So I finally got to put some miles on towing my 5er. The trip was only about 60 miles, but had some rolling hills, a bit of city towing fighting long weekend traffic too.Set up is as pictured. Gcwr is about 18,500# give or take. We are lightly loaded gear wise, but the fresh water tank was full. I think its 60 gal.It towed the load just fine, plenty of power to accelerate and climb grades, it even climbed all the overpasses in 5th with no downshifting or gear hunting. But I do have a couple nits to pick.1, it can hold 5th gear, but it takes some coaxing to get there. If you just hit resume on the cruise, it will easily get back up to your set speed, but likes to hang in 4th at 2800 RPM, rather than use 5th at 2100 RPM. To get into 5th, you have to manually accelerate past the set speed, the let it slow down a bit and it will drop into, and hold 5th. Never saw 6th when towing.2, I'm having issues with the built in brake controller recognizing that the RV is electrically connected to the truck. On the trailer brake screen on the EVIC it says "no trailer connected", even when the RV is connected and the lights (including brake and turn lights) all work, but the trailer brakes won't. After 15 min or so of driving it finally recognized the connection and the brake started working. It did the same thing during my 10 mile shake down tow. Likely a problem with my POJ RV.Mileage was 8.4 mpg average from start, through the city and to the campground. All in all I am happy, but I'd like to get the trailer brake thing figured out before we head to the mountains.

I'm using my cell phone to post so I broke it up.Interestingly, the instant mpg was pretty much the same in 4th at 2800 and in 5th at 2100 rpm. That surprised me.

Glad to hear your experience was good (for the most part). I towed for the first time last weekend with my 6.4L Hemi. I'm guessing I'm around 16000 - 16500 GCWR. I towed through various foothills and averaged 10 going, 11 coming home with mostly head and crosswinds going, not much coming home. At first I thought it was going to stay in 4th @ around 2300 all the time. Turns out it was just the wind. Once I got out of the wind and flat ground, it held 5th @ around 1900. I was quite happy with mine.

Looks great!I think I would let it stay in 4th at 2800 RPMs if it thinks it should. May not be a reasonable comparison, but my old beater can tow around 2100 - 2200 RPMs, but it actually gets better mileage with OD locked out at 2800 RPMs.

It is interesting we have totally different trucks but I have the same issues. Sometimes if my truck downshifts to 4th it likes to hold it. And I noticed that my speed and wind determine my mpg not my gear

Different truck, but I had the same trailer disconnect issue. After 2-3 trips it cleared up on its own. Never knew why...Nice truck!

Ram 2500 Hemi tow review - UPDATED | Good Sam Community

alboy
Explorer
Jul 13, 2014
Yep you need too watch the magnets, my brakes were still at 70% after 3 yrs and a lot of miles but the magnets were well past the wear bars,i do have a pac brake on my 06 Ram 5.9, so not much trailer brake wear.
mowin
Explorer
Jul 12, 2014
Glad you got it fixed. Sorry it cost so much tho...
ib516
Explorer II
Jul 12, 2014
Just to update/conclude this....

I took the RV in to the dealer for service. 3 of 4 brakes needed new magnets, and one wheel had a broken wire to the magnet. $650 later and the truck's system detects it immediately and it works great.
ib516
Explorer II
May 23, 2014
Went to the RV dealer, plugged into two different new RVs, system recognized them right away. Bought a new 7 pin connector (RV side/female) in case. Came home and tried the screwdriver/sandpaper trick and a shot of WD40 on the OE 7 pin connector. No dice. Then I cut it off and wired on the new one, still nothing. Looks like it's an issue beyond the plug on my RV, and a trip to the RV dealer's service dept. is in order.
FishOnOne
Nomad
May 20, 2014
ib516 wrote:
FishOnOne wrote:
Assuming the connections on your trailer worked fine on your old truck, have you considered your EVIC/U Connect 8.4 maybe the culprit?

Only towed it a mile or so home from storage, and had already removed and sold my Prodigy by then, so I'm not sure. It did work 9 months ago, but maybe I got some corrosion sitting over the winter.

I'm going to go to the local RV dealer and hook up to a couple new trailers on their lot and see what happens. That will tell me if it could be the truck.

sounds like a good plan
ib516
Explorer II
May 20, 2014
FishOnOne wrote:
Assuming the connections on your trailer worked fine on your old truck, have you considered your EVIC/U Connect 8.4 maybe the culprit?

Only towed it a mile or so home from storage, and had already removed and sold my Prodigy by then, so I'm not sure. It did work 9 months ago, but maybe I got some corrosion sitting over the winter.

I'm going to go to the local RV dealer and hook up to a couple new trailers on their lot and see what happens. That will tell me if it could be the truck.
FishOnOne
Nomad
May 20, 2014
Assuming the connections on your trailer worked fine on your old truck, have you considered your EVIC/U Connect 8.4 maybe the culprit?
jerem0621
Explorer II
May 19, 2014
ib516 wrote:
Thanks Don! I'll try that.

Edit - Didn't work. On the 7 pin female plug (RV side of the connection), the cord is starting to separate from the plug itself. Might be time to chop that one off and wire a new one on.

My local O'Reileys has new pigtails for about $25.00. It may be easier to just replace the pigtail at the junction box. Add some ring terminals to the new pigtail and your good to go!

Thanks!

Jeremiah
ib516
Explorer II
May 19, 2014
Thanks Don! I'll try that.

Edit - Didn't work. On the 7 pin female plug (RV side of the connection), the cord is starting to separate from the plug itself. Might be time to chop that one off and wire a new one on.
Perrysburg_Dodg
Explorer
May 19, 2014
ib516 wrote:
Yes, once it connects, it works wonderfully. Wouldn't surprise me if my pos RV was the problem.

I plan to hook up to a different RV and see if I have any issues. If not, I have narrowed it down to the RV being the problem.

IB use a small screwdriver and bend the female tabs both side towards the center and make sure the contacts are clean (trailer pigtale). My Ram did the same thing and that fixed it for me. There is a member having the same issuse with his Ford.

The shifting into 5th may take a reflash to fix. After you get a few thousand miles on her if its still doing it ask the dealer if there is a towing reflash available. If not ask for them to contact Ram dealer support to see if they have a fix.

Don