2005 1 ton Ram diesel
In 2005 my husband & I went fulltime with a large 5th wheel & our new from the factory Ram. We fulltimed for almost 8 years. The truck now has 160,000 miles on it. It seems to run great. Have had ...
Forum Discussion
Cummins12V98 wrote:
"I did for years with a 10K 5th wheel (18K combined) behind a 2001 with a 47RE and it was no big deal using a little common sense. What kind of load is she talking about, 24 ft was mentioned which shouldn’t be anywhere near that weight. I would never tell anyone not to get an EB because they are great but whether one is necessary is another question."
Would you send your wife out to tow 15-16k combined to tow I-5 from Redding, CA to Eugene, OR without an EB in a 2500 4 speed auto Cummins ?
My wife won't tow anything but yes if I had shown her how to do it. I would gear down, pick a target speed (say 50 mph), let the speed build up to 55 then get on the brakes firmly and bring it down to 45, get off the brakes to give them a little cooling time and repeat. Worked fine for me. You just can't set the cruise control and let the truck do its thing like if you have an EB. Where I live hills on main highways aren't limited to 6% like in the US. The Coquihalla which is a 4 lane 75 mph highway has grades up to 8.5%. Anarchist Mountain, HWY 22 from Trail to Rossland all have grades at least as steep and I did them them all with that set-up. Seem to recall 16 from Buffalo to Worland in Wyoming was pretty steep as well.
If there was any snow on the road in the Siskyous you would be foolish to use an exhaust brake anyway. Same goes if there is any standing water on a road.
