Hello all!

This summer we will be renting a Trave Trailer to (1) give our young girls a taste of camping and see how they like it and (2) determine how we like towing\camping\setup ourselves. The TT we are renting is 4400# dry weight, probably 6000# fully loaded.

Here's what I have... 04 Ram 1500 Quad Cab Hemi, 3.92 gears, 5 speed auto. The truck did not get the factory towing package installed and it didn't concern me at first. I've installed the receiver, brake controller and the 7-pin trailer wiring. I don't think the towing mirrors are required but I'm sure others might disagree.

The only thing I'm not sure of is the Trans Cooler. Checking under the hood, the Hemi already has one installed, I traced the oil lines just to make sure I wasn't dreaming or something. Looking at the DC manual I found online for the Ram, I could not determine if the towing package came with a larger cooler, it only indicated that the Cummins comes with a larger cooler.

Ok, a little long winded, is the stock cooler enough? Does the towing package come with a larger cooler? If I need a larger one, where can I find one online?

Thanks all!

Mike

 

Hey, I dont think a larger cool is needed, just drive with o/d off, or, I guess the '04s have the tow/haul mode, put that on always when you tow. so your trans doesn't shift as much. Have fun going camping! I love it, we have a 21' TT and is great, its about 4k loaded I believe and we towed it before with our '01 4.7L Durango, have upgraded to an '04 Hemi Durango tho... So, I think the Hemi will be fine.

 

The Hemi Ram with a towing package does have a larger trans oil cooler, about 35% larger than the standard. However, it doesn't sound like you are going to be putting the truck to a severe test with what you plan to tow. Of course, that would depend upon what terrain you are going to encounter during towing. Mountains could put a strain on it, just keep a watch out for your tranny temperature warning, it should be fine though.

Dodge does not recommend that you take your vehicle out of overdrive for towing. Common sense will dictate whether or not this will be necessary. If you are in hilly or mountaineous country you will probably need to bypass overdrive, but you will be able to tell if the truck is struggling (continously hunting gears) and that's the time to lock overdrive out.

I can't imagine that you will not enjoy camping. That's the main reason I have my truck, I pull a 24' TT that weighs in, as towed, at about 4500#'s and the truck does not break a sweat. Towing mirrors does make a great improvement, my last Dodge did not have them and I made sure that my new one did. Hopefully you will also get an Equa-lizer, or some good brand of weight distributing hitch as this makes a great deal of difference in towing, not to mention safety. Also, I have tried others, but the Prodigy brake controller is so far ahead that I wouldn't have anything else.

Happy camping.

 

Thanks 03ramhemi and Palm for your feedback.

This first time out we are only going to a local campground; I didn't want to drive cross contry on our first time out. We live in GA so I expect some hills, especially if we decide to camp up in KY\TN area which is certainly being considered if we buy our own TT. The RV center is going to give me a weight distribution setup to use for this trip although I don't think I need one. The TT hitch weight is 460# according to the specs. I guess it can't hurt. I'll get one for sure along with a sway controller if we get our own rig.

For now, I'm going to stop by the local dealership and look at an 04 1500 with a towing package and determine if the difference in size looks substantial enough to warrant an upgrade. If it's only 35% larger, I'm not as concerned; the cooler on the Cummins is HUGE and covers the entire left radiator. I was even thinking of upgrading to that one just to be extra safe.

Thanks for the information!

Mike

 

After walking around the Dodge dealership (and tormenting the salesmen), I think I figured this out...

1) An 04 RAM 1500 4x4 with tow package has a trans cooler that covers the entire radiator, the same cooler used by the Cummins. My theory is that DC anticipates the trans to be under more torque\load with all 4 wheels pulling.

2) An 04 RAM 1500 4x2 with tow package has a trans cooler that covers about 1/2 the radiator area. Since there are only 2 wheels pulling, I'm guessing DC thought this would be sufficient.

3) An 04 RAM 1500 4x2 with NO tow package has a trans cooler that covers about 1/3 the radiator area.

Given all this, I'm shopping for a little larger trans cooler just to be on the safe side. If anyone has a good source, I'm in the market.

Mike

 

Do you know if this is true for the 4.7L as well or just for the HEMI?

 

Bullitt 1229

I have not investigated whether or not the larger trans cooling holds true with the 4.7L or not. I previously owned a Dakota with the 5.9L and I checked on this when I bought it and found that, it too, had a larger oil cooler with the towing package. I suspect that the towing package would always come with larger cooling capacity. The stickers on new vehicles used to indicate this when the towing package was present, but I notice on the 04's they don't make mention of this fact any more even though it is still true, at least where the Hemi is concerned.

 

Ok, I'll look into it. Thanks.