Recently got back from a three week trip out west.
St. Louis to KC, up through Iowa to South Dakota to Devils Tower to Yellowstone to the Grand Tetons. Returned home through southeast Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and back through Missouri.
This was our first long trip and our first towing through mountains. I have a 2018 Ram 3500 SRW, 6.4 and 4:10 rear with 3973 lb. of payload. My 30 foot fifth wheel has an unloaded pin weight of 1115 lb. and a GVWR of 9800 lb. This trailer is well within the capacity of my truck.
I was very curious to see how the gasser would do in the mountains. I’ve read in a few places (including here) where folks were saying how difficult it would be from Buffalo, WY to Ten Sleep on highway 16 and also difficult from Ten Sleep to Yellowstone.
I’m happy to report that my truck pulled like a beast all the way through the entire trip and it’s got a great exhaust note when the RPMs go up to about 4500 just like it was designed to do. I used my transmission extensively on the down grades and it worked just fine. As others have said, pay attention to the speed limits, watch for the switchbacks and all will be fine. My friend and his wife were in their 43 foot DP towing a Ford Bronco. They went a bit slower with all that weight but had no problems at all.
I also used my new TST tpms system for the first time. The trailer tires were aired up to the sidewall recommended 80 psi. The tires that were in the sun had the highest temperature as well as the highest psi once on the road. There was a point where the two hot tires got one psi above my preset limit of 95 but that was the only issue I had with tires.
I had recently put new Goodyear Endurance tires on the trailer and was just going to leave the truck tires alone but they were about at the end of their life so I figured I would replace them as well. I also recently replaced the engine air filter. I don’t know if it was coincidence or not but I got the best mpg I’ve ever gotten while towing this trailer as well as our previous one. I was looking forward to great gas mileage wile coming through Kansas but that didn’t happen with the crazy cross winds on I-70. That leg turned out to be worse mpg than coming through the mountains. The trip from Yellowstone to Gros Ventre in the Grand Tetons gave me the best mpg because of the 45 mph speed limit. No reason to go fast with all the beautiful scenery to take in. Gros Ventre is a nice campground. We were in loop D and it was quite tight and I wouldn’t want to be in a trailer much bigger than ours.
This was a bucket list trip and I couldn’t have been more pleased. We even had a big bull elk strutting through our campsite at Fishing Bridge RV Park in Yellowstone one morning. There was a woman taking trash to the dumpster with her dog when he showed up. The poor woman just froze and did her best to keep the barking from her dog to a minimum. He just kept on walking. We had about five mule deer in the site across from us one day too. Just beautiful! Fishing Bridge is a nice campground (we were in loop E). Needless to say we saw many bison throughout the park. On the Walk to the Grand Prismatic Spring overlook there was a single bison walking right along the path. That was quite a shock with so many people in the area. We all remained calm as well as the bison. He was 12 feet away from us as we all stood still. There was really nowhere for all of us to go.
This trip was two years in the making and did not disappoint at all!
Bob & Susan
Shelby the Beagle June 8, 2005 - Dec. 24, 2016
2018 Ram 3500 6.4 HEMI, long bed, 4.10’s
2021 Coachman Chaparral Lite 25 RE
2011 Gulfstream Ameri-Lite 23BW - retired
2003 Dodge Ram 1500 - retired
