lb travel trailer
Reese W/D hitch...truck & trailer perfectly level
3.55 gears
17" wheels..30.5" tires
Crew Cab Hemi
Superchips Cortex with user defined tranny schedule
93 gas (10% ethanol)
60-65 mph

7.9 MPG (3rd gear the whole time)
Squirrely steering (compared to my Dakota)
Tranny temp = 209

Actions:

1. Ordered Firestone Coil-Rite air bags today
2. Will have dealer check front-end CASTER settings
3. Nothing I can (economically) do about the MPG (wish I had the 3.92 diff)
4. Change tranny fluid every 12000miles due to temps

 

Seems to me that the folks getting the worst towing MPGs are the ones running the higher RPMs. If you have a 3.92 and have to run 3000 RPMs to go as fast as you want to, then you will get the low MPGs.

I have the 3.21 2WD CC and tow a high profile 3500 Lb trailer. In 3rd gear I'm running at about 2200 to 2300 RPMS and even with the head winds still get 10 MPGs. With tail winds, the truck will shift into OD and MPGs go up.

My old GMC sierra with the 3.73 rear end used to get me 9 MPGs with the same trailer (higher RPMs)

My WD hitch has the antisway bars in the design. no problem with cross winds at all

 

I've thought about a 3.21 for that very reason. Seems tthat the 3.92 guys are reporting being in 3rd gear a lot also so why not just swap out to a 3.21 for weights under 5000lbs.

 

This tells me you didn't have the correct tounge weight on the truck. It was to heavy on the truck/front of trailer.

 

That was my first thought but I shifted the center gravity on the trailer by loading everything aft of the trailer wheels as a test. No help.

I also adjusted the equalizer hitch a couple notches tighter to the point the tongue was like welded to the truck.

Maybe I'm just accustomed to the stiffer steering on my Dakota which tracks the highway like it was on steel rails.

The Ram is very light and sensitive in steering even without a trailer hooked to it.

 

My 07 Dakota QC 4x4 with 4.7 HO and 3.92s was not that great with just a 1600 pound car trailer and a 1960 Falcon minus the engine and trans. I had the 265/70 16s

 

Its a truck, not everyone is gonna get the same results, could be a problem with the truck, hitch wt. actual wt in trailer (not gestimated), driver habits, etc. I have a 25' boat and regularly tow and get b/n 11-13, and is fine going up hills and does not stay in 3 gear, but of coarse I have had the boat/trailer wt checked and tongue weight on machines, also do not drive like I would without the boat. My experience is that the 09 is better than my 04 with similar setup throughout the whole towing experience, have used both vehicles to tow the same boat 200 miles to the florida keys on several occassions. My mom new chevy was not getting the mpg they stated she kept complaining to the dealer to no avail, also was finding carbon on exhaust, finally after an injector went did they go a fix the programming and two other injectors to finally fix the problem which resulted in proper mpg.

 

Does that there 25' boat of yores have an 8' x 10' barn door on the front of it like a travel trailer???????