Hemi 6.4l towing 5th wheel

This is an old thread that has no new information for the original poster so I am closing it. If you want to continue the discussion you need to start a new thread.
Barney

Sport45 wrote:

Ram6.4hemi wrote:
I tow a 42' Forest River blue ridge fifth wheel with my 6.4L hemi. We travel across country with it. The recommendation I have is add an auxiliary gas tank. No problems pulling even in the mountains. My truck is a 2015 2500 with crew cab short box, 373 gears, 4X4. I added a 46 gallon auxiliary gas tank and can go about 600 miles pulling between stops. A lot better than 150-175 on just regular tank.

Ram6.4Hemi,

Welcome to the forum!

You've provided good information but I'm afraid since the question was asked two years ago the OP has probably already figured it out. :)

I dont know about anyone else reading this, but MY pucker factor shot up when I read Ram6.4Hemi's post! The GCWR on that truck is 19800lbs, the base weight of the truck is 6700lbs. He is over GCWR BEFORE he adds the additional 290 lbs of auxiliary gas! Yeah, I am sure the RAM will pull it, but I dont want to be on the same road when it does!

All I can say is the 42' FR Blue ridges on their website are 16k and up GVWR which is beyond the capabilities of most SRW 1 ton diesels much less a gas 3/4 ton.

Ram6.4hemi wrote:
I tow a 42' Forest River blue ridge fifth wheel with my 6.4L hemi. We travel across country with it. The recommendation I have is add an auxiliary gas tank. No problems pulling even in the mountains. My truck is a 2015 2500 with crew cab short box, 373 gears, 4X4. I added a 46 gallon auxiliary gas tank and can go about 600 miles pulling between stops. A lot better than 150-175 on just regular tank.

Ram6.4Hemi,

Welcome to the forum!

You've provided good information but I'm afraid since the question was asked two years ago the OP has probably already figured it out. :)

I tow a 42' Forest River blue ridge fifth wheel with my 6.4L hemi. We travel across country with it. The recommendation I have is add an auxiliary gas tank. No problems pulling even in the mountains. My truck is a 2015 2500 with crew cab short box, 373 gears, 4X4. I added a 46 gallon auxiliary gas tank and can go about 600 miles pulling between stops. A lot better than 150-175 on just regular tank.

jmac2009 wrote:
Hi all, I'm new to the forum and new to towing. I just purchased the new RAM 2500 4x4 with the new 6.4 Hemi. 410 HP, 430+ torque. Advertised to tow 12,200 lbs. its was even prep for a 5th wheel hitch. Sold seperatly of course.

...............................

What is you experience or opinions on towing 10,000 lbs with the V8 6.4l?

Well with 430hp and a fair amount of torque, I don't see a reason that you can't do a decent job of pulling 10,000# to 11,000# 5er. You have a good GVWR and with a 6,500# rear axle you should do well.
We pull an 11,000# 5er with our 01 Ram diesel, with less than 300 hp ( about 270), a bit more torque, and all that means is that you need to rev higher.
I think Ram now has a one, two punch in the HD Pickup truck wars. The Cummins diesel and the 6.4 hemi power for both the gas and diesel fans!

Enjoy the tow.

I too really like the Cedar Creek Silverback trailer you're interested in. My truck is the last of the F250 7.3's, and I would even be max'd out with that trailer after all my wife's "stuff" is loaded.

Even though a gas engine might pull a fiver, I just wouldn't want to tow anything weighing 10K or more--no matter what they're rated for. Fuel mileage is simply dismal with gas engines pulling large 5er's.

Have you looked at the Grand Design trailers? They have two Reflection models weighing about 9.2K (dry), and a new 27RL model just hit production at 8K lbs. They have 6'6" bedroom heights and have very impressive cabinetry.

Grand Design has just built their 1000th fiver in their first 18 months in business, and they're going to be a power in the industry. And the company is customer driven--more so than other manufacturers.

I had a ram 1500 hemi single cab long bed that i pulled a 32 ft sundance x/lt with a dry weight of (i think) 8900 lbs and I put airbags on it to help stabilize it and it did fine getting about 11 mpg loaded. With the hemi in a 2500 you should do great I wouldn't worry about it and enjoy the life style

laknox wrote:

jmac2009 wrote:
Researching the RAM website, I have a towing capacity of 12,200 lbs. I figure about 400 lbs in the cab and 75 lbs for the hitch. Now the 5th wheel with options is now at 11,015 lbs. Since there is only the two of us, I'm guessing another 500 lbs in the 5er so I'm at 11,900 -12,000 lbs.

Does this mean I'm going to struggle going uphill or overheat the transmission? Wear the brakes going downhill? What does "Towing Capacity" really mean.

Payload is always your limiting factor and the only way to estimate it is to take the dry pin wt., divide by the dry wt., then multiply by the GVW. That will tell you the approximate max pin wt at GVW. The ratio may vary, especially if you start adding batteries, generators and the like, which tend to be right at the front of the storage, so are putting a lot more weight on the pin. Also, add about 100 more lbs for the hitch. Will you carry water in the FW? 8 lbs per gallon. What about if you can't dump and have to carry a load of black and grey water somewhere? I'm not saying that this truck won't handle a decent payload, but do be careful in choosing your FW.

As far as towing, with a gasser, keep the RPM up in the power band and don't worry about it; gassers are =designed= to run at higher RPM to produce power. Take what speed you can get at the RPM you want and let traffic go around you on the hills. The engine will work =less= hard at a higher RPM and you'll actually get somewhat better mileage. As far as downhills, if your FW brakes are in good repair, they are supposed to stop the full weight of the FW at GVW; the truck's brakes stop the truck. Yes, if the fecal material hits the fan, having a bigger truck, with bigger brakes, is much better, but you have to draw a limit somewhere.

Lyle

Just an fyi in case you didnt notice.The OP last posted in January about this.Old thread.

jmac2009 wrote:
Researching the RAM website, I have a towing capacity of 12,200 lbs. I figure about 400 lbs in the cab and 75 lbs for the hitch. Now the 5th wheel with options is now at 11,015 lbs. Since there is only the two of us, I'm guessing another 500 lbs in the 5er so I'm at 11,900 -12,000 lbs.

Does this mean I'm going to struggle going uphill or overheat the transmission? Wear the brakes going downhill? What does "Towing Capacity" really mean.

Payload is always your limiting factor and the only way to estimate it is to take the dry pin wt., divide by the dry wt., then multiply by the GVW. That will tell you the approximate max pin wt at GVW. The ratio may vary, especially if you start adding batteries, generators and the like, which tend to be right at the front of the storage, so are putting a lot more weight on the pin. Also, add about 100 more lbs for the hitch. Will you carry water in the FW? 8 lbs per gallon. What about if you can't dump and have to carry a load of black and grey water somewhere? I'm not saying that this truck won't handle a decent payload, but do be careful in choosing your FW.

As far as towing, with a gasser, keep the RPM up in the power band and don't worry about it; gassers are =designed= to run at higher RPM to produce power. Take what speed you can get at the RPM you want and let traffic go around you on the hills. The engine will work =less= hard at a higher RPM and you'll actually get somewhat better mileage. As far as downhills, if your FW brakes are in good repair, they are supposed to stop the full weight of the FW at GVW; the truck's brakes stop the truck. Yes, if the fecal material hits the fan, having a bigger truck, with bigger brakes, is much better, but you have to draw a limit somewhere.

Lyle