The Best Half Ton Towing Truck - Ike Gauntlet

[FishOnOne]

Enjoy...

Link

[tragusa3]

I liked FLT better when my truck was the winner...

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

🙂 Hi, TFL is now more political than real. It's more about opinions than real world. At first they were hesitant to tell what year the Ford was. "The GM is a 2019 model, the Ram is a 2019 model, and the Ford is new." Twice the driver of the Ford said that he missed the throttle and this cost both speed and time. And since RAM is Motor Trends truck of the year, TFL won't go against that.

Now they rate these vehicles like what I used to call Rambler advertising advantages. Rambler has more ash trays. Rambler has a larger glove box. Rambler's windows roll up faster. All of this means nothing to most people.

In other words they can work their opinions to sway their decision any way they feel like.

[Samsonsworld]

One, I've never seen an engine run at full throttle that didn't get hot. Two, fuel has nothing to do with the tranny. If that torque converter slips, it heats up fast. Also a problem running full throttle.

[4x4ord]

Samsonsworld wrote:

mooky stinks wrote:
Unless I missed it, the only time temps got mentioned was with the GMC. Would be nice to know what temp all of them ran.

Was thinking the same thing. And with the Ram running 5500 rpms most of the way up, I have a hard time believing it's temps weren't creeping towards hot.

Heat comes from fuel not rpms. (On any particular engine the higher it revs the more fuel it can burn so it will produce its most heat around the rpm that it makes its most HP) But on this test the Ram used the least amount of fuel. The 5.7 is a smaller engine than the Chevy but if it pumped as much or more air through in that same time, on account of its higher rpm, there would be more cooling being accomplished through the exhaust and less heat going into the cooling system. If the fan was able to run faster on the Ram due to those high rpms it is conceivable that the Ram would run cooler than the Chevy. Obviously the size and efficiency of the cooling system in each truck is what ultimately determines its ability to stay cool.

[kw_00]

Gmc ran 4-4600 or so rpm, Ford was lower for sure, Ram was 5-5500 a lot. For me I like the GMC or Ford. The 6.2 LS engine is just awesome, Fords done well with the ecoboost for sure, Ram improved the truck but the 5.7 still same, good engine though. It seems like techno gadgets are all the mass cares about. Just got finished watching their Ranger verse Taco run up goldmine. Was not impressed. Just run both trucks without the fancy soon the break gadgets in 4 low and see who wins. Anymore we rely way......to much on crawl control Ect...... that’s my take. What happened to real drivers? To much catering to soyboys now.

[FishOnOne]

One of the biggest attributes that I look at is the rpm's these trucks have to run in order to maintain 60mph and the lower the rpm the better when it comes to towing which TFL doesn't quantify in their ratings. Between the Ram and GMC my gut feel is the GMC can run less rpm's than the hemi and the EcoBoost clearly runs lower rpms than the other two.

[rjstractor]

Maybe I'm a "glass half full" kind of guy, but for the me the take-home from the video was that you can take any of the big 3 150/1500 series trucks and they make a heck of a tow vehicle. For all 3 towing 9000 lbs up a pretty brutal hill was a walk in the park. I know my old 7.3 diesel can't go anywhere near that fast up a hill pulling that weight! Buy the truck you like best with the biggest or most powerful engine available and drive with a smile.

[noteven]

My fave FLT Ike video was the one a couple or three year ago where they were using a GMC diesel and flatbed and a local grocery chain Volvo class 8 semi with his/her 4 ways on blows by them near the top...

[Samsonsworld]

mooky stinks wrote:
Unless I missed it, the only time temps got mentioned was with the GMC. Would be nice to know what temp all of them ran.

Was thinking the same thing. And with the Ram running 5500 rpms most of the way up, I have a hard time believing it's temps weren't creeping towards hot.

[MitchF150]

Remember when truck interiors looked like this... 🙂



If interiors are what now decides the best "tow vehicle", then it's all subjective in the end anyway and in the end, get whatever dang truck that suits YOUR needs... 🙂

I haven't stepped on a dealers lot since 2014, so I'm really behind the times on these new trucks, but most of that is because of the price tag... No way I could buy one of these new trucks today... Just no way..

Mitch

[mooky_stinks]

Unless I missed it, the only time temps got mentioned was with the GMC. Would be nice to know what temp all of them ran.

[goducks10]

ScottG wrote:

goducks10 wrote:

Flashman wrote:

ScottG wrote:
There's so much more that goes into a tow rig than what these clowns look at.

What might that be - oh wise one?

I didn't notice those clowns mention how many cup holders each truck had. Maybe that was it. 😉

You guys should probably stick with what ever truck wins these contests.

Dbl post.

[goducks10]

ScottG wrote:

goducks10 wrote:

Flashman wrote:

ScottG wrote:
There's so much more that goes into a tow rig than what these clowns look at.

What might that be - oh wise one?

I didn't notice those clowns mention how many cup holders each truck had. Maybe that was it. 😉

You guys should probably stick with what ever truck wins these contests.

I'm still trying to figure out what parts were left out.
They talked about stability, braking, power, noise, comfort, sagging, mirrors, mpg, tranny shifts. Everything I'd look for.
What was missing in your opinion?

[ScottG]

goducks10 wrote:

Flashman wrote:

ScottG wrote:
There's so much more that goes into a tow rig than what these clowns look at.

What might that be - oh wise one?

I didn't notice those clowns mention how many cup holders each truck had. Maybe that was it. 😉

You guys should probably stick with what ever truck wins these contests.

[AlmostAnOldGuy]

Here are their ratings:
25% on the lie o meter
25% uphill time when they drive the speed limit for all 3 and are jogging some traffic
25% number of brake applications
25% subjective

Just for fun here are my ratings:
10% EPA mpg
20% number of brake applications & rpms / comfort / holding the gear on downhill run
20% rpms / comfort / holding the gear / on uphill run (Ford ran > 1k rpms lower most of the way)
20% acceleration from 25mph to 65mph for those short on-ramps with traffic.
20% stability of load (Ram shined here, Ford was soft - get Max Payload option)
10% subjective

Oh, one last rating. Price. Based on that I will keep my existing truck a long time. ; )

Have a good one,
Stu