First Time Towing - 3.21 Gears

[IowaHawg]

Last week was our first chance to tow with our new 2020 Ram 1500. We have a 5.7 Crew Cab Night Edition with the short bed and 3.21 rear end. We pulled our 7000lb 30ft Travel Trailer from central Iowa to the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was 1400 miles total and we averaged 8.9 MPG for the entire trip.

We could definitely feel the South Dakota wind when running across I-90, but overall the weight distributing hitch took care of keeping us level and reducing the sway.

I had installed Airlift air bags before the trip, but the weight distributing hitch took care of the squat very well. We have the Blue Ox hitch and it works great.

Although the trip was hilly and windy, the 5.7 never really struggled. I think Ram did a great job with the 8 speed tranny. On the interstate, 65 MPH seemed to be the magic speed. At 65, it ran mostly in 6th gear and occasionally dropped to 5th on the hills.

Loving the new truck!

 

[2wd]

Great towing report. Would love to see some pics of your setup if you have any. I have a very similar truck and also had a good experience towing a similar weigh travel trailer. Only complaint was a little porpoising over some of the bumps. For next time I may try GenY's new Glider hitch made for half tons.

 

[Willwork4truck]

Second the good tow report. A lot of doubters on the forum about the RAM’s ability to tow that size trailer however you sound like yours is a) properly set up and b) you kept your speeds reasonable. Thats the two main things.

On my trip here to the Denver area last week I saw a lot of pickups towing smaller to mid-sized cargo or boat trailers that were all over their lane due to improper setup, going 80 and/or no wdh.

Just cause you are on an interstate with a 75 mph speed limit doesn’t mean you go 75+. That’s the l i m i t, not the minimum, especially when towing. Duh.

 

[EMS_Pilot_66]

Last week was our first chance to tow with our new 2020 Ram 1500. We have a 5.7 Crew Cab Night Edition with the short bed and 3.21 rear end. We pulled our 7000lb 30ft Travel Trailer from central Iowa to the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was 1400 miles total and we averaged 8.9 MPG for the entire trip.

We could definitely feel the South Dakota wind when running across I-90, but overall the weight distributing hitch took care of keeping us level and reducing the sway.

I had installed Airlift air bags before the trip, but the weight distributing hitch took care of the squat very well. We have the Blue Ox hitch and it works great.

Although the trip was hilly and windy, the 5.7 never really struggled. I think Ram did a great job with the 8 speed tranny. On the interstate, 65 MPH seemed to be the magic speed. At 65, it ran mostly in 6th gear and occasionally dropped to 5th on the hills.

Loving the new truck!

New to towing more than a U-Haul trailer. I have the same rear-end without the tow package or air suspension(Laramie 4x4). Looking to purchase a TT around the same weight 6500-7300 and and length. My questions are, are airbags needed or just recommended? New sway bars? If so or highly recommended, what are the manufacturers I should be looking at for quality and reasonable price? Same with a good WDH( know I’ll need/want one)? Thanks in advance for any and all information/help. I’d rather not be white knuckling it even on short hauls.

 

[LoNeStAr]

There are so many threads out there on this especially WDH. As for rear suspension support for trucks without the factory air bags the main 3 you see mentioned on here are Timber Grove air bags and then Timbren and Sumo Springs. Timbren and Sumo are a maintenance free bump stop replacement basically. I am leaning towards the Timbren myself but still haven’t pulled the trigger.

As for rear anti sway bars Hellwig seems to be the consensus winner.

 

[EMS_Pilot_66]

There are so many threads out there on this especially WDH. As for rear suspension support for trucks without the factory air bags the main 3 you see mentioned on here are Timber Grove air bags and then Timbren and Sumo Springs. Timbren and Sumo are a maintenance free bump stop replacement basically. I am leaning towards the Timbren myself but still haven’t pulled the trigger.

As for rear anti sway bars Hellwig seems to be the consensus winner.

Thanks for the info.

 

[rzims]

We towed for the first time last weekend. Our TT is pretty small, 19ft 4k, and it was a breeze. Some porpoising over the bumps and more squat than I'd like, but I'm pretty sure I didn't have the WDH setup perfectly.
Up in to the Sierra over 7000 ft and no problems. Freeway speeds never exceeded 65 though.

 

[Rau]

We towed for the first time last weekend. Our TT is pretty small, 19ft 4k, and it was a breeze. Some porpoising over the bumps and more squat than I'd like, but I'm pretty sure I didn't have the WDH setup perfectly.
Up in to the Sierra over 7000 ft and no problems. Freeway speeds never exceeded 65 though.

What was your average MPG?

 

[rzims]

What was your average MPG?

it worked out to about 11 average for the up and back.

