Towed First Time Today

[pmegason]

I used my Laramie 2020 crew cab 4x4 1500 with the 5.7L e-torque that has 3.21 gear to tow my 4000lb 24ft trailer empty and it seemed to struggle. I have the Reese weight distribution hitch and a sway control bar on there. I had 2 chain links hanging and I was all over the road once I hit around 70-75 mph. Truck squatted pretty good when putting trailer on.

Other complaint is when I was on the interstate running 60-65 it seem to shift into 7th gear, never really got to 8th to maintain speed. When I got up around 70-75mph it basically stayed in 5th gear and was just sucking down the fuel to maintain speed. Any suggestions? Old truck is a GMC Denali with the 6.2L and it pulled the trailer like a dream. I figure this truck would have been just as good.

Would I benefit going to the 3.0L diesel version of the 1500 or do I need to step up to the 2500 version? My truck is my daily driver. Then on weekends I will pull the trailer 4-6 hour trips each way to go racing. I really love the truck and all the features and creature comforts inside so hate to switch brands.

I have an Ecodiesel 1500 4x4 with the 3.21 gears. I pull a 33ft 8000lb travel trailer. If you are using your hitch correctly then you should not have any squat at all. My truck sits perfectly level. If there's no wind, then I can run at 65-67 mph with no issue. If you are in tow/haul mode then it will never go into 8th gear, I do like using my sway bar, I have taken trips with and without the sway bar. It does make some noise in town or in parking lots but you can't here it moan when on the freeway. When its windy I am lucky to do 55mph without moving all over the road, that's just part of pulling a trailer this big with a 1/2 ton short bed truck. Since my trailer is so long, I am going to run 2 sway bars.

 

[AngelPhoenix]

I believe there is some truth to your statement, there could be a 700-1500 lb curb wt difference depending on the models you're comparing. But to suggest that a 1500 Ram with a 5/7l engine that could have a trailer towing rating over 10000 lbs couldn't comfortably pull a 4000 lb trailer is a bit of a stretch. Many trailer dealers don't even know how to set-up hitch's correctly, so I'd guess there's alot more individuals don't realize their trucks may not be setup correctly.
For work trucks or someone towing frequently heavy trailers, I get the suggestion for buying a 2500. For a lot of people like me that are using their truck to tow rv trailers a few times a year on vacation, and maybe a utility or uhaul once in a while, there's no need to have the extra beefy, more expensive, harsher riding and more of a gas guzzler for the rest of the year.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

A big differentiating factor is also the wear and tear it puts on the vehicle. If you tow heavy fairly often (like a dozen times a year or more), you might be better off with a 2500 even if your 1500 can handle it well enough, simply because the 2500's parts and components will take less of a beating/last longer.

So like you mentioned, towing frequency is a major deciding factor.

 

[LaxDfns15]

Middle of the Road on towing, far from a rookie on experience. But, just wanted to reach out on here. The trailer hauls go karts so not much added weight to pull away from the tongue weight that the enclosed trailer has. I could prolly crank down more. I just noticed on take off I was spinning tire a little but it was raining out and I just put new michelin tires on the truck.

The other engine combos I guess I should have went more into detail relating to MPG vs sway control. Will I get better mpg going to the 3.0L diesel 1500 vs the 5.7L gas or do I need to jump into a 2500 with the bigger diesel so I am not burning 5-7 MPG while towing down the road to maintain 75MPH since our limits are 70MPH around this area. I know I could slow down and but I like to get from A to B quicker than most. Just don't want to run the **** out of my truck in 5th gear when pulling the trailer if I could benefit better jumping into something else then I would make the change.

Slow down. Are the tires on your trailer even rated to run at 75? Drive 55-65, plus what others have mentioned about weight distribution and a few minor upgrades should solve your trailering issues. Or you could spend $20k+ for a new truck to save a few hundred on gas. Makes sense.

Why do so many people buy a truck, drive it 75-85 on the highway, then complain about gas mileage? You can drive fast or get better MPG, can't do both.

