Looking at used 2019+ Ram 1500 hemi 4x4's to occasionally tow a 6000 lb travel trailer in the mountains. Most have 3.21 axle, will that work?

[2wd]

The point is, if he has a choice why not get a 3.92
A ford Ranger will tow that up the mountain eventually. If he's shopping used and that's his primary purpose he might as well wait and find the best truck for his needs.

The 3.92 will obviously tow better. That wasn't his question - he already has the trailer @ 6K pounds and was asking opinions on how a 3.21 truck would handle it. A lot of folks (myself included) are new to transmissions with more than 6 gears on trucks. It was an eye opener to discover just how much extra gearing is provided by these 8 and 10 speed transmissions that are available. If he happens to be upgrading from a six speed truck, I thought it'd be helpful to know that the Ram 3.21 has more aggressive gearing than almost any 6 speed/rear axle combo (4.30, 3.92, 3.73) from Toyota, Ford, or GM.

Were you to translate the Ram gearing in 6 speed terms, the 3.21 is like having approx 4.10/4.30, and the 3.92 is like 5.30!

 

[Aseras]

I don't understand why anyone would trade in a brand new truck. Like to burn money I guess.

 

[Aseras]

If it has a 3.21, drop it to 7th gear put it in tow haul mode and now you've got a 3.92.

 

[J-Cooz]

He hasn't gotten the truck yet

 

[2wd]

If it has a 3.21, drop it to 7th gear put it in tow haul mode and now you've got a 3.92.

That's true once you're up to highway speed.

Getting up to HWY speed the 3.92 will help with an extra gear. See this thread:

An Engineer's Ultimate Guide To 3.21 VS 3.92 Axle Ratio

I hope this post will help to end the debate with facts and not opinions, and become THE post people refer to those who are having a hard time deciding. You already know that 3.92 is better for towing, and 3.21 gets better fuel economy, so I will talk about what you might not know Bottom line...

5thgenrams.com

 

[SColang22]

How much bigger? While I agree that a 2500 is a better tow platform, not too many owners would make that switch unless adding substantial weight.

I don’t care what the sticker says. If you are consistently towing over 9000lbs you get a 2500

 

[Finn5033]

Wow it is amazing how all of these tow threads concerning 3.21 or 3.92 gearing turn into pissing matches. I have a bighorn crew cab with 3.21 gears, came from a 2013 Ram crew cab with the 6 speed. I tow a boat that weighs in about 6k lbs and a RV fish house that is also about 6k lbs loaded up. My 8 speed 3.21 handles it night and day better than the 6 speed 3.55 did. I wanted the 3.92’s but I found the truck I wanted and that was the only thing it didn’t have so I went with it and don’t regret it. If you find the truck you want and that’s the only thing it doesn’t have I wouldn’t let it stop you from buying it.

 

[Willwork4truck]

Starting to resemble the f150 forums, ha ha. Like I said, I’m from the “have more truck than you need” side of things however if a person a) knows what he is doing speed and loading wise and b) equips his truck with a top tier wdh with anti-sway (not some budget wdh only) then he can certainly tow 9K safely.

Edit: OP, go over to the rv.met forum and read up some. One poster talked about big 30+ foot TT’s and said this about hitches: “Propride is a massive improvement. We didn't use Husky Centerline, but had Eaz-Lift which we swapped out for BlueOx SwayPro, then went to the Propride 3P and there was just no comparison.” End of copied reply
Cost info on the hitch:
$2,745.00 - $2,970.00 plus $145 shipping!

With the 1500 and a bigger 9K trailer combination it’s watch your speed and distances, and don’t go out in high wind times.

Would I do it, no not regularly but then I used a 1 ton to tow 5K... Of course all I had was drum brakes on both rigs, and just a 4 speed which really only left me with 2nd gear for going up and down hills.

 

[chrisnack]

I'll chime in as i've had the opportunity to tow our 6000lbs camper a few times with my 2020 Limited this year.
Towing a 6000lb boat vs a camper is NOT the same thing, not even close, they weight the same and that's where it ends. A camper is a giant box, you are pushing a ton more wind and subject to a ton more sway from cross winds.