 

[Wsmith]

Last week was our first chance to tow with our new 2020 Ram 1500. We have a 5.7 Crew Cab Night Edition with the short bed and 3.21 rear end. We pulled our 7000lb 30ft Travel Trailer from central Iowa to the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was 1400 miles total and we averaged 8.9 MPG for the entire trip.

We could definitely feel the South Dakota wind when running across I-90, but overall the weight distributing hitch took care of keeping us level and reducing the sway.

I had installed Airlift air bags before the trip, but the weight distributing hitch took care of the squat very well. We have the Blue Ox hitch and it works great.

Although the trip was hilly and windy, the 5.7 never really struggled. I think Ram did a great job with the 8 speed tranny. On the interstate, 65 MPH seemed to be the magic speed. At 65, it ran mostly in 6th gear and occasionally dropped to 5th on the hills.

Loving the new truck!

I left illinois and went to wyoming in July as well. 5.7, 3.21. No towing just the truck. 80-85 in SD and Wyoming. 18.4 out 22.8 back. That west to east wind in SD just eats the MPG.

 

[Redfour5]

I pretty much mirror the OP with my rig from a weight standpoint and 27.3 feet. I have yet to tow with it but was very hesitant to go with the 3.21 as I had the 3.92 on my 2015 Outdoorsman and it towed like a beast. Unfortunately, the old Outdoorsman with 75K miles let me down badly on the last trip cutting off three times at 65 mph and telling me to put it in park and restart...with no thrown codes. They had a rep coming in to look at it and had spent three days trying to diagnose. So, a new Built to serve was sitting there checking every box EXCEPT the 3.92. Now why wouldn't a dealer order the 95 buck 3.92 on a truck with the tow package with all the goodies? I just don't understand that...

Anyway, This TFL video put me over the top on my decision along with the 20K offer on the old truck worth about 13K a year ago.

They tow a 7800 lb car trailer up to the Eisenhower Tunnel (maxed out on payload and capability) and it shined not to mention whupping an F150....

 

[Pertzbro]

3.92 is where it's at. the only reason i'd see a reason for 3.21's is if you never tow and do alot of interstate at high speeds. 3.55 might be a good in the middle. I dont think they should allow 3.21's with a towing package. Thankfully the 8speed gear ratios in 1-4 help a TON with those low axle ratios.

 

[I_really_really_want_one!]

I'm a 3.21 tow guy and it works fine but I wish I'd gotten a 3.92 now that I've upsized the tires. On the other hand I went on a no-tow road trip with my stock 20" tires/wheels and averaged 24 MPG! Life's a compromise.

 

[Whoa_Ram]

3.21's here as well and it did just fine moving this trailer and suv. Wish I would have taken more pictures, but I was in a hurry to get home after 10 hours on the road. DFW to San Antonio and back in one shot. Left my house around 5pm and got back at 4am. Trailer weighs in at 2100 pounds and the SUV shows a curb weight of 4500-4800 pounds plus about 700 pounds in the truck. Truck never really struggled. I averaged 18.1 on the way down, empty trailer, and 13.3mpg on the way back going anywhere from 65-80mph. So far loving this thing. It's amazed me!

 

[Limited2021]

3.21's here as well and it did just fine moving this trailer and suv. Wish I would have taken more pictures, but I was in a hurry to get home after 10 hours on the road. DFW to San Antonio and back in one shot. Left my house around 5pm and got back at 4am. Trailer weighs in at 2100 pounds and the SUV shows a curb weight of 4500-4800 pounds plus about 700 pounds in the truck. Truck never really struggled. I averaged 18.1 on the way down, empty trailer, and 13.3mpg on the way back going anywhere from 65-80mph. So far loving this thing. It's amazed me!

Wow that's good mpg. I normally get between 18-19 average empty. I hook up my 16' boat that weighs around 1000 #'s and it drops to around 14-15 pretty quick just doing 60. 18 with 2100 # trailer is awesome! This of coarse is using the lieometer on the dash anyway.

 

[Whoa_Ram]

Wow that's good mpg. I normally get between 18-19 average empty. I hook up my 16' boat that weighs around 1000 #'s and it drops to around 14-15 pretty quick just doing 60. 18 with 2100 # trailer is awesome! This of coarse is using the lieometer on the dash anyway.

I was surprised as well how well it got. I've used a smaller trailer a few times and MPG's where worse then with this heavy trailer. I was more shocked with the 13.3 coming back though. It was slowly decreasing as I went, but not by much more. Also this was calculated with Fuelly. When I left DFW, I had about 7/8 of the tank left and drove 306 miles to where the car was at. Luckily his SUV died about a block away from a gas station. I got to the gas station and pumped something like 22.3 gallons and I only have a 23 gallon tank. Went over and loaded the car and drove home with a full tank of gas. Got to DFW and stopped to pump gas and it was only 19.7 gallons with 262 miles. Still needed a few miles to get home, but I didn't want to risk it like I did on the way down.