'16 Ram 2500 CTD first tow. Some thing is wrond

As others have said it sounds like you need to lock out 6th to keep your RPM's somewhere around 1900-2100. That is the sweet spot for the Cummins and it will pull like a train.

My combo is great in that I sit right in that range in 6th gear right around 65 mph so I can actually pull my 16k fiver up some pretty good grades without downshifting and it will actually accelerate up the hill if I give it some more throttle. Trust me, your new truck has MUCH more pulling power than your old 7.3L, it will just take getting to know it better to get it out of it.

Please let us know how you make out!

Searching_Ut wrote:
I always lock out 6th gear on my Ram while towing. The Asin transmission tends to hunt bad, especially between 5th and 6th. I've also found cruise control costs me almost 2 miles to the gallon while towing so I turn it off often and it allows a fair bit of speed variation in rolling hills. The gear ratio in the SRW's is fairly high, which in my opinion works fairly good as a compromise for when you're running empty at 80ish MPH on the freeway unload in 6th, but still have 5 useable gears for towing. I'm not sure where the claims of seven up steep hills comes from. Mine drops down into 3rd pulling hard fairly often, as did my 2011 2500 with regular output engine towing a trailer that was only 8k. Most freeway pulls you can keep freeway speeds as they only get up around 6 or 7 percent grade most of the time. Mountain highways often get much steeper.

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With my 2014 Ram with just over 13k fifth wheel I can pull Daniels at the speed limit 60 mph in fourth gear, have never yet seen third gear on any grade yet that would allow me to go at least 50 mph, and that includes the hill out of Ashton Idaho into Island Park

FYI to the OP my 99 7.3 with a bunch of mods would pull the same hills mentioned above with the same fifth wheel down in second gear at 30-35 mph compared to the Ram at 60 mph in fourth gear. Yes something is wrong ,your driving or the truck

I have a 2010 Dodge 3500, pulling 1100-1200 lbs. I use tow haul in towns, but turn it off otherwise. I usually use cruise control on the road. As a hill becomes steeper, speed will drop 3-4 mph below set speed before a downshift. On downhill grades, as speed increases, the speed may go 4-5 mph over before a downshift. I consider it normal. Down long 6% grades with curves, I will usually adjust the cruise down several mph below my usual 59 mph set speed.

I don't use cruise when I tow, or really much otherwise. Maybe that's it?

I've towed over the western Rockies and Sierras and have yet to encounter a situation where I couldn't accelerate at will. Something may be amiss.

Your 2500 CTD has a 3.42 gear ratio as all 2500 CTD.....and with a double OD gear forget about towing in OD when pulling a load.
Down shift in the hills/high head winds to the gear that lets the Cummins run in the 1900-2100 rpm range.
If it still won't make the grade take it to your Ram truck dealer and let them find out whats going on.

Strange I am tow a BH3575 and have only dropped to third a couple times. I tow the 5th at 25K combined and drop to 4th on mountain passes. Chris

I always lock out 6th gear on my Ram while towing. The Asin transmission tends to hunt bad, especially between 5th and 6th. I've also found cruise control costs me almost 2 miles to the gallon while towing so I turn it off often and it allows a fair bit of speed variation in rolling hills. The gear ratio in the SRW's is fairly high, which in my opinion works fairly good as a compromise for when you're running empty at 80ish MPH on the freeway unload in 6th, but still have 5 useable gears for towing. I'm not sure where the claims of seven up steep hills comes from. Mine drops down into 3rd pulling hard fairly often, as did my 2011 2500 with regular output engine towing a trailer that was only 8k. Most freeway pulls you can keep freeway speeds as they only get up around 6 or 7 percent grade most of the time. Mountain highways often get much steeper.

I drop 5-6 mph before "it kicks in" with the Hemi, so your CTD is doing better than my gasser. :)

On a long hill I'll give it a little throttle before starting the grade so it gets the downshift out of the way, then it will hold cruise the entire hill.

I only have 4000 miles on it.

M.R.E. wrote:
Thanks for the replies. Locking it in 5th is probably what I need to do. I could disable cruise on my Ford in the mountains. Don't know how to do it on the Ram, probably manual shifting to a lower gear. I don't use cruise in the mountains.

The cruise on/off is located on the right spoke of the steering wheel.
Barney