Finally got the wife to choose a trailer. Some questions?

[teraandjim]

If you have looked at my old posts, you will know that we have been looking for a while. Well at the Flint RV show we (she) has found the trailer that she likes and we are happy with. Its a little bigger than I want but having owned 30' and longer before not a big deal. I will be a needin' a bigger truck though and here is where my some of my questions are coming from. But for starters here is the trailer we like, it the Cougar 31SQB by Keystone. Looks like a 9000# trailer when its all said and full. So a 2500 is in my future.
Questions:
Does anyone own this trailer or a Keystone product and how do you like it?
I will be getting a new 2500. I really like the Ram 2500 with the 6.4 and have read all the posts about it, i'm very impressed. Does anyone have a Ram 2500 6.4 and a trailer around the same size for some feed back as to towing and living with it on a daily basis. It will be my daily driver.
Does anyone have experience with the new 2015 2500 Chevy/GMC with 6.0L. I'm a GM man and my 2003 1500 is a great truck, but it is time to go. The 6.0L is the weakest of the 2500 gas group. But maybe in my configuration it will be ok.
Thanks in advance for all the thoughtful responses.
Jim

[teraandjim]

We decided to wait and save a little money and get a 2500 sierra with the duramax. The 6.0L was just to slow and sluggish. My wife really likes the GMC interior and she likes the fact that my current GMC is 11 years old and is still going strong. So, 2016-17 will be the year to order the truck that I will be driving for the next 10-15 years. Thank you for all your input.
Jim

[anaro]

I just finished truck shopping. I drove the chevy 6.0 and was not very impressed with how sluggish it felt. We decided to go diesel because we are looking at trading for an 11000 lb TT. We debated between the ram CTD and the silverado duramax. Went with the duramax but both were a nice drive and a good engine. I think at 9000 lbs you should be fine with either the ram or the chevy. I would pay reAl close attention to all weights on both vehicles (payload on tire loading sticker, hitch capacity, gvwr and gcwr). This Actually dictated what we got as the short bed and long bed chevy trucks did not have the same hitch capacity.

[mowin]

Speedogomer wrote:

mowin wrote:

Speedogomer wrote:

teraandjim wrote:
I test drove a Chevy 2500 6.0 and a Ram 2500 6.4. I was very impressed with the Ram. While it was not as quiet as the Chevy, the Ram drove better and was more powerful. I'm currently a GMC owner for 11 years, I think there's a Ram in my future. Does anyone know if GM will be upgrading their HD gas engine in the next couple of years? I could hold of a year if there is a new HD gas engine in the near future. I would hate the wait but I'll drive the next truck as long as I did the last one, so getting a good look at all manufactures with equal power levels would be worth the wait.
Thank you for the information.
Jim

The Silverado/Sierra 1500 has a new 6.2L V8 with 420hp and 460 lb-ft. I see no reason why the 2500/3500 won't eventually get this engine.

The 1500 is a light duty truck. If and when GM puts the 6.2 in the 25/3500's it will most likely be detuned. Ram's 6.4 has been detuned for the HD's as well.

Ram dosen't offer the 6.4 in the 1500. Only in SRT performance applications. Yes the 6.4 is detuned in the 2500 for truck use, but only compared to the 6.4 in a SRT8 Challenger.

The Chevy 6.2L in the 1500 Silverado is also detuned already for truck use from its base as the Corvette engine. Even if it's detuned more, it will still be a huge improvement over the current 6.0.

Well aware the 6.4 is not available in the 1500. I do agree 100% that if the 6.2 is detuned further for the HD's, it will be a much needed improvement over the 6.0. I was not impressed with my 2011 3500 GMC 6.0 compared to my ram 6.4. GM, I sure, is already working on it.

[Speedogomer]

mowin wrote:

Speedogomer wrote:

teraandjim wrote:
I test drove a Chevy 2500 6.0 and a Ram 2500 6.4. I was very impressed with the Ram. While it was not as quiet as the Chevy, the Ram drove better and was more powerful. I'm currently a GMC owner for 11 years, I think there's a Ram in my future. Does anyone know if GM will be upgrading their HD gas engine in the next couple of years? I could hold of a year if there is a new HD gas engine in the near future. I would hate the wait but I'll drive the next truck as long as I did the last one, so getting a good look at all manufactures with equal power levels would be worth the wait.
Thank you for the information.
Jim

The Silverado/Sierra 1500 has a new 6.2L V8 with 420hp and 460 lb-ft. I see no reason why the 2500/3500 won't eventually get this engine.

The 1500 is a light duty truck. If and when GM puts the 6.2 in the 25/3500's it will most likely be detuned. Ram's 6.4 has been detuned for the HD's as well.

Ram dosen't offer the 6.4 in the 1500. Only in SRT performance applications. Yes the 6.4 is detuned in the 2500 for truck use, but only compared to the 6.4 in a SRT8 Challenger.

The Chevy 6.2L in the 1500 Silverado is also detuned already for truck use from its base as the Corvette engine. Even if it's detuned more, it will still be a huge improvement over the current 6.0.

