2018 Ram 2500

[pcaffrey]

At present am towing a 31foot 5TH with a 20016 Chevy 2500 HD 6.0, 6sp, 4.10 gears. Was looking at a new Ran 2500 6.4L and noticed that the truck has coil springs on the rear. What are the advantage/disadvantage to this set up. Please don't want a 3500 due to registration costs.

[Iraqvet05]

I'm not here to brand bash. I've owned multiple brands and I'm trying to be a diligent buyer when I go drop $40k plus on a new 2500/250 in a few months.

The truck forums are full of negatives but of course that's were people go to find solutions to their problems. The transmission shifting points and valve body failure rates seem to be a re-occurring topics with Ram but maybe Ram has resolved those in the newer trucks. Consumer Reports gave the Ram has a crappy reliability rating but I'm not going to subscribe to them to find out specifically what they say about the truck. To me, Consumer Reports is about as reliable as the BBB.

I did not "advise" putting the TPMS sensors in a tube, I pointed out how some have gone to that extreme of fooling the TPMS computer.

[Bionic_Man]

Iraqvet05 wrote:
I've been looking at the Ram 2500 gasser too and hope to buy a new truck this spring. I have read many negative thing about the Ram 2500/3500 reliability but they mostly seem to pertain to issues with the diesels.

Anyway, I work on our city police cars and found the Chargers's have to same PIA TPMS sensors too. They trigger the TPMS light if the pressure is too low or too high. I've read a forum post somewhere that guys were taking their TPMS sensors out (mainly from the rear tires) and placing them in a sealed PVC pipe with a Schrader valve and pressurizing the pipe to fool the system.

I’m not going to comment regarding what you said about the “negatives on RAM” other than to say I disagree.

But I will say I can’t understand what you are saying about the TPMS system, as what you describe as a problem is exactly what the system is designed to do - regardless of manufacture.

I personally had the TPMS in my wife’s 300C save me when the light went off and I could see the gauge on the offending tire slowly losing pressure. Allowed me to find a relatively safe place to stop and change the tire.

Same thing happened on my Porsche.

Advising to take them out and put them in some sort of artificial tube makes zero sense to me.

[spoon059]

Iraqvet, have you heard negatives about the newer model trucks? When I was researching trucks in 2008 and 2009 I had a very poor opinion of the Ram 1500's. I read a lot of issues, low payload, etc. When I was researching 3/4 ton trucks 3 years ago, the Rams had a pretty good track record. The redesigned frames in 2013 and 2014 fixed a lot of common complaints, or so it appears.

I've had my truck for almost 3 years now and LOVE it. My only complaint is that the stock base model seats on the Tradesman aren't very comfortable. I threw a lumbar pillow behind me and it solved most of my discomfort.

[Iraqvet05]

I've been looking at the Ram 2500 gasser too and hope to buy a new truck this spring. I have read many negative thing about the Ram 2500/3500 reliability but they mostly seem to pertain to issues with the diesels.

Anyway, I work on our city police cars and found the Chargers's have to same PIA TPMS sensors too. They trigger the TPMS light if the pressure is too low or too high. I've read a forum post somewhere that guys were taking their TPMS sensors out (mainly from the rear tires) and placing them in a sealed PVC pipe with a Schrader valve and pressurizing the pipe to fool the system.

[Ron3rd]

Great suspension in the 2500 Rams with the coil rear. Love mine.

[skidooman93]

I owned a 15 Ram 2500 crew cab Laramie 6.4 4.10's with coils in the rear, I put 4000 lbs of rock in the bed, drove 30 miles, truck sat level with that weight. Unloaded it was 60" to the top of the tail fate. It drove beautiful loaded or unloaded. I wouldn't hesitate to own one, great suspension. Payload on mine was 3048lbs.

[tinner12002]

GordonThree wrote:
Another question about buttons if everyone doesn't mind?

