Tundra for RAM?

I bet it would surprise you how good it would be. Lifts, bigger tires, and aggressive treads aren't the formula for good fuel economy.

 

If big things don't bother you than get a Domestic. At least parts are easy to find.

 

I have a pretty heavy foot, 35x11.5s, modest lift, and I still get 13mpg combined...14+ if I’m trying to be efficient.

Do you have a really heavy foot? Or, do you let the truck idle for long periods of time? What’s your lift/tires situation?

I’m just trying to make sense of how you get 10mpg over 30k miles.

 

I say do it, one of my best customers has had a Laramie longhorn 1500 for a year now and it’s been great, not to mention amazing on the inside. He claims favorite truck he’s ever had and he’s had them all.

 

Test drove this before getting my 19' Pro. It was sexy AF and even though it's too big for a lot of trails I was drooling over lockers, diso swaybar, and winch but at the end I didn't want to gamble on Ram reliability. I've owned Toyota 4x4s for the last 20 years and glad I didn't switch.





That's my 4Runner in this photo, now my wife's daily.

 

A four year lemon law?

John175 , not uncommon in CA, dealerships owners, and manufacturers have retained legal representation to fight those cases, in my case I returned a BMW 530I after close to 31 months owning it, had court hearings scheduled 3 times, all in the 11th hour cancelled by opposing counsel for potential out of court settlement.
Judge was not too happy, for them changing the settlement terms, after verbal settlement, they finally did it right.

It paid off well for me, but you have to have patience.

 

Those are pretty rad. Tow rating is a bit of a turn off when considering the price of a super duty

 

Quality of fuel is a big factor too, I used to get Costco gas for our STi , the damn thing would ping like crazy and the car had couldn't break 18mpg with no mods , as soon as we went to back to normal gas stations it was 22mpg all day long and no ping.

Then I decide to give it a try on the rebel, I was getting 11mpg when stock, back to normal gas station, 15mpg, I have no idea why the Costco gas in my area was so bad.

 

First Fill Up, I'll let y'all guess the hand calculated MPG

 

I just ordered my Stormtrooper part 2 last week, AT4 2500 in white.

 

The supply/demand ratio is worse right now for the AT4 verses the Denali. Can definitely get better discounts on the Denali.

 

Good looking truck. I just sold my ‘18 Ram CTD and owning a ‘96 12V, ‘05 CTD, ‘09 CTD, and ‘12 CTD over the years. l’ll miss the diesel, but liking my Tundra. I had a ‘14 Tundra for a few years and missed it.
BTW, 16mpg depending on your driving style and use. 5th Gens slightly less mpg than the 4th gens.

 

Interesting. Surprised the bed bounce isn't covered by the lemon law.

 

Just wanted to give my feedback on this topic. I think a lot of people are buying the tundra for the simplicity and reliability, I don’t see a lot of people buying them for the tech/comfort over other brands. I recently purchased my 3rd new tundra within a 2 year period, i didn’t even consider the other half ton options simply for the reliability. I have been around cars for many years and I can’t honestly recommend a ram/Chrysler product. I just traded in a 2020 Chevy 3500 dually with the diesel, the plan was to get a fifth wheel and travel a bit with the family but plans have changes. When doing my research I spoke to a lot of people in the industry very familiar with diesels and almost all of them told me to stay away from the ram. The Cummins is a super solid platform but the Chrysler product is what makes these trucks super unreliable. I test drove the ram and it’s was a very comfortable ride ( I believe it had the air ride) but couldn’t own something even with warranty that was so unreliable. Someone I know is in the construction industry and he told me that out of the 10 new rams 2500/3500 they use for work almost half spent months in the shop with electrical issues and getting a new transmission. A lot of the problems with new diesel options regardless of brand is the emissions systems that keep these trucks from offering the same long term reliability people expect. I also test drove the Ford F-350 and loved the power but it drove horribly, super uncomfortable for the price point. I traded the truck in because I no longer needed the towing option that a diesel provides and to be honest it was incredibly inconvenient for daily use in a highly populated suburb. I would recommend that anyone looking at ram consider leasing over buying, I just don’t trust the product. The look good and drive nice, they also have lots of tech but in my opinion that doesn’t outweigh reliability. Again this is just my opinion and years of being around the industry.

