4th Gen Ram Fleet Review after a year in the Arctic
Thought this might interest all of you. Just getting ready to return a fleet of '14 Rams used up on the North Slope oil fields for the last year. Well they sat stranded during the summer, but have been run pretty much non-stop since September last year. Had 10 2500/3500 trucks and 4 5500s.
First the conditions. Couldn't be worse for a new dpf equipped diesel. Hasn't been above freezing since September. 4-6 weeks at -30 to -40 deg. Rest of the time avg -10 to -25 deg. Trucks are not used to tow or haul, just people movers basically. They never get worked hard. Max speed limit is 35mph and can only drive about 10 mi max in any direction before running out of road, so they never get up to speed for any length of time.
Have put anywhere from 800hrs to 4000hrs on the engines. 400hr oil changes.
These trucks were bone stock with no other prep work other than additional heaters on the coolant, trans pan and oil pan and battery chargers. When plugged in to a bull rail (120V power) these would keep the fluids warm enough to start easily. The Rams would start no problem, unplugged and cold, down to -30F. Never tried one colder than that, and without the charger, the batteries would just freeze anyway.
Problems experienced with ANYTHING other than emissions was virtually zero. The 4 5500 chassis cab trucks would work the rear output seal partially out of the transfer case at -35 deg or colder and drip a little atf. Pry it back in and no issue above -30 deg. Replaced 2 of them and loctited them in, solved the problem.
1 water pump and 1 steering hose.
Emissions was a whole nother story. Every truck had some sort of issue, but to be expected at these extreme low temps, constant idling, no load driving conditions and employees who don't know or care how the truck operates to minimize exhaust plugging issues.
At least 6 trucks had the def injectors go bad. Easy 10 min fix with the parts though.
Most of the trucks at one point of another had check engine lights in the extreme cold, due to the def tanks freezing and the tank heaters not thawing enough def to inject. One tank heater went out.
The trucks were generally idled at high idle, 1200rpms + and when driven on the road (usually 5 mi or less) were run in 2nd gear at 35mph to keep rpms up. Only the few trucks that worked 2 shifts had any issues with dpf filling to 100% and a manual regen with the Chrysler Witech software or driving it in laps on the available roads would do an effective regen. 1 truck had an extremely plugged dpf. Had to fake the ecm into thinking a new one was installed in order to force a regen.
The new Ram de-soot or regen is not high rpms like the other brands. It runs about 1200rpms.
While this may seem like a lot of problems, the Rams performed better than the Dmax trucks and much better than 6.7 Pstrokes.
Dmax trucks, all 2013 or newer, had issues with the plastic coolant hose and power steering hose connections/clamps. Most all leaked and were retrofitted with regular hose clamps. The Dmax was a little quicker to plug the dpf than the Ram, but not bad.
6.7 Power strokes, although better than 6.4s, which really sucked last year, have the most issues. DPFs plug up about the same as the Dmax. DEF tanks cannot be filled completely or they will split and burst, no room for expansion when the def freezes when the truck is shut off. Regens sound like they are at 3000rpms. ALL power steering O rings leak and get replaced with silicone o rings. ALL power steering lines leak and get replace with arctic rated lines and connections. Most of the trucks leaked coolant from the plastic coolant hose clamps.
Had about the same number of FOrds as Rams and half as many Dmaxes and the FOrds were in the shop 3 to 1 over the Rams.
Even the mechanics that are die hard Ford guys admit way less problems with the Rams.
This was the first year we ran Ram diesels on the Slope and they flat out worked better in these conditions.
Ram intakes also had marginally less issue with plugging with snow. In a convoy during a blizzard with 70mph gusts, every air filter on every vehicle and loader turned into a brick of ice. Dmax trucks went into reduced power. Rams did not although all showed plugged air filter messages.
I'm not saying the other 2 are cr@p and suck, but when it comes down to which brand works best in the worst possible conditions for running a modern diesel, the Ram just holds up better with less problems.
