Well I had to drive 350miles ( no trailer ) to get there, truck ran boss, smooth and steady, the Nav system is amazing , turn for turn it was dead on. The truck averaged a wooping 18.1 MPG ( by the overhead computer) way better then my 02 CTD 6 speed,

The trailer has a tounge weight of 1340lbs, we had some troble hooking up as the hitch height is high on the Ram, so much so that we were concerned that it would be way to high even with the adjustable draw bar ( the one with holes for raising or lower your ball height) so it set it up for the lowest setting and it was still about 6" to high.
But the tounge weight was enough to squat the Ram so the the trailer did end up sitting level enough that it was no concern, I guess about a 4- 6 " squat in all. We hook up the weight distribution bars, on a light setting and brought it back up about 2". I was not sitting on the helpers springs , maybe a 1" or so off them.

I started off in D with the Tow Haul mode, and the truck did ok, ( coming from the 02 with a 6 speed ) I was actully happy with it considering all stock . I found that was the truck hit ( or I forced it into OD ) that I could maintain 1700 RPM or so and work with it, ( sure missed my boost gauge here ) and that I could maintain 60 ish MPH with no problem even on some hills, if I felt the TC was going to come unglled I would just back out of it a bit so as not to creat to much heat in the tranny oil.

There was a couple of times that I decided to use OD OFF mode for some of the bigger hills and realy did not like this mode at all, at about 50 MPH the engine would be turning just over 2000 and with a line of traffic behind me I would take it up some more to just under 2500, but would sooner not .

I had a great trip untill I hit the city's traffic, 2 hours of stop and go on the freeway, I use Tow HAUL mode all the way, then I had to head north again, all up hill ( slite grade all the way, that I never noticed before last night ) I had to use ) OD OFF all the way to maintain any speed at all, it is almost like the truck got weaker if that makes any sense, but it was rainy and foggy so it could have just been me.

All in all I think that truck will do great for our purpose, and the best part is the fuel milage, on the way back with the trailer it averaged 12.1 MPG . I know that is better then my 02 would do.

Ralph

 

huh? if I read that right, 2x, it sounds like a mixed review. How much did the trailer weigh?

You are lucky in one sense, at least you have the option of turning the OD off. I dont have that option [:@]

 

Gald you like the Auto. I bet you enjoied it more in the stop and go traffic. I have not gotten the tow/haul, OD off figured out yet either. I did try it empty yesterday in town and liked that is shifted sooner and at a lower speed then when not useing it.

As for running it at 2500 it will not hurt it but then you know that don't ya? Well it does hurt the MPG but that is all. If you can, haul that trailer as much as you can so as to help break it in and seat the rings. To me that is the only way to break in a Diesel engine, load it up and run it as far and as long as you can.

Oh did you add the brew when you filled it up? MPG sounds about what I got out of my 06 when new and empty.

Enjoy your new truck,

Charles