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Flat Towing 2019 1500 - Trans N and battery charge/drain?

Cmerkert

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Next summer I will be flat-towing my 2019 Limited 4 down behind an RV. I know the Rams are great TOAD vehicles with the N selection on the 4WD selector disabling the drive train. My question is
#1 - can anyone confirm that and does the RAM need to be run every 500 miles or so to move tranny fluid through, or is that not needed.
#2 - a breaking system in the TOAD will be connected to the 12v outlet. Does this cause a drain on the battery? Would I need a battery charger to charge the RAM battery from the motor coach's battery?

Would love to hear experiences from other's who have flat towed the RAM, especially the 5th Gen's.
 

Richard320

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1) It does not need to be run. The transmission is in Park, while the transfer case is in neutral.
2) I have no clue about this, but if it's powered off the truck battery, you should have a charging line. Seven pin connectors have a 12v line for this purpose, so it should be no big deal to wire it in.
 

cra1g

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I have nothing helpful to contribute, but everytime I see this thread, I misread it as "Fiat Towing 2019 1500", and think "that's a terrible idea".
 

Cmerkert

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got me curious also, so I looked it up:

View attachment 39770
View attachment 39771
I've read that in the manual also, so it's definitely flat towable.

What I am unsure of is if there is any battery drain at all if one hooks up a braking control device like a Blue Ox or RVI3 braking mechanism that needs to run off the 12v. How much battery drain will it suffer from and should a battery tender/charger be installed to keep the battery up?
 

TruckDriver

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I've read that in the manual also, so it's definitely flat towable.

What I am unsure of is if there is any battery drain at all if one hooks up a braking control device like a Blue Ox or RVI3 braking mechanism that needs to run off the 12v. How much battery drain will it suffer from and should a battery tender/charger be installed to keep the battery up?

I couldn't tell you either on that one; I'd say the wiring being run to activate the brakes would supply the power unless you're leaving the 'key' on inside the truck. Maybe a solar tender in the truck? that is an easy $20 solution to ensure the 12v battery is topped off
 

Richard320

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I've read that in the manual also, so it's definitely flat towable.

What I am unsure of is if there is any battery drain at all if one hooks up a braking control device like a Blue Ox or RVI3 braking mechanism that needs to run off the 12v. How much battery drain will it suffer from and should a battery tender/charger be installed to keep the battery up?
Reading the RV13, it says, "No wires, no installation Everything is done through the RVibrake3 in the towed vehicle. There is no wiring or installation from the motorhome. " so it doesn't use the towing harness.. but then further down it says, "Power: 12V DC, 8 amps max draw "

The brakes won't be on all the time, but that's still a pretty hefty draw if you're towing all day going up and down hills or stuck in a lot of traffic.

The Blue Ox on etrailer says "Brake system mounts easily in towed car and plugs into 12V auxiliary outlet " so it draws power from the towed battery, too.

There's no absolute formula to convert CCA to amp-hours, but I'm guessing a full day of driving might wear the towed battery enough that it wouldn't have enough left to start the engine reliably, especially if the towed battery is getting old. And even if it can start the engine, if the voltage gets too low, strange things start happening to electronics.

If you're already wiring up the lights, you have a common ground, so you can easily add a charging line from the motorhome to the truck and let the RV alternator keep the pickup charged.
 

CMENT

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Having a Rubicon as a toad for 4 years, you are good to go without worries. Yes, the TOAD breaking system works off the the towed battery in almost all installs, but the drain on the toad battery is small.

Look at it this way, you have at least two readily accessible batteries to jump the TOAD if need be, but I doubt you will ever need to. Check out the iRV forums and they can confirm.

Safe travels.


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