RAM 6.4 Ike Gauntlet

kzspree320 wrote:
Well as the owner of a 2016 Ram 2500 with 6.4 hemi and 4.10 rear end that researched this long and hard before buying I can give you the answer on why the GM won. There are really 2 simple reasons. 1) the 2nd gear in the Ram transmission is much higher (lower number) than the GM. It's the one thing Ram should improve. It's not a problem at lower altitudes, but when you lose 3 percent per thousand feet and have lost over 30 percent of your power it suddenly becomes a problem because you are limited to 1st gear. 2) when you are limited to first gear RAM engineers added programming to limit the vehicle to about 4,200 rpms to protect it so it won't have heat issues gear hunting.

I can tell you first hand I have had no problems towing my 12000+ lb high profile fifth wheel anywhere I went in Kentucky and Tennessee at 65 mph and never went below 3rd gear. It does NOT have the brute power of a diesel, but no gasser does. All of the big 3 have gassers that work towing under 14K lbs. That said, if you tow over 10K lbs above 5-6K feet regularly, the diesel is far better. If you only tow at high altitudes occasionally, buy the gasser if you want and exercise a little patience (which is becoming a rare commodity these days).

I've heard about the second gear issue before. I'm surprised Ram hasn't addressed this yet because it truly does cripple the 6.4L under circumstances like this. Because the 6.4L Hemi absolutely does smoke the 6.0L GM on any dyno test I've seen.