Ram 2500 Gearing
Just returned from a 3400km trip which took us through some pretty good hilly areas around the Finger Lakes of New York. I tow with the combo in my signature. Trailer weighs 7600lbs loaded.
Overall the truck towed ok but there were a couple of hills where it really struggled. It is the smaller 5.7 Hemi engine but I never encountered this problem with my old similarly powered Tundra. The Tundra pulled the TT fine which is why I went with the Hemi instead of the diesel. (6.4 was impossible to find at the time of purchase) I'm wondering if there is a problem or if it's just the tall 2nd gear.
On 2 seperate occasions we had to start a climb of a fairly steep, long hill from a stop. The truck would pull hard and accelerate quickly in 1st up to around 5500rpm and then shift into 2nd. That's when it would struggle. The Tundra would continue to pull hard and accelerate, then shift into 3rd etc. The Ram just died and couldn't even hold speed. The shift into 2nd would drop the RPMs right down to 2500, out of the power band and it would bog down. Speed would keep decreasing but it wouldn't shift back to first. There was no way to get it into the higher RPMs of 2nd gear where the power is. I had to drop it into 1st and was stuck holding it at 5000rpm (~25mph) to climb the hill. The drop in RPM between 1st and 2nd is too great.
Is it normal for this truck and what others have experienced? I expected better. It was a fairly steep grade each time but only pulling 7600lbs of its rated 13,500lbs. The Ram does weigh 800lbs more than the Tundra did and has 4.10 vs 4.30 rear gearing but I still would have thought it could accelerate uphill, or at least hold speed.
Overall the truck towed ok but there were a couple of hills where it really struggled. It is the smaller 5.7 Hemi engine but I never encountered this problem with my old similarly powered Tundra. The Tundra pulled the TT fine which is why I went with the Hemi instead of the diesel. (6.4 was impossible to find at the time of purchase) I'm wondering if there is a problem or if it's just the tall 2nd gear.
On 2 seperate occasions we had to start a climb of a fairly steep, long hill from a stop. The truck would pull hard and accelerate quickly in 1st up to around 5500rpm and then shift into 2nd. That's when it would struggle. The Tundra would continue to pull hard and accelerate, then shift into 3rd etc. The Ram just died and couldn't even hold speed. The shift into 2nd would drop the RPMs right down to 2500, out of the power band and it would bog down. Speed would keep decreasing but it wouldn't shift back to first. There was no way to get it into the higher RPMs of 2nd gear where the power is. I had to drop it into 1st and was stuck holding it at 5000rpm (~25mph) to climb the hill. The drop in RPM between 1st and 2nd is too great.
Is it normal for this truck and what others have experienced? I expected better. It was a fairly steep grade each time but only pulling 7600lbs of its rated 13,500lbs. The Ram does weigh 800lbs more than the Tundra did and has 4.10 vs 4.30 rear gearing but I still would have thought it could accelerate uphill, or at least hold speed.
