The Best Half Ton Towing Truck - Ike Gauntlet

[FishOnOne]

Enjoy...

Link

[VernDiesel]

Its daily fare for my 1500 Ram to have a 1,000 to 1,500 pounds between the tongue and bed sometime more. I am at 7,000 GVW often. Love the dramatically better ride road compliance and suspension control of the coil suspension supported dampend and better controlled with axle to frame air bags. The road compliance and control is substantially better than stick and slide harsh and jumpy such as empty bed over expansion joints at one end of the spectrum to sloppy wallowy at the other end of the spectrum of leaf spring suspensions of horse cart days. Plus less NVH (noise vibration harshness) through the coil suspension.

Yes air bags can aid leaf springs as well but they just can't get the ride road compliance and control that you can with the Ram coil suspension. Even semi and straight trucks have largely dumped leaf spring suspensions or went to primarily air controlled what 40 - 50 years ago. The only reason Ford & GM still use leaf springs is because its cheaper and they can get away with it because the general public doesn't know any better. BTW she just turned 500,000 miles no rear suspension repairs. Never a broken leaf or coil rather. Haven't even had any reason to change the rear shocks certainly in part due to the airbags. I do however think Ram should offer air bag assist with the coils as standard or at least as an option. Complete air ride is a different thing and has its own set of pros & cons.

[Sportsmen]

TwoManyToyz wrote:
From 09 to 2015 Dodge put coil springs in the rear of their half ton trucks. That was the turning point for me. At that point i realized
Dodge had no idea what i wanted in a half ton truck. They still dont.

I agree. They are using coil springs to soften up the ride to appeal to the soccer mom crowd. My BIL's 2017 Ram 1500 has a payload of 1148 lbs. Part of that is the coils and the 4X4.... I want leafs in a PU, but they are not marketing 1/2 tons to people like me anymore. In the future only F250's / 2500's for me....

[ib516]

TwoManyToyz wrote:
From 09 to 2015 Dodge put coil springs in the rear of their half ton trucks. That was the turning point for me. At that point i realized
Dodge had no idea what i wanted in a half ton truck. They still dont.

The 1500s still have rear leafs 2015+. They put coils on the newest gen 2500 too. They work great in the 2500s, sag less than the competition's leaf springs, and give a better ride. The first gen 1500s were prone to rear end sag. They have increased the spring rate by using progressive rate coils in the 2019s to make them sag less.

[Grit_dog]

TurnThePage wrote:
A lot of doubters about the longevity of these newer half tons. A lot of doubters about the capability of these newer half tons. A lot of doubters that will simply not catch up with the times or admit they're wrong.

Yup!
I remember hearing my dad b!tsch about how fuel injection was going to be the end of reliable cars that could be worked on...lol.
Weird part is most of the doubters here are pretty much my dads age, but he changed his tune pretty quick when the ole TBI didn't need the gas pedal pumped to start and never had to rebuild a carb again!

I however can't warm up to some things like trailer backing assist and stop start tech! Hahaha

[Grit_dog]

womps wrote:
How do the integrated brake controllers compare?
How do they accelerate from 40 to 60 when passing with trailers behind?
How do they handle quick lane changes while towing?
How do they perform in emergency braking with the extra weight pushing them?
How does the fuel range compare?
These are tests trailer haulers would want to know. There was only 6 seconds difference in the trucks pulling the Ike so power is basically identical. Wish they would give us more valuable information.

Lol
Are these serious questions from someone who doesn't know anything about trucks, or another disparaging weight cop, pile on, set of questions to insinuate that a 1/2 ton can't pull more than a grocery cart?
They're all trucks in the same class. They perform quite similarly with respect to most of the above questions. Guess what? The mfgs know what each other are doing. He!! ford and Chevy share the same transmission!

[TwoManyToyz]

From 09 to 2015 Dodge put coil springs in the rear of their half ton trucks. That was the turning point for me. At that point i realized
Dodge had no idea what i wanted in a half ton truck. They still dont.

[wilber1]

Samsonsworld wrote:
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.

The ZF torque converter is only unlocked when the truck is stopped and for launch in first gear, otherwise it is locked all the time. If it slips it's because it is broke. Higher RPM's mean more line pressure and less chance of slippage.

