Looking at HD trucks, any advice?

I can't seem to find dimensions on the Ram website but it seems unlikely they'd be a foot shorter. Are you looking at crew cab standard bed trucks in every instance?

 

7.3 Godzilla f-350 legit

 

I will present a different perspective. I moved into a Ram 2500 with the 6.4 L. So far the truck has been trouble free for the past 12k miles or so this year. That was also pulling a travel trailer across the country.

The 6.4 is a step up for me from the 5.7 and pulls anything I could ever need to pull. The inside is more comfortable than my Tundra. I have more seating in my Ram (6 seats) vs the Tundra (5). Technology wise, the Ram is ahead of the Tundra, but that is due to the age difference ('20 vs '10). I am not huge on technology, and would rather have everything being manual but it is what it is right now.

As for the deactivation, so far, that has not given me any issues but that is not to say it won't. There is a delete that is available, and if I need to, I will do so.

But this is my first Ram so take this from that perspective.

 

Yep old man loves the F-350. Hauled the offroad trailer the following week of purchase from AZ to Tennessee. Said it towed like nothing was there power trains awesome and the 10speed is magic

 

No death wobble on yours?

 

I’ll find out

 

Not at all

 

3.73s

 

Thanks Chris, good info. Digging into this a little more, it sounds like the Aisin is no longer offered on the 2025 HD Ram diesel. AI answer from a Google search...

No, not all 2025 Ram HD trucks have the Aisin transmission; in fact, all 2025 Ram Heavy Duty trucks with the Cummins Turbo Diesel will get a new ZF 8-speed automatic transmission, replacing the previous 6-speed transmissions. The Aisin was previously offered on the high-output Cummins-powered models, but the new ZF Powerline 8-speed is now standard across the board for the 2025 model year.

The new 8 speed is getting great reviews from the RAM forum members. So far.

If going RAM diesel I'm not sure how to avoid the HO motor. Pretty much every one I see is HO. I can talk to a dealer to see if they are available on order. Unfortunately, if I want a HD truck, RAM is my only option. The other HD's are simply too long in CC configuration to fit in my garage. I could go RAM 3500 with the HEMI and the bonus would be higher payload. I'm just concerned about the power in the mountains pulling 12-14k lbs. Or... we could still just say screw it and get a motor home. Looked at one today. I would then be back to two vehicles as a bonus. Sell the Tundra and my Hyndai DD and buy a hybrid Maverick to tow behind. Then I'm also back to a small truck. Woo Hoo! I was surprised to find the hybrid Maverick can be flat towed as well as the Ranger in certain configs.

 

What size travel trailer? If you pulled cross country you had to do some mountain grades. How was the power? My concern is when I look at the 6.4 HEMI vs. the Tundra 5.7 there is not a significant increase in torque in a much heavier truck. About 405 lb ft in the 5.7 vs. 429 in the HEMI.

 

Finding clean used low mileage trucks around here that the owner hasn't turned into a bro dozer is a trick. They love to totally compromise the towing ability with shitty lifts and huge tires. It's great for my Tundra though. Paid 47 five years ago and they want to give me 42 over 6 years later.

 

Bought my Ram 3500 new in 2020 from Dave Smith motors in Idaho. I flew out from San Diego with my bil and we drove it back. Just to turn around and move three families cross country puling a 28 foot car hauler back to back to back. Since that time we have racked up 120k miles driven coast to coast 15 plus times pulling a 17 foot open trailer as well as running naked. including stops from Atlanta to Jacksonville to Deep South Texas to San Diego and back several times. I primarily cross using the southern route I-10/20 and I-8.
I'm on my third set of tires. I have had recall work done from cp4-cp3 wheel studs and tailgate lock. I stay up on maintenance and so far to it's been a solid truck. It's not cheap, she rides like an Abrahams especially in Louisiana and Texas. I do try to map out all my trips from buc'ees to buc'ees (they just opened one in Mississippi on the 10) If it were a shit show i'd speak up too. I'm gonna do the intake and pedal commander by banks. A Carlie suspension upgrade with the torsion front axel and a fast fuel kit. Big Red has been good to me. I know it's not the case with many Ram's but mines been solid. I'm interested in the new 8 speed and if they hook up cummins to the Allison I wouldn't cry either. Happy shopping. Chris you always get the good inside baseball brother.

 

From my understanding these trucks are real picky about lifts since it changes the geometry in the steering. There’s no cheap lift - you have to change out a few other things to do it right and avoid the potential for death wobble.

 

Correct. My '20 has the ZF-8 and so far it has been really smooth. I do need to drop the tray and have the fluid and filter changed, but still pretty good.

 

It was a Surveyor Legend. 19' with unloaded weight at 3500ish lbs. Fully loaded we were sitting at just under 5K, not including what was in the truck itself.

We did hit some grades but the truck, to me, felt like it had more power to the degree that I forgot several times that it was being towed. Even my wife said she forgot it was back there and she didn't drive. So while it is not a huge gain, to me, I could feel the difference in the drive. Here was our trip: https://www.tundras.com/threads/the...-in-my-last-post-have-a-great-weekend.158703/ and I have some pics of the camper on it.

I did hit a few 8% and 9% grades, and no issue on those climbs. Mostly they were 5-6% grades on our particular route.

 

I haven't researched it but I thought some Super Duties would wobble even in the stock configuration due to not having IFS. Could be a misunderstanding on my part, though. Or possibly guys trying to blame Ford because they put cheap lifts on their trucks.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I'm looking at going from 7k GVWR camper to over 12k GVWR camper so I'm concerned how the 6.4 HEMI would perform with only 24 lb ft torque over the Tundra 5.7L when hauling it in the Rockies. @ColoradoTJ Good idea on expanding my search range for a used truck.

 

I'm sure you've talked about this at some point and I just forgot but I wouldn't have any hesitation towing a trailer that size with a half ton. Why the move up to heavy duty, again?

 

Oh! Going that heavy, I would see why you are wondering. To be fair, I am very conservative in my towing, so for me, on this truck, I would probably cap out my towing to 10K. but that depends on what that is and how I feel it towing. Could I tow more? Yes. Mine is set up to tow 17K but I have never gotten that heavy before.

Sorry I was not much of a help.

Short answer: I wanted (and needed) a truck that had a v8.

Long answer: My Tundra was starting to nickle and dime me. Over the course of ownership, if the cost was spread out, I spent over $700/ mo on repairs. That was more than what I could pay for a newer truck with warranty. When I was looking, I was going to go with another half ton, but all of them were going to the Turbo V6. I know this can be touchy, so I will just share my thought and this is no commentary on the saga of the motors right now. I had always felt that trying to turbo an engine to do a job that simply getting a bigger engine would solve, was dangerous.

Titan was discontinued, and then after driving a family member's for an hour, was very uncomfortable.

Ram dropped their 5.7 and went turbo v6.

Tundra went turbo V6.

Chevy did not have what I was looking for, and in one job I had I drove one...it left some things to be desired for me.

Ford had given me some issues in the past that could have been deadly.

GM was too expensive.

That led me to the HD truck market. The Ram was the cheaper of the three big that still ran the NA v8's and since that was simple and straight forward (except the deactivation), I was able to get the '20 2500, plus a platinum warranty (4yr/48K miles) for less than what I was paying for repairs in my Tundra spread out.

For me, the decision has been nothing but positive and I have been very happy with what I have. The warranty just gives me a little peace of mind that if something goes, I still have coverage. $250 deductible, and the thing is repaired. This also includes the deactivation repair if I wish to go that route.