Big Tow Test

[Kramersp]

I have had my truck since August. Look at my signature to see specs. Pretty much set up for towing. I have just completed my annual Minnesota/ Wisconsin fishing trip. I towed a 20' bass boat with a total package weight of about 4,700lbs. I now have 4,600miles on my truck of which 3200 of them are with the boat attached. So I started out towing the boat from Maryland, through Pennsylvania then Ohio, Indiana, Chicago, Wisconsin and first destination was in Minnesota about a hour north of Minneapolis. I was there for 4 days, then went to northern Wisconsin for 4. My return trip was same in the opposite direction. I have a few observations from towing with this truck at speeds around 70mph on grades, mountains, stop and go and flat.

THE GOOD

1) Total trip MPG was 12.4. About the same as my 2013 3.5L EB F150

2) SMOOTH. Gear changes, down shifts, upshifts, high rpm, all silky smooth. Smoother that my prior truck. And sounds good too.

3) Soft ride while towing. Little fatigue. Very nice.

4) Quiet. Can't hear anything until you get around 70-75mph. Then you hear a little wind noise.

5) Adaptive cruise control is great. Just takes more stress out of towing.

THE (KINDA) BAD

1) Soft suspension gets flustered behind semi-truck turbulence. Also lots of body roll.

2) Lane sense system is about worthless when towing. It starts wagging the trailer like a tail.

3) This is kinda an unrelated to towing issue but I think my dual zone climate control only works on HOT and COLD. No middle ground.

4) Factory wipers are hot garbage.

5) Auto wipers do not react fast enough.

Overall a good experience towing. At the end of the month I will be towing my boat from Maryland to San Diego, CA.

 

[Seadog1272]

I have had my truck since August. Look at my signature to see specs. Pretty much set up for towing. I have just completed my annual Minnesota/ Wisconsin fishing trip. I towed a 20' bass boat with a total package weight of about 4,700lbs. I now have 4,600miles on my truck of which 3200 of them are with the boat attached. So I started out towing the boat from Maryland, through Pennsylvania then Ohio, Indiana, Chicago, Wisconsin and first destination was in Minnesota about a hour north of Minneapolis. I was there for 4 days, then went to northern Wisconsin for 4. My return trip was same in the opposite direction. I have a few observations from towing with this truck at speeds around 70mph on grades, mountains, stop and go and flat.

THE GOOD

1) Total trip MPG was 12.4. About the same as my 2013 3.5L EB F150

2) SMOOTH. Gear changes, down shifts, upshifts, high rpm, all silky smooth. Smoother that my prior truck. And sounds good too.

3) Soft ride while towing. Little fatigue. Very nice.

4) Quiet. Can't hear anything until you get around 70-75mph. Then you hear a little wind noise.

5) Adaptive cruise control is great. Just takes more stress out of towing.

THE (KINDA) BAD

1) Soft suspension gets flustered behind semi-truck turbulence. Also lots of body roll.

2) Lane sense system is about worthless when towing. It starts wagging the trailer like a tail.

3) This is kinda an unrelated to towing issue but I think my dual zone climate control only works on HOT and COLD. No middle ground.

4) Factory wipers are hot garbage.

5) Auto wipers do not react fast enough.

Overall a good experience towing. At the end of the month I will be towing my boat from Maryland to San Diego, CA.

Great Information. Have you posted your payload information for your truck?

 

[Kramersp]

No. It's like 11k towing.

 

[superbird77]

Forget the truck, tell me you crushed some giant smallmouth at Mille Lacs? I am picking up my 2019 Ram Limited today, its gonna get lots of time towing my Z9 around Michigan.

 

[Deleted member 85]

I have had my truck since August. Look at my signature to see specs. Pretty much set up for towing. I have just completed my annual Minnesota/ Wisconsin fishing trip. I towed a 20' bass boat with a total package weight of about 4,700lbs. I now have 4,600miles on my truck of which 3200 of them are with the boat attached. So I started out towing the boat from Maryland, through Pennsylvania then Ohio, Indiana, Chicago, Wisconsin and first destination was in Minnesota about a hour north of Minneapolis. I was there for 4 days, then went to northern Wisconsin for 4. My return trip was same in the opposite direction. I have a few observations from towing with this truck at speeds around 70mph on grades, mountains, stop and go and flat.

THE GOOD

1) Total trip MPG was 12.4. About the same as my 2013 3.5L EB F150

2) SMOOTH. Gear changes, down shifts, upshifts, high rpm, all silky smooth. Smoother that my prior truck. And sounds good too.

3) Soft ride while towing. Little fatigue. Very nice.

4) Quiet. Can't hear anything until you get around 70-75mph. Then you hear a little wind noise.

5) Adaptive cruise control is great. Just takes more stress out of towing.

THE (KINDA) BAD

1) Soft suspension gets flustered behind semi-truck turbulence. Also lots of body roll.

2) Lane sense system is about worthless when towing. It starts wagging the trailer like a tail.

3) This is kinda an unrelated to towing issue but I think my dual zone climate control only works on HOT and COLD. No middle ground.

4) Factory wipers are hot garbage.

5) Auto wipers do not react fast enough.

Overall a good experience towing. At the end of the month I will be towing my boat from Maryland to San Diego, CA.

First thing I do when I get a new demo is turn off rain-sensitive wipers. They're awful in all FCA vehicles.

 

[Kramersp]

Forget the truck, tell me you crushed some giant smallmouth at Mille Lacs? I am picking up my 2019 Ram Limited today, its gonna get lots of time towing my Z9 around Michigan.

Wish I could. I crushed largemouth around home and then the nastiest cold front ever (92 down to 48 and raining in 12 hours) came in. I caught more on the back end of the front but for the next few days is was cold, windy and raining. The smallmouth bite in northern Wisconsin was trash. Should've stuck to the rivers really. Still a blast.

 

[Seadog1272]

No. It's like 11k towing.

Have you looked at the Yellow payload sticker on you driver side door jam?

 

[devildodge]

Sounds like you had a good trip and a fairly good experience with your truck.

That's the kinda trip we hope to take soon, very interested to hear about your next trip.

Thanks for the info.

 

[356]

First thing I do when I get a new demo is turn off rain-sensitive wipers. They're awful in all FCA vehicles.

Interesting. The ones on my Ram work much better than those on our Audi. I actually like them, and keep them on "auto," whereas on the Audi, I often switch to intermittent.

 

[SpeedyV]

Interesting. The ones on my Ram work much better than those on our Audi. I actually like them, and keep them on "auto," whereas on the Audi, I often switch to intermittent.

Likewise, I've been happy with mine on Auto "1" (just barely turned on) in light rain situations (which seems like every free day since I took delivery, unfortunately).