1500 w/ 3.6 V6 eTorque Towing Experience

[TheWarmBeer]

I am more of a novice/occasional tower with my Rams, so I wanted to get your thoughts on my towing experience this week. I have leased a Ram 1500 since 2013 and typically been impressed with the V6 towing performance with everything from Jet Skis, pontoon boats, to enclosed trailers. But this is the first time towing an enclosed trailer with my 2022 Ram 1500 Big Horn 4x4 with the eTorque V6 and it was pretty rough. I wanted to see if others were having similar experiences with their V6 eTorque or if maybe it is just me?

Long story short, I borrowed my brother's Legend V-Nose 7'x21' trailer to transport a lifted golf cart, overkill I know. From all the research I did online I found that the trailer weighs in at about 2,160lbs and I drove about an hour to go get it from him. Inside the trailer was a spare tire, 3 sets of ratchet straps, and a snowmobile jacket so I will consider that pretty close to empty. I hitched up the trailer, we checked all the lights worked, turned on Tow/Haul Mode, and headed out on my hour trip back home. Merging onto the freeway was eye-opening slow and the motor was just screaming until I got up to 65mph. The truck basically ran between 3rd and 5th gear the whole ride, I never exceeded 71mph, and downshifted on even the slightest inclines. The other thing I noticed with this truck was the amount of pull/sway the trailer had on it. It was a windier day but I felt like I was kind of fighting the whole ride down the freeway, until I got back onto the side streets. Now my truck, as seen below, is rated to 6,320lbs and I didn't enjoy my time moving 1/3 of that weight. I will get to see if things go differently when I pick up the golf cart this weekend and then take the trailer back to him. Am I just that inexperienced with towing larger things and you guys are having no problems or do I need to make sure I get the Hemi going forward?

 

[WXman]

Well going from the 3.6L to the 5.7L engine gets you 52% more torque. So yes the 3.6L with only 269 lb/ft in a 5,500 lb. vehicle pulling a trailer with 56 sq. ft. of frontal area catching wind is going to be a less than desirable experience. Honestly when I used to pull enclosed trailers I felt like I wanted more power from the V8. I can't imagine pulling one on the interstate with a V6.

Having said that, the Pentastar engine has a great cooling package in the Ram application, so even if it's running at high RPM and drinking fuel it's not going to damage the engine. Just let it rip. It's not like you're towing with it on a weekly basis, ya' know? It'll be fine.

 

[TheWarmBeer]

Thanks @WXman and you are right that the engine vitals only raised up a little bit during that hour of towing. I just don't remember the non eTorque V6 working so hard with similar trailers and wanted to see if that was my memory or what.

 

[pkman]

Has the trailer been sitting a while? Could be the bearings or brakes were dragging. Easy to tell by feeling the hubs after a short stint on the highway. If one is hot it can create a lot of drag.

I have the non-eTorque V6 in my Grand Cherokee and it doesn't have problems towing. I can't imagine the eTorque version would be worse.

 

[Hawkshot99]

You were pulling a huge massive sail behind that truck. Going forward that trailer has massive drag, and any side wind action will try and wag it around as well.

Trucks are rated for weight when it comes to towing, but wind resistance I find has a far greater impact then pounds.

I haven't really towed my small(5×8) enclosed with the Ram yet, but have a ton of time with it on my old Tacoma as well as a 5x8 open trailer. The tacoma towed the 5x8 with 2000#'s of pellets about the same as the enclosed with my 700# mower inside.

 

[TheWarmBeer]

Has the trailer been sitting a while? Could be the bearings or brakes were dragging. Easy to tell by feeling the hubs after a short stint on the highway. If one is hot it can create a lot of drag.

I have the non-eTorque V6 in my Grand Cherokee and it doesn't have problems towing. I can't imagine the eTorque version would be worse.

No, it is a trailer that is used a decent amount for moving things other than the snowmobiles in the winter. I would say it is used, maybe for a very short distance, every month or so.

 

[TheWarmBeer]

You were pulling a huge massive sail behind that truck. Going forward that trailer has massive drag, and any side wind action will try and wag it around as well.

Trucks are rated for weight when it comes to towing, but wind resistance I find has a far greater impact then pounds.

I haven't really towed my small(5×8) enclosed with the Ram yet, but have a ton of time with it on my old Tacoma as well as a 5x8 open trailer. The tacoma towed the 5x8 with 2000#'s of pellets about the same as the enclosed with my 700# mower inside.

Agree on that, there is a lot of surface area with that trailer.

 

[TheWarmBeer]

Final update from the weekend:

Most of the movement/sway from the truck and trailer was pulling it empty. Once the golf cart was loaded and there was a little more tongue weight the whole rig felt much more stable. There was still some sway on the freeway and it felt like the trailer had much more influence than it should have. Now power was an issue empty or with the golf cart in the trailer. That eTorque V6 seemed to work so much harder than the OG Pentastar V6 that I had in previous trucks and lacked any bit of acceleration when entering freeways. The transmission seemed to also hunt for the right gear, between 3rd and 5th, on a pretty flat trip. Overall I don't know if I love the eTorque. Gas milage towing or empty isn't that great and hasn't been better than the Hemi I had previously.

 

[monza2t]

That eTorque V6 seemed to work so much harder than the OG Pentastar V6 that I had in previous trucks and lacked any bit of acceleration when entering freeways.

The engine is exactly the same as before and the eTorque essentially does nothing when towing, it only is really doing something at low speeds.

Did you tow this same trailer before? Thats a big box to pull through the air. When I tow a 5000lbs skid steer / trailer I notice it is vastly different from towing my 5000lb camper. The wind resistance on the trailer is huge. I used to tow the camper with a Jeep GC V6 and most of the time the Pentastar towed just fine, but do open interstate and add some wind and the 269ft*lb torque just couldn't overcome the aerodynamic load.

Gas milage towing or empty isn't that great and hasn't been better than the Hemi I had previously.

When you compare V6 to V8 eTorque there is only a 1 MPG City / 2 MPG highway advantage for the V6. The problem isn't the engine, its the 5500lbs and aerodynamics of a refrigerator that make both V6 and V8 hungry. To me the V6 is a good choice for every day driving when you want to save $2800 up front, any fuel economy gains are just gravy on top of that $2800, but I wouldn't expect it to get fantastic MPG vs. V8

 

[monza2t]

Having said that, the Pentastar engine has a great cooling package in the Ram application, so even if it's running at high RPM and drinking fuel it's not going to damage the engine. Just let it rip. It's not like you're towing with it on a weekly basis, ya' know? It'll be fine.

This. I had Pentastar in my Jeep GC and just let the thing rev out when towing. I probably towed 10k miles with that thing wound out. It will be just fine. Its got an integral water/oil heat exchanger and the cooling system is stout.

 

[pkman]

This. I had Pentastar in my Jeep GC and just let the thing rev out when towing. I probably towed 10k miles with that thing wound out. It will be just fine. Its got an integral water/oil heat exchanger and the cooling system is stout.

This^ - the torque sounds like a lot for a V6, but you have to let it rev pretty high.