2014 RAM 1500 EcoDIESEL has arrived!

[Bajaexplorer]

Originally Posted by Top

So, the first trip is in the books. Thanks to all of you for your kind words.
Overall, I am very, very happy with this truck. It did take me a long time reading and researching to make the decision to buy this truck. Hopefully all goes well with durability and longevity.
Trip stats-
610.2 miles
42.114 gallons
14.5 MPG (hand calculated)
The roads traveled were two lane US and state highways. I travelled at 65 MPH most of the time. I did pass someone on the way down and had plenty of passing power. I was going 85 when I let off. I wouldn't think of attempting a pass on a two lane highway with the Sequoia. The terrain was mostly flat coastal plains with a few hills between Cameron and Sealy on TX 36.
Steady state towing showed-
Water temp 215-220F
Trans temp 195-200F
Oil temp 230-235
I was in tow/Haul mode.
Most of the time it would stay in 7th gear, but occasionally it would shift to 8th.
I tried the cruise control on the way home and didn't like how it seemed to stay in 6th gear, so I shut it off. I never use cruise control, I just wanted to see how it worked on this truck.
On the way out, we went by the CAT scales to check loading and hitch rigging. These weights are fully loaded for a week of camping, three adults and one old furry feline, full 50 gallons of fresh water and two full 30# propane tanks.
Weighing one-WD applied
Attachment 218538
Weighing two-No WD
Attachment 218539
Weighing three-no trailer
Attachment 218540
I have good weight transfer with the old Reese Dual Cam and 750lb bars.
This combo tows so wonderfully I don't think I'll mess with it.
I was surprised to see that the calculated tongue (or is it reciever ) weight at 1,100lbs.


In summary, I don't think I could be happier with any other new truck.
It's working for me!

after reading your scale numbers we have about the same weights, please let me know what Resse p/n you have, it is hard to get anything from the sales guy's at etrailer. They insist we get the 1000bars....thank you

[Lance M]

Flyingsilver,
I have the first generation Reese dual cam like is pictured in TomW's website.
Tuning a Reese Hitch
It is not sold any longer. It works really well.
If you go to the Reese website, you can look up part numbers for things.
Find your hitch (round or trunnion) and select 800lb then click on replacement parts.

The 800lb round bars are REESE PN 58114
The 800lb trunnion bars are REESE PN 22225

Take these numbers to a retailer of your choice to get the bars you need.

Good luck!

[Bajaexplorer]

Originally Posted by Top

I always knew the TW was a lot, I didn't think it would be over 1,000.

On this trailer the fresh water tank is forward of the axles and it holds 50 gallons, so having the fresh tank full adds a good bit to the tongue weight. I had just filled both 30lb propane bottles. The pantry and refer (packed with food for a week) are both forward of the axles along with the galley with a good amount of pots and pans. I don't carry anything under the gaucho up front. I guess a few things need to be moved to the under bed storage bins.
It has just the one rear mounted battery.

I'll give the CC another try, maybe.

Thanks Ross

Hi all, I have some concerns about the wd of my tv, i have a Ram ecodiesel just like Russ, empty at the cat scale I got these numbers, steer axle 3420, drive axle, 3140, gross weight, 6560. Today we departed from Portland with a brand new intl signature, 28, 5968#with a tongue weight of 950, ẃ have the propane tanks full, and water tank full. The truck,? Two people and around 300lbs of cargo. On the way out of Portland we stoped at the cat scale and weighed the truck and trailer with the wd, we only had the chance to do one run at the scale as they were so busy with lots of trucks and our weight came to to 3620 steer axle, 6720 drive axle and 2720 trailer axle, total of 13120 which comes close to the 13500max gcvw of the bighorn. However we drove 420 miles without any problem. Altough i feel the truck heavy ln gne back the steering is ok and no sway. We have a reese dual cam wd with 800lbs trunion bars and it performed excellent. I am aware we can do better. We have the chain at the third link and i wonder why we have so much difference in axle weight weight from Russ numbers while we have almost similar tt weight and truck. Please help us here. thank you

[Lance M]

Flyingsilver,
I think when you weighed with the trailer you had the front trailer axle and the truck rear axle on the same scale platform. You appear to have plenty of weight transfer to the front axle of the truck.
I'd suggest you reweigh using the instructions in Slowmover's post 58 above.

[Bajaexplorer]

Originally Posted by Top

Flyingsilver,
I think when you weighed with the trailer you had the front trailer axle and the truck rear axle on the same scale platform. You appear to have plenty of weight transfer to the front axle of the truck.
I'd suggest you reweigh using the instructions in Slowmover's post 58 above.