 

[AngelPhoenix]

Slow down. Are the tires on your trailer even rated to run at 75? Drive 55-65, plus what others have mentioned about weight distribution and a few minor upgrades should solve your trailering issues. Or you could spend $20k+ for a new truck to save a few hundred on gas. Makes sense.

Why do so many people buy a truck, drive it 75-85 on the highway, then complain about gas mileage? You can drive fast or get better MPG, can't do both.

Unless you're going down the world's longest grade.

 

[LaxDfns15]

Unless you're going down the world's longest grade.

Best mileage I've gotten on the interstate was going from Asheville to Knoxville. I averaged 19 that trip because of the coasting down the mountains while still driving 70-75.

 

[llando88]

For reference, I thought I would continue to add to the info here on first time towing...

We picked up our new to us Camper this week. It's 23', with a GVWR of 6,000#, dry weight 5,161#. My truck is a '21 Ram 1500 CC 5'7" bed 4x2, with the 5.7 Hemi and 3.92 rear end. The camper came with an Equal-i-zer hitch. The previous owner towed with a Tundra. Comparing receiver heights, I'm about 17" off the ground on the 20" tires, his receiver sits a little lower by maybe 3/4".

I haven't had a chance yet to check the hitch head height to see where the ball sits relative to a level trailer, but it's fairly close. Putting the weight bars onto the ledges is very easy; maybe too easy. I "think" not much weight goes on when the tongue jack is raised.

This week we did two runs, from Bradenton to Tampa, and then from Tampa back to storage in Venice. I'm seeing about 12.5 mpg at a more or less steady 65 mph on I-75 in fairly heavy holiday traffic. Towing, the rig is pretty lively on the road with continuous but small steering corrections needed. "Seat of the pants" would tell me that I need more weight on the front end, which is consistent with the ease of raising the weight bars. For sure, the rig doesn't feel nearly as stable as my Ram 2500+ProPride PPP hitch+30' 8,500# camper. I did maybe 50K miles with that combo across the US over a couple years; it was a very solid setup for towing.

I have to go through the front axle level restoration process and do the measurements, but as soon as I do, I'll post back. My suspicion at this point is I'll either add a washer to the shank or (easier) raise the ledge brackets one hole to move the bars up and xfer more weight to the front. I've done the three-pass CAT scale method to check axle weights, but it's not nearly as simple as just measuring the front axle height, so I'll just start with that when I have a spare couple hours and a level flat parking lot somewhere.

Appreciate any comments from ya'll.

 

[RRSBighorn]

For reference, I thought I would continue to add to the info here on first time towing...

We picked up our new to us Camper this week. It's 23', with a GVWR of 6,000#, dry weight 5,161#. My truck is a '21 Ram 1500 CC 5'7" bed 4x2, with the 5.7 Hemi and 3.92 rear end. The camper came with an Equal-i-zer hitch. The previous owner towed with a Tundra. Comparing receiver heights, I'm about 17" off the ground on the 20" tires, his receiver sits a little lower by maybe 3/4".

I haven't had a chance yet to check the hitch head height to see where the ball sits relative to a level trailer, but it's fairly close. Putting the weight bars onto the ledges is very easy; maybe too easy. I "think" not much weight goes on when the tongue jack is raised.

This week we did two runs, from Bradenton to Tampa, and then from Tampa back to storage in Venice. I'm seeing about 12.5 mpg at a more or less steady 65 mph on I-75 in fairly heavy holiday traffic. Towing, the rig is pretty lively on the road with continuous but small steering corrections needed. "Seat of the pants" would tell me that I need more weight on the front end, which is consistent with the ease of raising the weight bars. For sure, the rig doesn't feel nearly as stable as my Ram 2500+ProPride PPP hitch+30' 8,500# camper. I did maybe 50K miles with that combo across the US over a couple years; it was a very solid setup for towing.

