Towing questions

[ejd43]

Hello my fellow campers! New to the forum and I figured someone here could help me with a concern I have. Last fall we had upgraded our camper, we went from a hybrid to a 32 foot travel trailer. While towing it home I watched all my temperature gauges to make sure all was well. My transmission temp sat around 160-170 on the 4 hour drive home, and the oil temp stayed around 215 degrees, engine temp was normal as well. However, towing it from winter storage to our campground a few weeks ago I noticed everything was still in good range except for my oil temperature. It was 248 in just the hour trip from my house to the campground. My question is, would it be wise to install an oil cooler, or should I run better oil in my truck? We have one long haul trip planned in July, it's only 6 hours but I don't want to compromise my truck in the process. Any suggestions would be very appreciated.

By the way my truck is a 2013 Ram 1500.

[trailer_newbe]

If you were at 5K there is a possibility you may have been about a quart low. For all around driving, no big deal, but towing will cause excessive heat. Less oil absorbs heat faster, therefore whatever oil cooler you have must remove heat from a higher temperature oil. Not sure if that was the issue but 248 degrees is about 30-40 degrees high.

[ejd43]

Thank you all for your input and advice. I know my truck was due for an oil change, could that cause the temperature to rise due to the oil being towards the end of the 5000 mile life? I'll admit I'm a rookie to camping and towing. I apologize if I sound clueless, but I'm just trying to learn all I can from experienced campers.

[MitchF150]

#7000 "unladen" weight is all fine and dandy, but I bet you added some weight to it??

If you tow anything at it's 'max tow rating', then it's going to 'max out' all of said trucks mechanical's too.. Expect max temps and maxed out on performance...

Sounds pretty 'normal' to me.. 🙂

Good luck!

Mitch

[Terryallan]

ejd43 wrote:
Hello my fellow campers! New to the forum and I figured someone here could help me with a concern I have. Last fall we had upgraded our camper, we went from a hybrid to a 32 foot travel trailer. While towing it home I watched all my temperature gauges to make sure all was well. My transmission temp sat around 160-170 on the 4 hour drive home, and the oil temp stayed around 215 degrees, engine temp was normal as well. However, towing it from winter storage to our campground a few weeks ago I noticed everything was still in good range except for my oil temperature. It was 248 in just the hour trip from my house to the campground. My question is, would it be wise to install an oil cooler, or should I run better oil in my truck? We have one long haul trip planned in July, it's only 6 hours but I don't want to compromise my truck in the process. Any suggestions would be very appreciated.

By the way my truck is a 2013 Ram 1500.

I would think that something changed on your truck. Something could be clogged, or dirty. You should take it, and get it checked out. It should not be such a difference from bringing it home to going to the CG... UNLESS. The CG is high in the mountains, and the truck was in a tight bind the whole way up. Even then it should not over heat.

[wanderingaimles]

A quick read of the chart above says that if you are 4x4 with a 5.7 you could be ok if you have 3.55 or 3.92 final gears. Anything less maybe not. And check the old window sticker if you have it, it will show any towing package you have, as well as what gearing, and will make it easy to look up what came with the package.

[MFL]

You are possibly over the weight your truck is designed for, but weighing the rig will be best way to tell. Your owners manual should give a gross combined weight rating for your truck. This is the amount the manufacturer considers safe for the running gear for YOUR truck, when combined with a trailer.

When weighing have it camp ready, truck and trailer, full fuel, passengers, and gear.

Jerry

[CincyGus]

Most vehicles with "Towing packages" include an oil and transmission cooler. Most, Not all. So check to see if you have them. If not, I would add them as keeping those lubricants cooler and not breaking them down IS the safeguard to not damaging the engine and tranny.

Checking your payload number on the drivers side door sticker against what your tongue weight, passengers, hitch weight and anything else you add to the truck in the cab or bed will tell you if you have miscalculated and have too much trailer for your truck.

[ejd43]

My apologies, the camper is a keystone cougar. Unladen weight is 7,000 lbs. It says my max is 8500 lbs that I can tow according to the chart. I really hope I didn't miscalculate what the truck can actually haul.

[wanderingaimles]

You say a 32' travel trailer but don't say either the weight or make model etc.
Check the yellow sticker inside your truck door for the towing capacity info, as well as checking the info for the trailer. A 32' trailer could be a 27' box with 32' total length or a 32' box. Weight range can be anywhere from 6,500 to 12,000 depending on model.
Ram 1500's can be pretty light on their towing capabilities so try to find your capacities. If you saved the window sticker it should tell you what, if any tow packages you have.
A quick google search found this.
2013 Ram