2010-2013 2500 Hemi Ram towing?

camp-n-family wrote:

ib516 wrote:

I hauled 12k with the 6.4L/4.10 axles combo and didn't have any of the issues described above with inadequate power.

The 5.7 has plenty of power it just isn’t able to use it because of the poor transmission gearing. Highway cruising with the tt it would be in 4th all the time. Only time it would go into 5th would be downhill with a tailwind. Even non towing it couldn’t hold speed on even the slightest incline. It would drop 6-8mph before it would finally downshift but then it would drop 2 gears and go like a bat out of hell. Very annoying.

That would be annoying.

Video

Here's the video I'm referencing. Mine putts along at just over 2k RPM on the flats towing a 37' 5er with 3 slide outs.

ib516 wrote:

I hauled 12k with the 6.4L/4.10 axles combo and didn't have any of the issues described above with inadequate power.

The 5.7 has plenty of power it just isn’t able to use it because of the poor transmission gearing. Highway cruising with the tt it would be in 4th all the time. Only time it would go into 5th would be downhill with a tailwind. Even non towing it couldn’t hold speed on even the slightest incline. It would drop 6-8mph before it would finally downshift but then it would drop 2 gears and go like a bat out of hell. Very annoying.

While the 5.7L Hemi is a pretty stout engine, I think the 6.4L is a better choice for a 3/4 ton gasser. They came out in 2014.

I hauled 12k with the 6.4L/4.10 axles combo and didn't have any of the issues described above with inadequate power. I will agree the gap between 1 and 2 was too big and when towing with the gas to the floor from a stop, it would take a second or two for the power to recover after the upshift from 1st to 2nd.

On a specs sheet, the 5.7L and 6.4L don't look too far apart, but the power is available much lower in the RPM band with the 6.4L. Mine would happily cruise along at 21k combined (on flat terrain) in 5th at about 2200 RPM. I have a video of that on Youtube. I doubt a 5.7L Hemi could do that. I recall in the press videos released around the 6.4L that the engineers stated the power is available about 800 - 1000 RPM lower than the other guys (meaning the Ford 6.2L and the GM 6.0L gasser) at the time.

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Had a ‘14 Ram 2500 5.7. Key word is had. Worst vehicle I have ever owned. Apart from the many problems (pm if you want those details), I hated driving it. The transmission gearing paired with 3.73s was horrible. I’ve heard it’s not any better with the 4.10s. It was always bogged down in the wrong gear, towing or not. The spacing between 1st and 2nd is too big and it always wanted to start out in 3rd. I saw many others complain about the same when I posted about it. After a year and a half I traded it for truck in sig.

My tt is only 7600lbs and the truck would struggle to pull hills from a standstill. It would pull hard in first to high rpm ( in the power band) but then the shift to 2nd would drop the rpm so much that it bogged down and couldn’t accelerate until it slowed and shifted back to first. Several times I’ve had to climb hills at redline in 1st, holding up traffic. I’m talking the Adirondacks (small hills), not mountains. My old Tundra accelerated up bigger hills with ease with the same tt.