[ls1mike]

Fast Lane Truck 6.2 VS 5.3

[DBH_MI]

5.3 L Ike Gauntlet Run

[ShinerBock]

ksss wrote:
I get your point. I think your right that they want to send their big gun to the shootout. I don't think you could expect any less. Ford doesn't send their 2.7 EB. The fact that the 6.2 is only available in the two highest trim levels (Chevy) does suck and I very much disagree with that business model (should atleast come down to the RST if not the LT), it is still easily accessible.

But that is the thing though, the 3.5L EB and the 5.7L Hemi are the most common engine option in their respective brand, but the 6.2L is not with the Chevy. If you see a 1500 GM V8 on the street, I would wager that 9.5 out of 10 would be a 5.3L.

ksss wrote:
If the testing guys wanted to test a 5.3 they certainly could do that. GM couldn't say anything about it.

Not exactly, if you have ever seen their video on TFL car of how they receive press vehicles, they are limited to what the manufacturer sends them. Each brand basically sends the vehicles they want to each region or for each test.

ksss wrote:
I think everyone wants to see the most powerful options from each OEM go up against each other. Just for comparison I would like to see the 5.3 and the 6.2 run the Ike. It would be interesting to see how far off the 5.3 actually is from the 6.2.

I agree that most people want to see the biggest and baddest run the Ike, but GM can at least give the 5.3L to test more than they do. If you look at all of the reviews sites that do comparison like this, the 6.2L is by far the one GM sends on just about all of the reviews except for a few. Going by that, you would think the 6.2L was it's most popular powertrain. At hte very least they could send the 6.2L in the GMC and the 5.3L in the Silverado so people will know how they compare.

[goducks10]

1320Fastback wrote:
I wish they would do a tow review that doesn't invovle a mountain most of us will never climb. Would love to see a test review and mpg towing figure for a 200 mile round trip that is real world for most us us involving some city, highway, rolling hills and yes even a big hill.

Regardless of brand, trim level, options and snake oil features I would buy the truck with the best towing mpg.

That would probably be boring IMO. Most trucks towing that load over moderate terrain would do fine. Nothing would really standout that would make one better than the other.
I routinely tow 200 RT from 132' El to 5,000 down to 3150' and back to 132'. Any of the big 3 regardless or configuration would handle it fine.

[mooky_stinks]

I've owned two different 6.2's. One with the 6 speed and one with the 8 speed. I now have a 17' 5.3 6 speed. I was thinking that there would be a huge difference in acceleration when towing between the two. I can honestly say there really isn't that much difference. The 8 speed had a 3.42 rear gear and the 5.3 has 3.73's. I'm sure that helps the 5.3. How much is anybody's guess. The 6.2's are awesome and get better mileage than the 5.3 but I won't be getting another at this point. It isn't worth the $2500 upgrade from the 5.3 IMO. As far as GM sending them to a towing test, the 3.5Ecoboost isn't the standard engine for the F-150 so I don't see what the fuss is about.

[CaLBaR]

MikeRP wrote:
If you think the 5.7 Hemi is long in the tooth like me then most long in the tooth motor is the Chevy 5.3lL. I know it’s been a good engine and I am not trying to offend anyone and I’ve owned 2 and driven work vehicles with this motor many miles.

But it needs a major update!

The 5.3 just finished a major update from GM. Besides the displacement it is not the same engine from a few years ago.

I pulled with a '06 5.3 and it was barely adequate for a 7200 lb trailer but not something I would want to pull with again but the new 5.3 I may be convinced.

[1320Fastback]

I wish they would do a tow review that doesn't invovle a mountain most of us will never climb. Would love to see a test review and mpg towing figure for a 200 mile round trip that is real world for most us us involving some city, highway, rolling hills and yes even a big hill.

Regardless of brand, trim level, options and snake oil features I would buy the truck with the best towing mpg.

[ksss]

Honestly I think they could just run the 6.2 in everything. The MPG is nearly identical. I am sure the 6.2 costs more to produce which maybe is why they like to pack it in high end versions of the 1500. Then for the High Country and Denali offer it with a super charger like the LSA.