Greetings, thank you for your note, indeed we went to another cat scale today on the way to Coalinga CA, about 300p,us miles from Redding, the ride went fine on the flats we did around 19.1mpg on paper, the evic said 19.4, however here are the weight numbers, 3480 steer axle, 3660 drive axle amd trailer 5680, indeed the steer axle seems quite light, will do some changes tomorrow with the link chain on the reese. Maybe a link ip will do it, however it is not s bad but transfering another 200lbs to the front may help. What do you think? thank you , Antonio

[slowmover]

I drive around 12-14,000 miles/month lately, mainly Texas Gulf Coast up to West Texas and Oklahoma with oil field loads . . . and what I see consistently is Airstream TT's being pulled nose-down. Not greatly in mainy cases, and not at all confined to old TT's and TV's. Braking performance is the issue, as is TT lateral stability. Only individual tire weight readings -- of both vehicles -- will uncover this.

That best safety practice and best fuel economy coincide in regards mechanical issues of setting up the rig makes the attention to details highly satisfying as to ease of handling, braking and manuverability (a trailer that feels different when changing lanes one way versus the other is enough to send it to the shop on my return; usually, but not always axle alignment).


Tire loads are a big deal, and not just for the heat. As I have been known to post on other forums, fuel economy pays cash money. Confidence in the Texas heat (which didn't really show up until mid-August this year), plus stable performance left and right, will yield best FE from that diesel. I was satisfied with 18-mpg around town with mine until I took on the challenge of bettering it from a Cummns engineer . . and saw 23-mpg in the city limits for an 1100-mile stretch. Mechanical baseline was first, then came the real work of trip-planning and driving skill.

Don't leave anything on the table when it comes to the baseline of numerical values.

(I was deadheading from Ardmore, OK down IH-35 to Corpus Christi on Labor Day weekend Saturday and it was stop-n-go from Willie Nelson's hometown of Abbott all the way to Austin according to northbound drivers . . so I cut across on TX-190 from Belton to Lampasas to use US-281 and thought of several of you Central Texas A/S'ers while on the way. Have't been on that stretch of 190 in maybe twenty years.)


.

[Lance M]

Originally Posted by slowmover

. . so I cut across on TX-190 from Belton to Lampasas to use US-281 and thought of several of you Central Texas A/S'ers while on the way. Have't been on that stretch of 190 in maybe twenty years.)

You drove right past my shop then. If you aren't in a hurry, give me a ring next time.

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by Top

You drove right past my shop then. If you aren't in a hurry, give me a ring next time.

Thanks, I'll put it in the phone. Be good to meet up for a coffee.

And, GENOS now has the '14 Ram EcoDiesel 'Finger Touch' 14mm Oil Drain Valve for the 3L. Everyone -- you and the garage monkey -- will love it. There've been no concerns even with the smash'em/crash'em offroad crowd on the straight six as to integrity. No concerns ever again about stripped pan threads. The Cummins oil pan costs over $400, as a reference.

.

[Lance M]

Originally Posted by slowmover

Thanks, I'll put it in the phone. Be good to meet up for a coffee.

And, GENOS now has the '14 Ram EcoDiesel 'Finger Touch' 14mm Oil Drain Valve for the 3L. Everyone -- you and the garage monkey -- will love it. There've been no concerns even with the smash'em/crash'em offroad crowd on the straight six as to integrity. No concerns ever again about stripped pan threads. The Cummins oil pan costs over $400, as a reference.

.

Thanks slowmover. I was looking at the Fumoto valve with the nipple. I'm sure that either on would work fine.

[Horsey5]

Hi Lance,
I am looking at the 2015 ram 1500 like yours. I wanted to get some feedback from you regarding how you like your truck and what kind of gas mileage you get when towing?? I have a 2014 international 23 ' . I drove the truck yesterday and liked everything but the price. Thanks Lorri

[Lance M]

Hi Lorri,
I love the truck. I have about 10,000 miles on it now. No issues besides a fault with the truck's Uconnect phone that was replaced under warranty.
I get 14.5 MPG towing and 22 MPG in normal driving around here.
Here is my Fuelly page. Heavy (Ram 1500) | Fuelly
Good luck!

[Bajaexplorer]

Originally Posted by Horsey5

Hi Lance,
I am looking at the 2015 ram 1500 like yours. I wanted to get some feedback from you regarding how you like your truck and what kind of gas mileage you get when towing?? I have a 2014 international 23 ' . I drove the truck yesterday and liked everything but the price. Thanks Lorri

Lorry,

We have Bighorn CrewCab, we tow a 28ft International series rig, we love this this truck, the performance on the road has no rival. Our gas mileage is around 18.5/19miles per gallon, this is combined performance considering climbing hills and flat roads on trips of 300 to 400miles. Empty we do an average of 28 miles at speeds averages of 75miles on the road. At 60mph we do around 35. City combined we do around 16mpg. A lot of this depends on the way you drive the truck and how hard you press the gas pedal. With a 8th speed transmission the engine has a lot of torque to keep your rpm's as lowest you want them without compromissing engine and transmision performance, even when you tow. A piece of advise try to negotiate a deal to upgrade the stock tires to a higher heavy duty use. We just replaced the underated Good Year tires to Michelin Ltx MS2 LT275/65R20. Good luck.

