First RV tow with EcoD

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

Well it's not my first time but it is with the Eco-diesel. Was only about 30+ miles and all in the mountains around Knoxville Tn with some very step twisty grades. The travel trailer was a 25' weighing in at just over 5800#. I have towed my boat without any issues at all and it weighs in at 6800# so I was not worried about towing the TT.

The truck felt planted and very stable, the factory brake controller work great, and the trans kept the truck in the torque band at all times. I personal would not tow over the rated specs but have to say from how it handled this trailer, 8000#+ would not be any problem for the truck. The engine brake worked great also and even worked empty when we were sight seeing in the Smokey Mountains National Forest! Thanks GDE this is a must have for anyone towing and even if you don't tow!

Over all this is one great tow vehicle no mater what the Blue Oval boys think! 😛

Here is a pic of the truck and TT after I got it over to my BIL house.



Don

[brulaz]

ChooChooMan74 wrote:

...
The GDE tune Turbo Brake option is what most of today's trucks use for engine braking (with the exception, you can get a real exhaust brake (loadleash) for 6.7 Cummins made by PacBrake). They basically adjust the turbo vanes for maximum back pressure. It works very well, IMHO for a 3.0 liters.
...

AFAIK all the big 3 diesels currently come with an exhaust brake. And I thought they worked by adjusting the turbo vanes; so that's what I do not understand: this difference between an "exhaust" and "turbo" brake.

[ChooChooMan74]

ShinerBock wrote:

ChooChooMan74 wrote:

The GDE tune Turbo Brake option is what most of today's trucks use for engine braking (with the exception, you can get a real exhaust brake (loadleash) for 6.7 Cummins made by PacBrake).

Loeadleash made by Pacbrake is an engine brake, not an exhaust brake.

Thank you for the correction. I know it works similar to a Jacobs brand engine brake with the exhaust valves.

[ShinerBock]

ChooChooMan74 wrote:

The GDE tune Turbo Brake option is what most of today's trucks use for engine braking (with the exception, you can get a real exhaust brake (loadleash) for 6.7 Cummins made by PacBrake).

Loeadleash made by Pacbrake is an engine brake, not an exhaust brake.

[ChooChooMan74]

Demand drives up the price tag. Of course, as with mine, price is negotiable.

The GDE tune Turbo Brake option is what most of today's trucks use for engine braking (with the exception, you can get a real exhaust brake (loadleash) for 6.7 Cummins made by PacBrake). They basically adjust the turbo vanes for maximum back pressure. It works very well, IMHO for a 3.0 liters.

GDE does not offer a tuner, nor does any company that tunes the ECM, as no one has cracked the ECM through the OBDII port. They simply reprogram the origional ECM. They are coming out with more options, like real oil pressure monitoring (Can you believe that a lot of vehicles these days have fake oil pressure readings?? Google it).

As far as tuning a new truck, I did it on my first tank of fuel. What GDE does to the truck is amazing.

[rjstractor]

mowingman wrote:
Maybe the higher prices here are due to the huge demand for diesel pickups in this area.

I think you're right. I'm starting to shop (will buy in about a year) and I've seen about a $3K difference in advertised price between a Hemi and Ecodiesel on comparably equipped trucks closer to where I live.

[Bionic_Man]

I'm not sure if the price premium people here are quoting are accurate, but it it is, the reason is simple. Supply and demand. Demand must be pretty high for the EcoDiesel allowing them to have premium pricing.

It seems that it now has been a year that diesel fuel prices are at or below regular unleaded. Saving is higher vs anything that requires mid-grade or premium fuel.

Add that to the fact that the E-Diesel gets significantly better MPG than the V8's (or EcoBoost), and it is easier to see why the average 1500 buyer would be interested.

[ShinerBock]

mowingman wrote:
I stand corrected. After checking prices at 2 of the larger Dodge Ram dealers in our area, I found the premium for the Ecodiesel is not as much as I thought.
Half ton trucks that have identical equipment packages, are selling for only $8900 more, diesel vs. v8. One dealer has 159 half ton Rams in stock, so it was pretty easy to find identical trucks to compare.
These were not sticker prices, but negotiated selling prices, with no trade-in. Sticker prices show a larger premium, usually about $10,000 difference.
Maybe the higher prices here are due to the huge demand for diesel pickups in this area.

A co-worker of mine pretty much told me the same thing. Every dealer he went to were willing to give deeper discounts on the Hemi than the Ecodiesel. They were willing to come down an addition $2-3k while they only came down another $1k on the Ecodiesel and the Hemi also had more rebates.

I think it might be because there is no competition in the half ton market when it comes to the Ecodiesel so they are not willing to come down as much. If you want a diesel in a half ton, your only choice is the Ecodiesel. If you want a V8 or V6 gas engine half ton, then every make has one of those with similar performance numbers so they might have to sharpen their pencil a little more with those engines to compete.

[mowingman]

I stand corrected. After checking prices at 2 of the larger Dodge Ram dealers in our area, I found the premium for the Ecodiesel is not as much as I thought.
Half ton trucks that have identical equipment packages, are selling for only $8900 more, diesel vs. v8. One dealer has 159 half ton Rams in stock, so it was pretty easy to find identical trucks to compare.
These were not sticker prices, but negotiated selling prices, with no trade-in. Sticker prices show a larger premium, usually about $10,000 difference.
Maybe the higher prices here are due to the huge demand for diesel pickups in this area.

[brulaz]

Yes, GDE (Green Diesel Engineering) makes a tuner for the Ecodiesel.
EDIT: makes a "tune" or program, not a tuner.

I just spent some time reading up about it and am now a bit confused.

