Well after a few thousand miles towing with my Tundra I decided a 3/4 ton truck was in order. The Tundra did well, but at almost 9000 lbs trailer weight, I was about 200 lbs over the Tundra's GVWR and had to be very careful not to exceed the RAWR. The Tundra pulled the camper fine, especially with the Hensley Arrow, but you could tell it was working the truck especially hard. Kansas winds are no joke, and the regular 30+mph crosswind or headwind had the Tundra downshifting at every opportunity and ending up with 7-8mpg.I ended up trading the 2014 Tundra in for 32k and got my new Ram 2500 Cummins for 41k. All in all, I can't be more pleased with how the financial situation turned out. I will be towing the camper this weekend with my Hensley Arrow and I'm absolutely certain this combination will last me many years to come. Here is the truck after its first wash/wax.

Nice trade, you won't regret it.

Nice, I had to trade in my Tundra last year when I got my new trailer. I was over my rear axle rating when we factored in all the *stuff* that the wife mandated needed to come with the new rig. The Tundra pulled it and stopped it with no problem on the first couple of trips, but I didn't like being over my ratings and 7mpg with a 24 gallon tank was brutal.I was looking for a gas 3/4 ton rig when I stumbled across a used 2015 Ram with the CTD with 10K miles on it for the same price as a gas. I bought it and haven't looked back.2500 mile round trip to Florida earlier this year I got about 11.5 towing at almost 70 mph... WAY better than the Tundra. 32 gallon tank also allowed us to drive a LOT further between refilling stops. Exhaust brake does a great job of slowing the rig down... looking forward to towing in the mountains later this summer!I'm going to warn you, the CTD doesn't have the get-up-and-go that the Tundra had. Even pulling 8500 lbs, that 5.7 engine felt great! The Ram feels slower, but feels much stronger.My Tundra had the TRD sway bar and air bags with the Equal-I-Zer hitch, and always felt solid. The Ram doesn't feel overwhelmingly more stable so far. Thankfully I have never had, and hopefully never will have, an emergency maneuver while towing. I assume the Ram will handle it better with an additional 2000 lbs of base weight though.Enjoy the new truck, I like that red!!!

Good choice, that's a nice looking truck!!That is always the problem with the 1/2 tons. When you run out of payload rating, the RAWR is about done too.With the new truck you will have plenty of RAWR to spare, after running out of payload rating.Jerry

You'll be very pleased. I'll never go back to a gasser to pull ever again

Huge upgrade, congratulations! These new diesels are just awesome. Another cummins owner joins the fold. :B

Ditched the 1/2 ton. | Good Sam Community

brulaz
Explorer
Apr 26, 2016
Hannibal wrote:
Beautiful truck! Do you even need the HA anymore? We recently ordered a Jayco 28RLS TT to replace our 5th wheel. Yes, we went back to gas and now back to a TT but, I still prefer a HD pickup. We set one they had on the lot on the ball and it's 700 lb TW squatted the rear 2" and didn't move the front. I bought a Reese trunion style WD hitch just to satisfy the hitch receiver's rating. Not trying to imply anything. Just curious. Here's wishing you many years and miles of happy travels with it!

From what I can tell reading through the Ram literature, the Ram's Class 5, 2.5" hitch receiver can handle up to 1800#, with or without a WDH.

When setting up our Equal-I-Zer hitch, I tried the trailer without the WD bars, and the steering was not squirrely at all, although the front end was lifted about 1/2". The trailer's TW is about 1200#, but that Cummins in the front is heavy! I imagine the steering would be affected more if we had one of the much lighter gas V8s.
Charley67
Explorer
Apr 26, 2016
Driving my 3rd Ram/Cummins. Had two 2500s and was very happy with both. Now have 3500 and like it better while towing, but not when not towing.
hellfirehydra
Explorer
Apr 24, 2016
Hannibal wrote:
Beautiful truck! Do you even need the HA anymore? We recently ordered a Jayco 28RLS TT to replace our 5th wheel. Yes, we went back to gas and now back to a TT but, I still prefer a HD pickup. We set one they had on the lot on the ball and it's 700 lb TW squatted the rear 2" and didn't move the front. I bought a Reese trunion style WD hitch just to satisfy the hitch receiver's rating. Not trying to imply anything. Just curious. Here's wishing you many years and miles of happy travels with it!

I'm certain I could tow with another hitch without issues, but after seeing and feeling the way the Hensley Arrow tows, I wouldn't tow a travel trailer without one now. I plan on keeping it for many years to come.

