First tow, ran hot and bouncy

[Coolzzy]

Hooked my travel trailer to my 22 limited with 4 corner air and drove an hour and a half to camp site. Rv weight was 6500 pounds, weight distributing hitch used. With the hitch dialed in per manufacturer, truck still seemwd squirly and a bit of porpoising. I've got the hellwig sway bar set to middle position, will moving it to tightest setting help? Probably going to add another washer to the hitch for a tad bit more weight distribution. The air suspension leveled the truck perfectly when taken out of service mode after hitching up. It corrected almost 2" sag in back and half inch rise in front.

Now my real issue. Ambient temp was 73 degrees and speed was 50-60mph, rolling hills. Oil temp sat at or just below 250 for the entire drive. Climbing any sort of hill it would spike to nearly 260. Trans temp was 195-203 the whole drive, coolant was 210-225, no issues there. But the oil temp, dang! And it wasn't even hot and I wasn't climbing a mountain like I will be all summer with this setup. I've seen most people on here seem to have magical oil temps that never exceed 220 but mine is at 220 unloaded cruising around town.

I don't know what oil is in this thing, it was changed by a dealer before I purchased it 3k miles ago with I assume 0w20. I'll be changing to 5w30 when I get home from camping, this truck will be doing plenty of camper pulling this summer in 90-100 degree heat with mountains involved.

Other than that, truck got the load going much easier than my ecoboost f150 but of course, would wind out to 4k climbing hills. Didn't lack for power at those rpm, but I didn't push it either. Luckily it's pretty dang quiet running down the road except for climbing hills at lower speeds when it has to kick down. I'm debating taking the interstate home just so I can get a feel for all road situations. The back road highway I took in was not in the nest condition either, but it seems the air suspension is a tad soft.

 

[silver billet]

Couple things:

• hellwig swaybar will control lateral sway, better control in the corners/bends, but not up + down bounce.
• I had much better luck moving to a chain system like the andersen no sway WDH because this system does not have any bounce in the hitch itself, whereas trunion bar WDH's have bounce in the bars too + the bounce from your truck shocks.
• The rams are naturally going to be a softer ride than the F150, at all times. Better ride unloaded, but that means softer ride when towing too... two sides of the same coin. You may be able to tweak your truck, like I did with a better WDH and taking the time to really dial it in to get a better towing experience, but I have no doubt the GM and Ford's will naturally handle weight better (or rather, they're more forgiving of a slightly imperfect setup). You have to take the good with the bad, the Ram has the best ride when not towing.
• For temps; yeah the stock hemis are tuned to run hot. I've removed my AGS shutters, you can reach in from the top/front and pull out all but top and bottom row. This keeps the system physically in place while opening up a permanent whole in the middle, and the truck won't know you removed it (electronically all the bits are there and still working)
• Lot of us have also been running a 180 tstat which makes a big difference most of time. If you reach a long enough hill with a heavy enough load you can still reach higher temps but it gives you more runway; your truck tows cooler on the straights which means you have more time on the hills before you hit higher temps again and of course it cools back down to lower temps once your back on the straights again.

As for the comparison to the ecoboost... that's surprising to hear unless you had the 2.7, the 3.5 definitely puts out more power.

And if you want (IMHO) the best of the best when it comes to oil:

Super Car Engine Oil

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or a little cheaper but still amazing and way ahead of off-the-shelf oils:

Passenger Car Engine Oil

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[John Kloehr]

On the hitch, agree with adding a washer. I'm assuming you have the right bars and at least 10% tongue weight.

If I am reading your post right, you set it up per the directions and then the air ride system leveled the truck further. When the air ride took out the squat, it also took out some tension on the bars.

 

[Coolzzy]

On the hitch, agree with adding a washer. I'm assuming you have the right bars and at least 10% tongue weight.

If I am reading your post right, you set it up per the directions and then the air ride system leveled the truck further. When the air ride took out the squat, it also took out some tension on the bars.

Correct, and correct. I'm using a husky centerline TS wdh which has worked fantastic on my F150 and the expedition before that. I figured the Ram would be like the expedition since both have Coil spring rear suspension but expedition was more solid. I'll add a washer and see if that helps. I've thought about going to the Anderson chain wdh but wasn't sure if it was capable of controlling sway as well as the trunnion bar friction setup like my centerline.