Apparently they manipulate the turbo to increase "engine" braking, but it's not really an "exhaust" brake. Some people call it a "turbo" brake, GDE calls it an "engine" brake. Don't understand the difference really.

Apparently the GDE brake is not as strong as a true "exhaust" brake.
But as I'm told stock diesels have very poor "engine" braking by themselves, GDE's "turbo" brake seems like an excellent idea.

By all accounts the GDE "turbo" brake is well integrated with the transmission's downshift braking.

[rwjejits]

I'm not familiar with GDE. Google shows it to be a tuner...correct? I'm all in favor of these (see sig) just don't know if I'd have the guts to do this to a fairly new truck.

Nice looking truck and great report.

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

brulaz "IIRC GDE makes software that manages the turbo so you effectively have an exhaust brake?"
yes you are correct it uses the turbo so it would be a exhaust brake.

"Did you haul the trailer up & down Newfound Gap in Smokey Mtns NP"

No, I picked up a trailer my BIL was borrowing from his BIL. He needed the trailer do to the number of guest staying at their home the week we were there. The trip was just over 30 miles all surface streets and some of the grades were maybe 11%? But anyone that has driven in the Tenn mountains knows that their are some very step grades on the secondary roads.

Mowingman "UNTIL, I looked at the price. Wow, no Ecodiesel for me. I will stick with my F250, 6.2 gasser. Tows great, and I can buy a lot of gas for the approx. $15,000 premium it costs to buy one of these diesels."
Not sure where you are getting the $15,000 number from but the Ecodiesel is a $4,750 option over the base V6 and only a $2,250 option over the Hemi V8.

Now get into the HD trucks and the Cummins is a $8,995 option over the 5.7 Hemi or a $7,600 option over the 6.4 Hemi.

But either way there is not a $15,000 up-charge for either diesel.

Don

[VernDiesel]

I don't disagree with the gist of that post and I deliver Airsteam TTs with my EcoDiesel. An 8,000 pound boxy TT is a load and on the upper limits of EDs reasonalble limits IMO at least for towing the western grades and many depending on their driving habits would be happier with a 3/4 ton diesel for that load. If you use your truck for a daily driver and don't tow that load regularly and don't need to be in it to win it. The ED can be an excellent pick.

I do frequently deliver 31' Classics that are 7,800 (their biggest) and comfortably tow 65 to 67 mph for fuel economy and range between fill ups to make good time. My truck has the 3.92, a GDE tune, (for an extra 30HP 55TQ, turbo brake plus plus)& a 31.9" tire and I rarely have ever had to go below 5th and 55mph on any grades and I have done most of them. Its a responsive truck and gets even this load moving from a dead stop to highway speed respectively. But if you are running into the wind or climbing a grade at speed with that load you will realize its not a big diesel.

Knowing where peak torque and peak horsepower are and watching the tach with this load peak horsepower doesn't come into play often with the 8 speed. Well unless you are determined to lead the hammer lane. So I guess I don't get the HP numbers hangup thing. The trucks not slow unless your are moving something outside what should be done with a half ton platform in the first place.

[ShinerBock]

ChooChooMan74 wrote:

Lynnmor wrote:
240 horsepower sure ain't much. I think you will find the engine exists to satisfy the upcoming fuel economy standards.

671 and 6v71 Detroit motors had 238hp from the factory, and they were in a lot of decent sized trucks.

As I stated earlier, not everyone's standards for towing is the same, and what is acceptable to one may not be acceptable to another. To some, 240 hp may be plenty since they don't mind driving below posted speed limits towing an 8,000 lb RV while others may want to be able to do the speed limit or a little over while towing. Either is fine as long as the person behind the wheel is okay with it.

Also, these old engines that people keep mentioning with 240 hp were very slow and even slower when towing. They had enough trouble keeping up with the slower speed limits in those days let alone the much higher speed limits of today. The bar, along with the speed limits, have been raised since then. Just like how most V8 sports cars like the Mustang and Camaro didn't even have 300 hp back then, now the bar has been raised to even the V6 sports cars have at least 300 hp while the V8s have 400 hp plus. As with everything else, the standards gets raised so quoting numbers from decades ago to someone who has higher towing standards doesn't do much to deter their opinion. One man's towing while hardly being able to do 55 mph is fine to him while it may not be acceptable to another.

I am not saying their is anything wrong with having a lower towing standard in order to save in fuel costs. People buy their vehicles for their own reasons. Just like people buy the Ecodiesel for what it is which is a very fuel efficient truck, and not for the high powered towing beast that it isn't. After all, most that have the high powered towing engines have to live with the fact that their engines aren't nearly as fuel efficient as the Ecodiesel. Anyone should know when buying the Ecodiesel that it is not going to be a towing beast compared to the Cummins so why they think it will be one after they buy it is senseless. In short, enjoy your engine for the reason you bought it and not for the reasons you didn't.

[ChooChooMan74]

PBDB, didn't I mention on the other forum the haters?

[IdaD]

mowingman wrote:
I was looking at sticker prices on 1/2 tons from dodge, Ford, and Chevy. I can buy nicely equipped, gas engine, Ford, Dodge, or Chevy trucks for just under $30,000, if I catch the right deals. The 1/2 ton Dodges with the diesel, are WAY over that, not just the sticker, but the out the door prices. At least around here. Ave. premium, out the door, seems to be from $10,000 - $15000.There are no incentives or cheap financing offered on them right now that I can see.

4wd Crew Cab EcoDiesel for $32k and change.

The "Sale Price" is the price you pay before tax and title. I bought my Cummins Ram at this dealership last June and the pricing is legit. EcoDiesels don't cost that much.

I also note that they don't have any half ton crew cab Rams priced below below $30k, and so far as I know this dealership has the best prices on Rams in the nation.