I will keep it until the kids are grown and we end up in a 5th wheel for retirement traveling.
bigbullelk
Explorer
Apr 17, 2016
hellfirehydra wrote:

Towed about 40 miles today.

All I can say is wow.

Absolutely enjoyable perfect towing experience now. I never got sway with my previous truck thanks to the Hensley Arrow, but you could still really feel the trailer back there, between the RPMs, suspension, and sidewall flex. Today towing with the new truck was a whole different experience. Truck feels almost exactly the same as unloaded. As a nice bonus pulled 11.5mpg while towing compared to my previous 7.5-8 on the same route with the Tundra.

I believe I made the right decision with the trade instead of spending $1500+ on tires and air bags etc to try to get a 1/2 ton to do a job at the extreme of its limits. Should pay some more dividends on fuel savings this summer when we take our 1500 mile trip with it.

Great looking setup! Congrats on the step up in TV capability. I lived that same dream when I had my Tundra. Great truck but I was at or slightly beyond its limits which made me uncomfortable with family, dog and all the other gear. I upgraded to a different manufacturer 3/4 ton and have never looked back or regretted it. The towing experience is sooooo much better and I feel much more confident about slowing down and stopping the rig with the 3/4 ton vehicle brakes and exhaust braking.
RobertRyan
Explorer
Apr 16, 2016
IdaD wrote:
Huge upgrade, congratulations! These new diesels are just awesome. Another cummins owner joins the fold. :B

Most Australians, who know nothing about US Pickups, think these are normal,size Pickups/Big Utes, or Cars. They had the Red? one 2500 6.7 and a black model 3500 6.7 on display near the Camper Trailer and the very small TC Display, at the Sydney Caravan and Camping Show, overall show a bit of a fizzer compared to previous years.
No 5th Wheelers this year.
Importers of Lance, have now decided to build their own TC, more inline with local tastes. Model on display was called " Custom Campers"
bbaker2001
Explorer
Apr 16, 2016
I like the color. ours is white, yours was our 2nd choice
Hannibal
Explorer
Apr 16, 2016
Beautiful truck! Do you even need the HA anymore? We recently ordered a Jayco 28RLS TT to replace our 5th wheel. Yes, we went back to gas and now back to a TT but, I still prefer a HD pickup. We set one they had on the lot on the ball and it's 700 lb TW squatted the rear 2" and didn't move the front. I bought a Reese trunion style WD hitch just to satisfy the hitch receiver's rating. Not trying to imply anything. Just curious. Here's wishing you many years and miles of happy travels with it!
spoon059
Explorer II
Apr 16, 2016
dwayneb236 wrote:
I have to say I went from a F250 gas to an F350 diesel dually and it's MUCH quicker than the gasser. That turbo really does it's job. It's fast.

The Ford 6.7 has a lot more HP than the Ram 6.7. My Ram is quite a bit slower than my Tundra... but the Tundra had a LOT of HP.
Grit_dog
Navigator
Apr 15, 2016
hellfirehydra wrote:
My 4x4 Sr5 Crewmax Tundra had a payload just shy of 1400lbs so I picked up an easy 900+ lbs of payload.

There is a lot of comfort/peace of mind to me as well to know that the frame, brakes, tires, trans, axles, etc are the same as the 3500 with the 11,700 max gross weight vs my 10k. I don't need any of that additional capability, but nice to know the components are up to it.

You picked up a little more than that in real life. That 2300lbs equates to the difference between the empty scale weight of the truck and the 10kkb cap on a class 2 truck.
My ''13 & '15 F250s actually have soft enough springs that the 2k-2500lb payload is more of a real number based on the soft spring rate, but the '14 Ram 2500 Mega I had for a while wouldn't even start squatting until you dropped around 2k in the bed.
You're correct that it doesn't have the springs of a 3500 Ram under it, but it's still stout. 3500 gives about 1000lbs more real world payload for the same amount of squat.
hellfirehydra
Explorer
Apr 15, 2016
My 4x4 Sr5 Crewmax Tundra had a payload just shy of 1400lbs so I picked up an easy 900+ lbs of payload.

There is a lot of comfort/peace of mind to me as well to know that the frame, brakes, tires, trans, axles, etc are the same as the 3500 with the 11,700 max gross weight vs my 10k. I don't need any of that additional capability, but nice to know the components are up to it.

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