My F150 was the 3.5 ecoboost FX4 short bed crew cab with 3.73 gears and factory max tow package. But it was a 2014 so only had the 6 speed trans, I'm sure with the ten speed it would have done better. It overheated too easily (coolant temp wise) but it seems the Ram will run just as hot. It wasn't as strong as my 17 expedition with the same motor and gearing, and I always suspected there was something off even though it never had any issues or engine lights in the two years I towed with it. It was actually louder when towing than the Ram and had zero engine breaking. It had to be in 2nd gear at 4k rpm at 40mph down any grade and would still try and run away from you without constant brake application. The Ram gave me superb engine breaking down a long steep grade in 4th gear and held 51mph which was fantastic with no brake use.

Do you think removing some of the shutters will help with oil temps, and/or switching to 5w30 PUP? I'm considering deleting/bypassing the engine oil "cooler" to stave off failure in the future, it seems it only exists to warm the oil up faster. It's too small to provide any real cooling, and a failure will dump oil into the coolant system. I saw a post on a Facebook group I follow where a guy removed the coolant output nipple from the water pump and threaded a bolt into the hole, capped the coolant line, and then removed and capped the return hose to the cooling system. The 4th Gen trucks don't have an oil cooler and run fine without it.

 

[Coolzzy]

Pictures of the Ram and my Ember 26ets. I did this first tow with no water in the tank, but usually have 50 gallons in it which will probably make it even bouncier.

 

[HSKR R/T]

Aa mentioned, you need to set up your WDH after the air suspension has leveled the truck . The porpoising was from improperly set up hitch.

There was absolutely no issue with your oil temps. Modern synthetic oils are designed to operate at far higher temps than what you saw. You are looking for a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Don't just throw a 180 thermostat in and think it's going to help. If you aren't adjusting your tune for the cooler running temps it will only hurt performance, not help. Your mind may think the colder temps are better, but that's not the temp range these trucks are designed to operate at. And switching to a higher viscosity oil will only make the oil temps worse as it takes more energy to pump the thicker oil, which creates heat. It probably isn't going to hurt the engine any but don't expect cooler oil temps from a thicker oil. Physics just don't work that way.

 

[Mr.Grid]

I don’t have air suspension or know about the setting activation but here’s what I would suggest. With truck in normal riding height, first measure the four corner heights and then attach trailer. Adjust the WDH until you have the front of the truck lower by 1/4” -1/2”. Then let the air level the rear of the truck.

Using a line (side trim) that is straight on the lower part of the trailer and same height front and rear measure the trailer height. The trailer front should be approximately 1/2” – 1” lower than the rear. If the front of trailer is same height or higher than rear, drop the head height one hole and readjust the trunnion bars.

Towing trailers that are level, or higher in front than rear, will sway or feel uncontrollable with the wheel. Your porpoising feeling could be from the rear air. The trunnion bars need to be doing more of the work.

I’m towing 7k# – 24’ Featherlite enclosed car hauler with a 25+ yr old Reese wdh and 1200# trunnion bars system. I’ve towed well over 100k miles with that, recently sold and new inTech 26’ car hauler being built next week.

I’ve actually worn out a set of trunnion bar chains and replaced them several years ago. Over 30% of the link thickness was worn away. This wear could also be measured on the trailer frame bracket hooks.

Here’s a pic of the method I use when I need a half link of adjustment in the spring bar chain. Works excellent.

 

[John Kloehr]

There are several ways to set up a WDH. All have merits and considerations. But at the core, even though I have my own preferred philosophy, I found it best to read, understand, and follow, the directions for the particular hitch I am setting up. This just seems to work.

The only extra I sometimes go to, particularly if a setup is just not cooperating, is to go to a CAT scale when it is not busy and get three weighings.