Why can I leave 4wd on (electronic transfer case) or leave traction control off, as in the preference survives a key off

But tow haul is reset every time you turn the key off?

My tow haul stays on most of the time if my RV is hooked up for long towing durations. Its just an electronic switch, 4x4 is combination mech and electronic so maybe why it stays on, not sure about traction. Might be a safety thing who knows, the only thing that bothers me is having to reset the cruise button to on every time I start the truck. Even that's not a big deal.

[brulaz]

GordonThree wrote:
I leave mine at 72/80 as prescribed on the Holy Yellow Sticker.

Dunno why 72, what's wrong with 70, or 80... Do so few pounds make any difference?

You must have different size wheels/tires than my 18", LT275/70R18E

At their rated 60psi my front tires, taken together, are only 40# higher than the front gawr (6000#).

[GordonThree]

I leave mine at 72/80 as prescribed on the Holy Yellow Sticker.

Dunno why 72, what's wrong with 70, or 80... Do so few pounds make any difference?

[brulaz]

Sheesh, am I the only one with a RAM 2500 that leaves the psi at 60/80?

We do tow 70% of the time, but even when not towing that 80psi in the rear has never really bothered us. Always figured the coils and good seats helped.

But I do like a "crisp" ride anyway.

[spoon059]

2012Coleman wrote:
the TPMS is demanding that I inflate the rear tires to 80 lbs, although it is only complaining about the right read tire which is at 75 lbs, vs the left which is at 76.

So that means that your right tire hit 80% of max PSI (64), causing it to trigger the light. You have to refill to 80 to reset the trigger. I usually run my tires at 68. That gives me enough wiggle room to avoid the light and gives a slightly less jarring ride. There are still some expensive programmers that allow you to re-set the PSI limit (or there were this time last year), but I decided that I am fine with 80. My truck is primarily used to tow, and I am happy to have less flex and higher weight limit when towing.

[IdaD]

GordonThree wrote:

IdaD wrote:
From the factory the coils are rated to carry 500 lbs less than the 3500's leafs. Not really a big deal. They do ride and handle very nicely for a heavy duty truck. The lower payload numbers on the bulk of the 2500s has everything to do with the class 2 max GVWR, except on a few of the base 5.7 trucks equipped with 17" wheels and tires.

GWolfe, there is no light load button anymore. I don't see the TPMS as much of a negative. I run at 65/80 during towing season and 65/65 during the offseason. I guess a quarter inch indicator light on the display bugs some more than it bugs me.

Mine chimes and blinks the light now and then, to get your attention until you make it happy. It's more obnoxious than just the light by itself.

Mine just dings once at startup and then I clear the EVIC and no issues until the next startup, other than that little light. No biggie, imo, and I otherwise like knowing my tire pressures.

[2012Coleman]

spoon059 wrote:

GordonThree wrote:

GWolfe wrote:
My friends have an 07 or 08 Ram 2500 Cummins that has a "light load" button that allows them to run lowers pressure in their tires with out the computer nagging them. Are the newer ones not like this?

Never heard of that. Maybe an upfitter or aftermarket option?

No, it was a factory option. Not entirely certain why they got rid of it, but I'm sure it has to do with liability. I'm sure some idiot was running the light load setting while hauling weight and had a tire failure and sued.

Its odd that Ram demands such a high PSI for the rear tires, with such an artificially low payload rating. My truck wants 80 PSI on the rear tires. With factory 18" tires, that's a combined 7280 lbs of load carrying capacity... more than the factory coils are rated to carry and much more than the artificial 10,000 lbs GVWR will allow.

My new 2017 RAM 2500 6.4L Hemi has 3025 lbs for payload. More than enough for the mid size fifth wheel I'm considering. And yes, the TPMS is demanding that I inflate the rear tires to 80 lbs, although it is only complaining about the right read tire which is at 75 lbs, vs the left which is at 76.

[minnow]

The lack of a TPMS nag light, message and repetitive dinging is what makes moving up to a Ram 3500 a benefit.