2017 Ram 3500 6.4L dually. Should I?

[Wagonqueen_Truc]

Yesterday day I drove a new 2017 Ram 6.4 Hemi Dually. I know absolutely ZERO about dodge products. In the past 20 years I have owned all Ford trucks and Chevy SUVs. Currently I carry my old camper with a 99 Ford 350 with the Triton V 10. Although it has under 100,000 miles, the years of hauling heavy loads for work and the general bad weather of PA, is showing her age. A heavy duty truck is integral to our business. Hauling six thousand pound sometimes.

Although I have no plans on getting rid of the Ford, Dodge has some pretty good incentives right now and this particular dually came up on my truck watch. It's hard to find duallys on dealer lots. Anyways, can anyone shed some light on this truck. You know... power, engine, payload, opinions, experience?

[Troutguy]

jmtandem wrote:

Again, same exact truck. One is long bed with 3.73 gears and the other is Mega cab with 4.10 gears. 3.73 gets better mpg when driving.

My comment stands as this is a thread about the 6.4 engine and so was/is the TCM magazine article. The specific issue is cylinder deactivation. The diesels (that you have) do not utilize cylinder deactivation under light loads. With the 6.4 and 4.10 axles the cylinder deactivation can occur more often than with the 3.73 axles under a load tending to lessen any gas mileage difference between the two axles.

JMTANDEM is correct. This thread is about RAM 6.4 HEMI gas/3500 dually trucks not diesels or other brands. I would like to see comments from owners or others that have driven these particular trucks. Even though I consider myself a GM guy I am interested in the RAM 6.4 gas dually.

[JoeChiOhki]

Wagonqueen Truckster wrote:
My Ford is fast approaching 20 years old.

Still young 😛

Red is 25 this year with 227,000 miles, and Old Blue is 32 at 212,000 :p. Both are small block gassers.

[jmtandem]

Again, same exact truck. One is long bed with 3.73 gears and the other is Mega cab with 4.10 gears. 3.73 gets better mpg when driving.

My comment stands as this is a thread about the 6.4 engine and so was/is the TCM magazine article. The specific issue is cylinder deactivation. The diesels (that you have) do not utilize cylinder deactivation under light loads. With the 6.4 and 4.10 axles the cylinder deactivation can occur more often than with the 3.73 axles under a load tending to lessen any gas mileage difference between the two axles.

[cartmancartman]

Again, same exact truck. One is long bed with 3.73 gears and the other is Mega cab with 4.10 gears. 3.73 gets better mpg when driving.

[jmtandem]

I disagree, I have Two Ram 3500's one is 13 Mega Cab and the 16 Long bed. The 16 gives much better mileage due to the gearing.

This is a little sparce in information. What are the axle ratios, engine type, tire size, weight of trucks, transmissions, and what were you towing/hauling to come to the conclusions you have asserted?

My comment was/is related to the 6.4 engine with cylinder deactivation and otherwise the same year and same exact truck except for the difference between 3.73 and 4.10 axle ratios. It appears you are comparing differing years, differing trucks, and possibly driving the diesel engine that I was not referring to.

[cartmancartman]

jmtandem wrote:

Ram 6.4 with camper Review TC Magazine

I seriously doubt the 4.10 axles would give any less gas mileage and maybe even better mileage when towing or hauling. Yesteryear the 4.10 axles would yield less fuel mileage than 3.73s but with todays transmissions it is not that big a difference, if any.

I disagree, I have Two Ram 3500's one is 13 Mega Cab and the 16 Long bed. The 16 gives much better mileage due to the gearing.

[Wagonqueen_Truc]

mkasner wrote:
48k miles on our 2014 RAM 3500 6.4L. Hauls our Lance 861 4k pounds wet around just fine. Living in a mountain and ski town do I wish I had the cummins? Absolutely. If you live on the east coast go with the 6.4L

That's awesome. I am pretty sure my camper is around 3200. With vintage (76 Amerigo) it's always difficult to say exactely how much they weigh without taking them in for an actual reading. Back in the day, they advertised them as 2700 lbs, but that seems way under reality for such a huge camper.

