'16 Ram 2500 CTD first tow. Some thing is wrond

[M_R_E_]

My first tow from MI to FL. I towed in towhaul and cruise. couldn't keep speed on small hills. Speed would drop 4 miles before kicking in. Power in mountains was terrible. My old Ford 7.3 would out pull it . Something is wromg. Help

[JIMNLIN]

Your 2500 CTD has a 3.42 gear ratio as all 2500 CTD.....and with a double OD gear forget about towing in OD when pulling a load.
Down shift in the hills/high head winds to the gear that lets the Cummins run in the 1900-2100 rpm range.
If it still won't make the grade take it to your Ram truck dealer and let them find out whats going on.

[Me_Again]

Strange I am tow a BH3575 and have only dropped to third a couple times. I tow the 5th at 25K combined and drop to 4th on mountain passes. Chris

[Searching_Ut]

I always lock out 6th gear on my Ram while towing. The Asin transmission tends to hunt bad, especially between 5th and 6th. I've also found cruise control costs me almost 2 miles to the gallon while towing so I turn it off often and it allows a fair bit of speed variation in rolling hills. The gear ratio in the SRW's is fairly high, which in my opinion works fairly good as a compromise for when you're running empty at 80ish MPH on the freeway unload in 6th, but still have 5 useable gears for towing. I'm not sure where the claims of seven up steep hills comes from. Mine drops down into 3rd pulling hard fairly often, as did my 2011 2500 with regular output engine towing a trailer that was only 8k. Most freeway pulls you can keep freeway speeds as they only get up around 6 or 7 percent grade most of the time. Mountain highways often get much steeper.

[GordonThree]

I drop 5-6 mph before "it kicks in" with the Hemi, so your CTD is doing better than my gasser. 🙂

On a long hill I'll give it a little throttle before starting the grade so it gets the downshift out of the way, then it will hold cruise the entire hill.

[M_R_E_]

I only have 4000 miles on it.

[BarneyS]

M.R.E. wrote:
Thanks for the replies. Locking it in 5th is probably what I need to do. I could disable cruise on my Ford in the mountains. Don't know how to do it on the Ram, probably manual shifting to a lower gear. I don't use cruise in the mountains.

The cruise on/off is located on the right spoke of the steering wheel.
Barney

[KD4UPL]

I've driven various models of trucks from all three brands and towed with them. I like a cruise control to hold the exact speed it's set for. If I set it for 70 I don't want to be going 69 nor 71. The cruise in my Chevy's has done that quite well. The cruise in my Dodge was set up more like what you're describing. It would allow the speed to drop 5 to 7 mph below the set point going up a hill before it would downshift and speed back up. Not at all my preference. However, I've heard other people complain about the cruise making the truck downshift too much and saying they'd be happier if it would just stay in top gear and slow down a bit. Just a different preference I guess.
I think dropping a gear when towing in the hills is probably you're best move.
One another note, how long has it been since you changed the fuel filter?

[M_R_E_]

Thanks for the replies. Locking it in 5th is probably what I need to do. I could disable cruise on my Ford in the mountains. Don't know how to do it on the Ram, probably manual shifting to a lower gear. I don't use cruise in the mountains.

[goducks10]

Take it off cruise in the mtns. My 12 does the same thing. Too much delay in the response time. I never set the cruise in hills or mtns. Stick it in 5th if you're running 55-60 mph.

[Okie1]

You downgraded from a Ford to a Dodge......

[vonzoog]

At what speed is the cruise control set at and what is the RPM at this setting. If you are not running in the optimum torque range then the transmission will "hunt" for that optimum position for you.

Example: On my truck optimum torque starts in around 1800 RPM. If you are cruising along at say 1600 RPM in 6th gear, your transmission is going to start hunting for another gear to do so.

I have found for me running between 1900 and 2100 RPM keeps me in the optimum range and delivers the best MPG. Now at 2000 RPM running in 6th gear puts me slightly over 70 MPH. This may not be a comfortable speed for you. In that case I would set the transmission in 5th gear as others have suggested.

[Arcamper]

Your right, something is wrong. My 14 3500 pulled my 15,000 lb high profile Montana up Mt Eagle going to Asheville at 70 MPH in 5th gear. First time I had it on a mountain even though it's not a big one at all I was still smiling the whole way.

[BobKrogstie]

Walaby wrote:
Try setting top gear to 5 instead of 6. Maybe it's hunting back and forth between 5th and 6th when a slight hill is encountered.

I tow with my 2014 2500 in 5th (lock out 6th) via the selector on the gearshift.

Mike

X2

[wgriswold]

What does your trailer weigh? Mine weighs about 8500 lbs and I have plenty of power. I only use cruise control on flat roads and always take it out of cruise when approaching any hill to avoid the forced downshift you describe.

I have plenty of power in the mountains here in California.

[Old-Biscuit]

Didn't you run a tuner on that 7.3L?

What are you towing.....weight/height?

What speed is cruise control set for?
4 mph before it kicks in is NOT out of the norm

What RPM's ?