I have to go through the front axle level restoration process and do the measurements, but as soon as I do, I'll post back. My suspicion at this point is I'll either add a washer to the shank or (easier) raise the ledge brackets one hole to move the bars up and xfer more weight to the front. I've done the three-pass CAT scale method to check axle weights, but it's not nearly as simple as just measuring the front axle height, so I'll just start with that when I have a spare couple hours and a level flat parking lot somewhere.

Appreciate any comments from ya'll.

I did the same thing as far as switching vehicles, (used to have a 2011 Siverado) and the first tow was with no change to hitch since it seemed pretty close to the same height, it was pretty squirely. I ended up doing the hitch adjustment using the wheel well measurements that go it pretty close to where it needed to be. I later took setup to truck scales and ended up tweaking the setup a little. I'm confident my rig is setup correctly, but with the tires only pressured up to the 36 psi posted on the front door pillar, it still didn't seem totally solid as I'd like. Ended up raising my tire pressure to 42 on back and 40 on front. I recently took a 3k mi trip to Yellowstone and this improved things, towed fine with no winds at 70mph, but when it got windy, had to back down to 60mph.

If I'm reading your post correctly, you have 20" tires, and I'm assuming since it's a 4x2, the tires are probably All-season, European SUV tires (no letter designation in front of the size), not All-terrain or LT. The tires are the main problem with mine, 20" Bridgestone Dueller's.

The sidewall construction is very soft, to help make these trucks ride like a car. These tires have a 44 psi max pressure rating. On my trailer brand forum, there is lots of discussions about sidewall stiffness. The main moderator is a mechanical engineer that now restores trailers for a hobby in retirement. He has great insight and experience in this matter. Most people on that forum have switched to LT tires that have a load range equivalent to a C to E sidewall rating. My tires are do for replacement in the spring and I will be looking for an LT tire with a C or maybe D rating. With a beefier sidewall construction and higher max pressure ratings, this should improve the squirrely-ness of the trailer. Here's 2 links for those that want info overload on load range ply ratings.
https://www.discounttire.com/learn/load-range-load-index
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=55

 

[llando88]

If I'm reading your post correctly, you have 20" tires, and I'm assuming since it's a 4x2, the tires are probably All-season, European SUV tires (no letter designation in front of the size), not All-terrain or LT. The tires are the main problem with mine, 20" Bridgestone Dueller's.

Appreciate the insight.

Yes, my tires are 20"; Bridgestone Dueler Alenzas. I have them at 36 psi cold at the moment. I will take a look at tire options after I check the hitch set up, hopefully this coming week.

Thanks!

 

[TRIBUTE100]

I've got a 2021 Ram 1500 Bighorn 4X4 Crew Cab, Short Bed, 5.7L eTorgue 3.92 Rear Axle Sport Edition with the 20" Bridgestone Dueler Tires (44psi max). I pull a 33 foot TT w/ 7500GVW in the mountains of WNC about 4-5 times a year. My truck is loaded up with about 700# in the bed, 2 adults, and a fiberglass camper cover when camping. I used my equalizerhitch brand hitch with square sway bars, originally set up for my 2001 Chevy 2500HD 8.1L Gas , 3.72 Rear Axle, 4X4, Extended Cab truck , Short Bed, 80,000 miles (dry weight w/ camper cover is about 6500#). I had to install Air Lift 1000 airbags inside the rear coil springs of my Ram 1500 and completely redo the equalizerhitch setup. I put about 45psi in my Air Lifts, 46psi cold in my tires (we don't experience really hot temps). Rear end of Ram is less than 1" lower than when unloaded and unhitched. Now the Ram doesn't ride as firm as my old Chevy, just a tad of sway, but I feel the power is close, if not equal, to the 2001 Chevy 8.1L. , using the tow mode, which I also used in the Chevy. I hold my speed to 65mph or less. I only have about 2,700 miles on my Ram, had it 9 months, so I won't be changing tires out anytime soon. I'll probably will go with a heavier load tire when I do, but the Bridgestone's are a nice riding tire.