[Wagonqueen_Truc]

towpro wrote:

Wagonqueen Truckster wrote:
Needless to say, now that I have the new truck they have been assigned the 99 Ford for the remainder of their driving years here in this household.

congratulation on the new truck. What level did you buy? tradesman?

you "gave" your kids a pickup with a v10 to drive? are they male? how old are they? better start buying back tires now :).

Hahahaha. The 2 in question are 16 and 17, but the 4 other children, who are now either married or in college, played in part the destruction of many many Vans, SUVs and a Trucks. And when you have a family of eight, BIG vehicles are the norm. They all learned to drive and test in either a Suburban 2500 or a V 10 truck. Girls and Boys. Actually the girls can parallel pArk a dually in downtown Pittsburgh without batting an eyelash. Although one of them did total out my favorite truck. My Ford 350 Triton V 10 short bed. I miss that one. LOL.

[mkasner]

48k miles on our 2014 RAM 3500 6.4L. Hauls our Lance 861 4k pounds wet around just fine. Living in a mountain and ski town do I wish I had the cummins? Absolutely. If you live on the east coast go with the 6.4L

[towpro]

Wagonqueen Truckster wrote:
Needless to say, now that I have the new truck they have been assigned the 99 Ford for the remainder of their driving years here in this household.

congratulation on the new truck. What level did you buy? tradesman?

you "gave" your kids a pickup with a v10 to drive? are they male? how old are they? better start buying back tires now :).

[Wagonqueen_Truc]

towpro wrote:
I already know how to look up invoice and dealer costs, etc and have always dealt with the truck fleet salesman. the truck I bought in 06, after working my best deal, I ended up getting a chance to get it through the friends and family program (someone I met on internet worked at factory and gave me of his several per year he was allowed to use.) It was only like $200 better than the deal I had already worked out, but 2 bills is 2 bills.

This time with my 2015, I had checked the sites and already knew the deal I expected.
As I was standing in dealers lot looking at the truck, I tried www.truecar.com. internet sales person called me while I was still standing there, the price she offered beat my expectations. I took it home the next day.

MSRP $58,150, out the door for around $42K with tax. but it was late July when new trucks are about to hit the lots.

That was a GREAT deal. Wow.

I did buy the Ram last night. I wanted a gasser. Around here, the 3500 is hard to find in a gasser already on the lot. MSRP was $ 48, got it for $39, but they gave me a great trade on my 2014 Tahoe, on which my kids racked up the mileage to 74,000 in only 3 years. High miles on a 3 year old car. Needless to say, now that I have the new truck they have been assigned the 99 Ford for the remainder of their driving years here in this household.

[towpro]

I already know how to look up invoice and dealer costs, etc and have always dealt with the truck fleet salesman. the truck I bought in 06, after working my best deal, I ended up getting a chance to get it through the friends and family program (someone I met on internet worked at factory and gave me of his several per year he was allowed to use.) It was only like $200 better than the deal I had already worked out, but 2 bills is 2 bills.

This time with my 2015, I had checked the sites and already knew the deal I expected.
As I was standing in dealers lot looking at the truck, I tried www.truecar.com. internet sales person called me while I was still standing there, the price she offered beat my expectations. I took it home the next day.

MSRP $58,150, out the door for around $42K with tax. but it was late July when new trucks are about to hit the lots.

[Bedlam]

About 15 years ago, I decided I was no longer going to settle when buying a new vehicle or RV. I have been ordering what I want if I cannot find it built and have been much happier. Over 10 years ago, I found I could deal with fleet/commercial for my vehicle purchases and am even happier interacting with dealers. I've always been after the best value for me, so seeing something discounted that does not "fit" me does not get me excited. Give me a fair price for exactly what I want and don't waste our time with games - Now that's something to get excited about.

[Kayteg1]

I went via some research last year and build my Ford truck last December.
It went into production last week and should make it to CA in about 3 weeks.
I know buying from the lot has some thrill, but even there is good number of duallies in 1 hr driving radius, I could not find the truck I like.
I want RWD Supercab with electric heat, 360' trailer cameras (those look very impressive on site).
Deleting opitions I don't want kept the truck price low and most of the dealers would sell the truck to me for invoice price, what is about 4 grands below MSRP.
The normal Ford's incentives still apply.
I am not married to Ford, but finding Dodge dually with long bed was huge hassle as well.