[mowin]

Speedogomer wrote:

teraandjim wrote:
I test drove a Chevy 2500 6.0 and a Ram 2500 6.4. I was very impressed with the Ram. While it was not as quiet as the Chevy, the Ram drove better and was more powerful. I'm currently a GMC owner for 11 years, I think there's a Ram in my future. Does anyone know if GM will be upgrading their HD gas engine in the next couple of years? I could hold of a year if there is a new HD gas engine in the near future. I would hate the wait but I'll drive the next truck as long as I did the last one, so getting a good look at all manufactures with equal power levels would be worth the wait.
Thank you for the information.
Jim

The Silverado/Sierra 1500 has a new 6.2L V8 with 420hp and 460 lb-ft. I see no reason why the 2500/3500 won't eventually get this engine.

The 1500 is a light duty truck. If and when GM puts the 6.2 in the 25/3500's it will most likely be detuned. Ram's 6.4 has been detuned for the HD's as well.

[Speedogomer]

teraandjim wrote:
I test drove a Chevy 2500 6.0 and a Ram 2500 6.4. I was very impressed with the Ram. While it was not as quiet as the Chevy, the Ram drove better and was more powerful. I'm currently a GMC owner for 11 years, I think there's a Ram in my future. Does anyone know if GM will be upgrading their HD gas engine in the next couple of years? I could hold of a year if there is a new HD gas engine in the near future. I would hate the wait but I'll drive the next truck as long as I did the last one, so getting a good look at all manufactures with equal power levels would be worth the wait.
Thank you for the information.
Jim

The Silverado/Sierra 1500 has a new 6.2L V8 with 420hp and 460 lb-ft. I see no reason why the 2500/3500 won't eventually get this engine.

[teraandjim]

I test drove a Chevy 2500 6.0 and a Ram 2500 6.4. I was very impressed with the Ram. While it was not as quiet as the Chevy, the Ram drove better and was more powerful. I'm currently a GMC owner for 11 years, I think there's a Ram in my future. Does anyone know if GM will be upgrading their HD gas engine in the next couple of years? I could hold of a year if there is a new HD gas engine in the near future. I would hate the wait but I'll drive the next truck as long as I did the last one, so getting a good look at all manufactures with equal power levels would be worth the wait.
Thank you for the information.
Jim

[doxiluvr]

We have a Keystone Sprinter 300 FKBS and a Chevy Silverado 2500 HD (2007). We have had no problems with the trailer (2006) and you don't even know it is behind the truck when we are pulling it. (See signature). I think you will be very happy with your new trailer and truck.

[Buck50HD]

Here's another review. Not very scientific but shows how close all of these trucks really are. Sure, it's empty performance but most people drive these trucks every day, not just towing. My new 6.2 is about 3s slower 0-60 than my old ecoboost, which is very noticeable. A few tenths here or there on the SD/HD gas trucks is going to be difficult to notice.

Gas HD's - empty performance

0-60 times empty
6 liter GM: 9.96, 10.46
6.2 Ford: 9.24, 10.48
6.4 Hemi: 10.2, 10.54, 9.98

BTW, 6.2 for the win:B

Eco was 7s or better!

[mowin]

I have a Ram 3500 SRW with the 6.4 and 3.73 gears. I havnt pulled my tt as its already on site for the season. I did tow my tractor which weighs in at 8k with the trailer. Very impressive. I traded a 2011 gmc 3500 with the same 3.73's, 6.0 for the ram, and I can tell you this ram will out pull the gmc with the same load. I'm getting 14's mpg around town.

[BroncoUp]

I own a 2013 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins and a 2014 JayFlight 32RLDS and I haven't had any issues with it, but I also have just purchased the JayFlight and have really only taken it on the drive from Dealer to Home, so haven't fully loaded the trailer with my gear and headed over the mountains yet. But from what I noticed on the drive home, I shouldn't have any problems with another 1500# added on to my 8000# trailer. Due to some construction, I got stopped in traffic on my way home and was in the middle of a incline. Had no problems once traffic was moving to get the power and speed back up on my way home.

[pjsjayco]

That's why I thought I would post it, shocked me a little. I live about 3miles from work with all stop light traffic and with that being primary driving I get 14. It goes up pretty quick on longer trips like the one I took yesterday. That and it not being extremely cold out for a change. Keep in mind still not broken in yet though so it should go up a bit. Very impressed so far, can't wait to tow the TT.

[therink]

17.5 MPG? That sounds too good to be true. I'm lucky if I get 14 hwy with my 6.0 gasser.

[pjsjayco]

I purchased a 2014 Ram 2500 with 6.4 about a month ago. The truck is my daily driver and replaced a 98 Ram 2500 with V10 as my TV. Thus far the power and ride quality has been amazing and significantly better than the old 2500 but probably not quite as good as 1500s I have drove in the past. Gas mileage has also been very impressive. Just rolled a thousand miles on a couple hour drive of mixed driving yesterday and averaged 17.5MPG. While the MDS doesn't sound great it sure seems to work well.

I have not yet towed the TT but likely will in a couple of weeks so I will keep you posted. I have no concerns given that this truck has way more power than even the V10 I was pulling with.