• The tow rig set up exactly as it will be towing (including passengers and anything in the cab and a full tank of fuel), and with only the WDH on the bumper. No trailer, this is to get base tow vehicle numbers
• The tow rig with trailer connected with the WDH but without the distribution bars disconnected
• The tow rig with trailer connected with the WDH and with the bars connected

Then do some math because something will show up as the reason for a lack of cooperation. The first measurement gets you the individual tow vehicle axles and GVW. The second gets trailer, tongue weight, and GCVW. The third weighing provides actual weight distribution for tow vehicle and trailer axles (tow vehicle front got heavier and rear got lighter, and trailer axles got heavier). Some of the weight on the tw vehicle rear axle gets distributed forward to the front axle and some back to the trailer axles. The total GCVW does not change.

As to temperatures, good comments above and while not directly related, I was shocked when I saw the coolant and oil temerpatures on my 6.4 Hemi Challenger. Took me a while to get comfortable with them simply running that hot. Now have a 5.7 Hemi in my Rebel and while maybe not quite as extreme, those numbers also seem to be way up in the nosebleed area.

In short on temperatures because I have just got used to the gauge positions rather than the actual numbers, you may not have a problem. May be nature of the beast.

A final "trick" if you have not yet figured it out is to hook up the trailer, then raise the trailer jack all the way up before snapping the WD bars in place. Then retract the trailer jack. This is a lot easier than trying to do them when everything is sagged down.

On edit: A WDH setup is one of several devices where the "German Standard" (Gut 'n tight) is just not good enough. Buy a torque wrench and the proper hardened sockets, several of the fasteners are in the class I consider "Jesus nuts."

 

[Coolzzy]

Thanks for the pointers. Return trip I took the interstate. Ambient temp 65, I set the cruise at 65 and locked out 7 and 8. Truck did better on the highway, smoother pavement. Interestingly enough, on a whim I dropped the truck to aero and the truck immediately got super stable. I drove a hour and a half with just one hand on the wheel. With the hitch set up per manufacturer specs, trailer is perfectly level once air suspension engages. I'm assuming lowering the tongue a half inch in aero mode gave it a little more tongue weight. I was towing without fresh water, which will add 400lbs slightly forward of the axle so that may have a positive impact as well, if the air suspension doesn't negate it.

Funny thing happened when I hitching though. I had put the truck in service mode. But when I was using the tongue jack to raise the rear of the truck to remove the bars, it wanted to stay that high. I lowered the trailer to take the weight off the jack, unlocked the Coupler and then raised trailer to unhook but had to nearly max out the jack. And no, the ball wasn't stuck in the Coupler, I was standing on the hitch and bouncing and no movement until max height of the jack and it just barely cleared. I looked at the truck and the tail end was up super high. I thought in service mode, this should not happen. When I started the truck and then took it out of service mode, it lowered itself down and leveled. Was I doing this incorrectly? Does it only need to be in service mode to hook up, and then aero mode to unhook instead of service mode to unhook? Anyway, I'm gonna add a washer to tilt the ball back a hair more and maybe that will fix everything and I'll be towing in normal ride height. If not I'll just tow in aero.

 

[Coolzzy]

I just realized when I was unhitching, the truck was running but to stop the three beeps I had the drivers door not fully closed. I think the air suspension won't work correctly if a door is open. But unhitching with the truck running sucks because you're working right behind the exhaust pipe. Next time I'll leave the key in the truck and shut the door.

As far as the hitch setup goes, I measured wheel well height front and back before and after trailer was hitched with wdh bars and was within manufacturer spec (2" or less sag at rear within 1/2" sag at front. Unloaded, hitch ball 1" higher than top of trailer Coupler with trailer level. The trouble is that once air suspension engaged, it lifted the sag out of the rear, removing trailer angle I think. To correct, I would need to lower the ball height one notch, which essentially is what is happening when I put the truck in aero mode. Ride quality was not impacted, in fact it improved with less bouncing....

 

[bigdodge]

you should weigh the truck and trailer to be sure you are within weight limits.

 

[Mr.Grid]

The trouble is that once air suspension engaged, it lifted the sag out of the rear, removing trailer angle I think. To correct, I would need to lower the ball height one notch, which essentially is what is happening when I put the truck in aero mode. Ride quality was not impacted, in fact it improved with less bouncing....

At very least try dropping the ball height 1 hole position to see the towing results. You’ll have to check the trunnion bar positions to get the truck F/R heights set properly. The difference could be much improved towing. This has been my experience. You can always return to where it’s presently at if desired.