The RAM does not tow our camper anywhere near as well as my F150 King Ranch with the 3.5 and 10 speed did. I also noticed the RAM, even though i have the air suspension, is considerably more bouncy, even my wife commented on it, so that means its a big difference for her to notice. I think it's the V8 with 8 speed, less power, less torque and less gears. Probably the 3.21 gears vs the 3.55 on the F150 as well. Not sure on why it's bouncier. So overall that has been pretty disappointing for me.

Mileage is about 8-9ish, i just did a 750 mile round trip and the MPG was 8.7 doing 65mph with 60mph a good chunk of it. If you do 70, you'll see 8 or a bit less. I even have my truck tuned by Greene racing with a 91 octane tow tune. I think i'll be switching to a 87 tune, and seeing how that does for MPG, but at least it's 70 cents cheaper a gallon.

I just ordered a Gen-y torsion hitch to use with our Curt Tru-Track, so see if that will eliminate some of the bounce and investigating what else i can do to make the truck tow better.

My next truck with be a F250, i think based on my experience towing a 6000lb camper or above with a 1/2 ton, be it a Ram or Ford or whatever, not matter what you do, you are gonna know it's back there, but it's totally doable. I think with a 3/4 ton, you will be less likely to notice it, especially since the truck weights more than the camper, versus a 1/2 ton weighing less than the camper.

Anyways hope all that info helps in some way. Not trying to bash my own truck, just was shocked as the difference in towing versus the F150.

 

[Willwork4truck]

I'll chime in as i've had the opportunity to tow our 6000lbs camper a few times with my 2020 Limited this year.
Towing a 6000lb boat vs a camper is NOT the same thing, not even close, they weight the same and that's where it ends. A camper is a giant box, you are pushing a ton more wind and subject to a ton more sway from cross winds.

The RAM does not tow our camper anywhere near as well as my F150 King Ranch with the 3.5 and 10 speed did. I also noticed the RAM, even though i have the air suspension, is considerably more bouncy, even my wife commented on it, so that means its a big difference for her to notice. I think it's the V8 with 8 speed, less power, less torque and less gears. Probably the 3.21 gears vs the 3.55 on the F150 as well. Not sure on why it's bouncier. So overall that has been pretty disappointing for me.

Mileage is about 8-9ish, i just did a 750 mile round trip and the MPG was 8.7 doing 65mph with 60mph a good chunk of it. If you do 70, you'll see 8 or a bit less. I even have my truck tuned by Greene racing with a 91 octane tow tune. I think i'll be switching to a 87 tune, and seeing how that does for MPG, but at least it's 70 cents cheaper a gallon.

I just ordered a Gen-y torsion hitch to use with our Curt Tru-Track, so see if that will eliminate some of the bounce and investigating what else i can do to make the truck tow better.

My next truck with be a F250, i think based on my experience towing a 6000lb camper or above with a 1/2 ton, be it a Ram or Ford or whatever, not matter what you do, you are gonna know it's back there, but it's totally doable. I think with a 3/4 ton, you will be less likely to notice it, especially since the truck weights more than the camper, versus a 1/2 ton weighing less than the camper.

Anyways hope all that info helps in some way. Not trying to bash my own truck, just was shocked as the difference in towing versus the F150.

Exactly. You’ll definitely know it is there and I’d not be going 70+ in any event. Good idea to move to a 250/2500 series when in doubt.
We have to remember the OP said “occasional use” so that’s the issue. Will he really want to trade trucks with all the resultant expense for a better towing experience “occasionally”? Unlikely.

I was just on an rv’ers YT last night, noticed that he had moved up from an 2017 F150 to a 2019 RAM 2500 diesel and is happier than a pig in slop. His 30’ trailer was close to 9K wet, didn’t see anything specific on his hitch but he said the tow platform was superb. He had a Tradesman so plenty of payload.

It’s always a good idea to have a long wheelbase heavier TV than not (for towing). Where most owners balk is the rest of the time (non-tow) when driving around.

 

[Finn5033]

I think the point is, there are a lot of other factors that will make your tow experience better or worse than the difference between 3.21 and 3.92 gears on the Ram with the 8 speed. As I said before, if you find the truck you really want and the only thing is that it has 3.21 instead of 3.92 gears I wouldn’t let it stop you from buying it.