Zeronet
Ram Guru
Did my first tow after installing the Ram Airflow intake and wanted to report my experience. Prior to this run I have over 3500 miles of towing with this truck/trailer combo so I am very familiar with what to expect under various conditions. See my signature for truck/trailer particulars.
This was a 130 mile trip each way, taken 9 days apart. Each way consisted of 42 miles of interstate, 40 miles of rural highway and the remaining miles were suburban roads with plenty of traffic lights. Some rain and cross winds on the outbound trip. Good conditions on the return trip but heavier traffic. I tow 65 on the interstate and run 5 over the speed limit everywhere else. I don’t use cruise control when towing and only use tow/haul when in hilly/mountain areas.
My impressions:
No real difference noted in acceleration from a stop. Acceleration is always adequate with this rig and I didn’t do any full throttle.
Big difference on the interstate. Prior to this trip the truck would only shift into 8th gear going downhill and would only hold 8th on flat ground at steady speeds. This trip it spent a lot of time in 8th even going over overpasses and small hills. I was even able to do some slight acceleration in 8th on flat ground. Larger hills still required a down shift to 7th or 6th to maintain speed. The improvement was very noticeable.
No noticeable difference on rural highways. These are my favorite roads to travel. The truck always performs well.
MPG was very good. 11mpg on the way out and 10mpg on the return (heavy traffic) according to the lie-o-meter. In the past I have seen between 8.5 on the low end and 11 on the high, 9.5 being the average. I keep a log of all my towing trips, including mpg numbers. I use the highest octane available when towing. The mpg numbers on this trip were above average. Time will tell if I get any repeatable improvement.
I know I’ll take some heat for even implying that an intake can make any noticeable difference. My experience says it can.
This was a 130 mile trip each way, taken 9 days apart. Each way consisted of 42 miles of interstate, 40 miles of rural highway and the remaining miles were suburban roads with plenty of traffic lights. Some rain and cross winds on the outbound trip. Good conditions on the return trip but heavier traffic. I tow 65 on the interstate and run 5 over the speed limit everywhere else. I don’t use cruise control when towing and only use tow/haul when in hilly/mountain areas.
My impressions:
No real difference noted in acceleration from a stop. Acceleration is always adequate with this rig and I didn’t do any full throttle.
Big difference on the interstate. Prior to this trip the truck would only shift into 8th gear going downhill and would only hold 8th on flat ground at steady speeds. This trip it spent a lot of time in 8th even going over overpasses and small hills. I was even able to do some slight acceleration in 8th on flat ground. Larger hills still required a down shift to 7th or 6th to maintain speed. The improvement was very noticeable.
No noticeable difference on rural highways. These are my favorite roads to travel. The truck always performs well.
MPG was very good. 11mpg on the way out and 10mpg on the return (heavy traffic) according to the lie-o-meter. In the past I have seen between 8.5 on the low end and 11 on the high, 9.5 being the average. I keep a log of all my towing trips, including mpg numbers. I use the highest octane available when towing. The mpg numbers on this trip were above average. Time will tell if I get any repeatable improvement.
I know I’ll take some heat for even implying that an intake can make any noticeable difference. My experience says it can.