[daboose]

I went looking at the RAM 1500 today. Very nice!!!

How do you manually shift with a "rotary e-shift dial?"

The brochure says:

For refined operation and driver convenience, Ram 1500 models equipped with the TorqueFlite 8-speed use steering wheel-mounted buttons when manual gear range selection is preferred, offering greater control when towing and hauling heavy loads

Is TorqueFlite an option?

[DKB_SATX]

Originally Posted by daboose

I went looking at the RAM 1500 today. Very nice!!!

How do you manually shift with a "rotary e-shift dial?"

The brochure says:

For refined operation and driver convenience, Ram 1500 models equipped with the TorqueFlite 8-speed use steering wheel-mounted buttons when manual gear range selection is preferred, offering greater control when towing and hauling heavy loads

Is TorqueFlite an option?

TorqueFlite is the only option. It's been their brand-name for automatic transmissions for nearly 60 years.

[jcl]

Originally Posted by daboose

I went looking at the RAM 1500 today. Very nice!!!

How do you manually shift with a "rotary e-shift dial?"

The brochure says:

For refined operation and driver convenience, Ram 1500 models equipped with the TorqueFlite 8-speed use steering wheel-mounted buttons when manual gear range selection is preferred, offering greater control when towing and hauling heavy loads

Is TorqueFlite an option?

You select the gear with the rotary knob by dialling a gear instead of using a shift lever.

You up shift and downshift manually with additional steering wheel buttons.

They are all Torqueflites but the operative phrase is 8 speed, the ZF/Chrysler transmission that comes with the above shifting controls. Only transmission available on the 1500 diesel, but there are other transmissions on other engine models on the 1500.

[switz]

We have a plus or minus switch on the gear shift lever on our 2500HD with Cummins. One can set the highest gear they want the engine to go to (like in city driving) to keep the rpms up so the engine does not carbon up. We keep the rpms between 1450 and 2000. At 65mph in 6th, the engine is at 1650 which is peak torque.

With the 8 speed, one needs to monitor the rpms and not let the engine bog down at too low of speed. One may hear a groan from the engine and that is a clue it needs to be turning faster for the load tab hand.

[Hans627]

Originally Posted by Flyingsilver

Lorry,

We have Bighorn CrewCab, we tow a 28ft International series rig, we love this this truck, the performance on the road has no rival. Our gas mileage is around 18.5/19miles per gallon, this is combined performance considering climbing hills and flat roads on trips of 300 to 400miles. Empty we do an average of 28 miles at speeds averages of 75miles on the road. At 60mph we do around 35. City combined we do around 16mpg. A lot of this depends on the way you drive the truck and how hard you press the gas pedal. With a 8th speed transmission the engine has a lot of torque to keep your rpm's as lowest you want them without compromissing engine and transmision performance, even when you tow. A piece of advise try to negotiate a deal to upgrade the stock tires to a higher heavy duty use. We just replaced the underated Good Year tires to Michelin Ltx MS2 LT275/65R20. Good luck.

Just curious....what the payload rating is of your RAM? My RAM 1500 Longhorn has a payload rating of 970 and the AS I'm considering has a hitch weight of 791. Am I cutting it too close? Since you have basically the same truck I was thinking I could learn from you.

Thanks!


Sent from my iPad using Airstream Forums

[switz]

The payload numbers above say the driver must not be over 150 pounds (the number used for a driver when the factory puts out payload numbers) and the passenger and all other gear in the truck could not exceed 179 pounds.

Check out your axle ratings front and rear. Those are the absolute maximum numbers the vehicle can safely support. As long as the tire sidewall load numbers exceed the axle ratings, then one could crowd the axle rating numbers.

Our 2500HD Ram has a front axle rating of 5,500 pounds (also the tire rating at a pressure of 60 psi) and a rear axle rating of 6,010 pounds (also the tire rating at a pressure of 70 psi) which totals 11,510 pounds. The GVW is 9,600 pounds. I typically run between 10,100 and 10,400 pounds loaded. The tires are Michelin LT265/70R17E and are rated 3,195 pounds each at 80 psi.

[slowmover]

Axle ratings on my 3/4T total 10,750lb. Tires/wheels 12,150lb. GVWR is 9000lb. So long as I don't overload at any one point, I'll not worry over it any more than should a 1/2T owner. GVWR or GCWR are good guidelines not true limits. Tire/wheel and axle are the only ones with legal meaning.

[Lance M]

I just got back from a failed attempt to spend the weekend in the DFW megacity.
It was a tow up I35 (60MPH) and a two lane Farm to Market road (45MPH) against the wind this morning, and turning around and heading back to the shed. Texas weather.
270 miles
16.611 gal
16.25 MPG (hand calc)
15.4 MPG (EVIC)