I would be confident that in any "normal" winter conditions down to -20 F, one should have zero problems with Ram emissions.
Hope this is informative.
First the conditions. Couldn't be worse for a new dpf equipped diesel. Hasn't been above freezing since September. 4-6 weeks at -30 to -40 deg. Rest of the time avg -10 to -25 deg. Trucks are not used to tow or haul, just people movers basically. They never get worked hard. Max speed limit is 35mph and can only drive about 10 mi max in any direction before running out of road, so they never get up to speed for any length of time.
Have put anywhere from 800hrs to 4000hrs on the engines. 400hr oil changes.
These trucks were bone stock with no other prep work other than additional heaters on the coolant, trans pan and oil pan and battery chargers. When plugged in to a bull rail (120V power) these would keep the fluids warm enough to start easily. The Rams would start no problem, unplugged and cold, down to -30F. Never tried one colder than that, and without the charger, the batteries would just freeze anyway.
Problems experienced with ANYTHING other than emissions was virtually zero. The 4 5500 chassis cab trucks would work the rear output seal partially out of the transfer case at -35 deg or colder and drip a little atf. Pry it back in and no issue above -30 deg. Replaced 2 of them and loctited them in, solved the problem.
1 water pump and 1 steering hose.
Emissions was a whole nother story. Every truck had some sort of issue, but to be expected at these extreme low temps, constant idling, no load driving conditions and employees who don't know or care how the truck operates to minimize exhaust plugging issues.
At least 6 trucks had the def injectors go bad. Easy 10 min fix with the parts though.
Most of the trucks at one point of another had check engine lights in the extreme cold, due to the def tanks freezing and the tank heaters not thawing enough def to inject. One tank heater went out.
The trucks were generally idled at high idle, 1200rpms + and when driven on the road (usually 5 mi or less) were run in 2nd gear at 35mph to keep rpms up. Only the few trucks that worked 2 shifts had any issues with dpf filling to 100% and a manual regen with the Chrysler Witech software or driving it in laps on the available roads would do an effective regen. 1 truck had an extremely plugged dpf. Had to fake the ecm into thinking a new one was installed in order to force a regen.
The new Ram de-soot or regen is not high rpms like the other brands. It runs about 1200rpms.
While this may seem like a lot of problems, the Rams performed better than the Dmax trucks and much better than 6.7 Pstrokes.
Dmax trucks, all 2013 or newer, had issues with the plastic coolant hose and power steering hose connections/clamps. Most all leaked and were retrofitted with regular hose clamps. The Dmax was a little quicker to plug the dpf than the Ram, but not bad.
6.7 Power strokes, although better than 6.4s, which really sucked last year, have the most issues. DPFs plug up about the same as the Dmax. DEF tanks cannot be filled completely or they will split and burst, no room for expansion when the def freezes when the truck is shut off. Regens sound like they are at 3000rpms. ALL power steering O rings leak and get replaced with silicone o rings. ALL power steering lines leak and get replace with arctic rated lines and connections. Most of the trucks leaked coolant from the plastic coolant hose clamps.
Had about the same number of FOrds as Rams and half as many Dmaxes and the FOrds were in the shop 3 to 1 over the Rams.
Even the mechanics that are die hard Ford guys admit way less problems with the Rams.
This was the first year we ran Ram diesels on the Slope and they flat out worked better in these conditions.
Ram intakes also had marginally less issue with plugging with snow. In a convoy during a blizzard with 70mph gusts, every air filter on every vehicle and loader turned into a brick of ice. Dmax trucks went into reduced power. Rams did not although all showed plugged air filter messages.
I'm not saying the other 2 are cr@p and suck, but when it comes down to which brand works best in the worst possible conditions for running a modern diesel, the Ram just holds up better with less problems.
I would be confident that in any "normal" winter conditions down to -20 F, one should have zero problems with Ram emissions.
Hope this is informative.