 

It’s funny that you mention the transmissions in the HD Rams . On the 5th gen Ram forum those are the people having transmission issues which is the Aisin transmission .

 

I’ll guess around 16 MPG .

 

20.6 on a mostly highway trip

 

I believe the Aisin is only available on the optional HO diesel that you can only get on the 1 ton.

 

Correct^^^^

 

And lately I've been curious about 1 ton diesel costs so have been looking at in stock vehicles at dealers (side note they have next to nothing) and only a 1/4 of the Ram 3500's specifically say 6.7 HO with Aisin, so it's got me wondering if all the other diesels are the de-rated 6.7 with the crappy transmission. There's no way I'd go without that Aisin, the other transmission has always been a problem.

 

I was considering the RAM also, can’t get 1 tons on my company vehicle allowance program. Without the Aisen I was even more reluctant to get one. HD truck inventory is crazy low right now, probably best to order what you really want.

 

People complain about the 68RFE because it's the worst of the big 3, but when left stock they are fine. The issue is people tune and delete making 500 HP and 1200LB of TQ, put 37-39" Tires and then complain when the 68RFE is the weak link

*This is just something I observed on the Cummins forum i'm on, i'm too new to the Cummins world to comment on the transmission reliability myself.

 

I wouldn’t personally buy one, but I have to admit there are nice. Can’t attest to reliability though

 

It's one of those parts that's just good enough - something I really dislike in vehicles. I'll spend the extra couple thousand to get the bigger power and much more beefed up transmission. It doesn't help the 68RFE that it's up against the Aisin directly, and competing against the Allison that can be pushed way over stock specs and hold up.

 

FWIW....a coworker occasionally drives son in law's 1 ton HO to work. SiL/daughter have a large ranch in Steamboat but occasionally visit Denver and uses coworkers car while in town.This HO is a 16 or 17. No Aisin tranny issues but a few trips to dealer to try to correct death wobble issues and rearend was repaired a couple times and finally replaced during year 1. What's crazy is SIL is still a Dodge fan boy after all his trips to the dealer. It's a ranch truck that needs to be at the ranch and not at a Fiat repair bay.

 

The 68rfe is a good transmission overall. What I did not like was the programming from Ram on shifts. Driving 30mph in city and it goes in 6th gear and cruising at 1,000rpms does not feel right, but they do it for better mpg. You can lock out shift though. The only big down side I would say on the 68rfe.......to beef it up or replace is costly. Left stock like intended it’s fine.

I would worry more about emission components than the tranny. That’s on any newer Diesel.

 

That’s my biggest concern with my 2018, My plan is just to stay on top of maintenance and doing everything the book says for filters etc. and plan B is the 7yr/100k warranty

 

I LOVE Power Wagons. Would be my next daily in a heartbeat if i didn't have your same concerns. Though the 6.2L in those is pretty solid and vetted. I just worry about the electronics, as with anything FCA

 

Anyone recall during 3rd gen 1500 life cycles DCX used to offer lifetime warranty on powertrain? I know at least 2 people got probably 3x vehicles worth of warranty repair out of that.

The 6.4L is actually pretty stout, Hemi blocks are all iron blocks so mechanically they have very little issues, one of the biggest problem is always the MDS, it increases the chances of oil starvation to lifters then slowly eat the cam, I know MDS has been improved over the generation but the system is not as good as GM's dynamic deactivation system, you can deactivate by simply set your gear limits, but it doesn't necessary eliminate the problem.

On another plus side of the 2500 is the transmission, the 8HP75 is the more stout version, and generally speaking it's a great transmission, I also believe the 8HP75 are all made in Germany vs standard 8HP is licensed by FCA, is it better? I can't really tell, but I do know my rear seats in my Ram was missing several bolts and some of the interior parts was "half Installed" when I picked it up, so maybe that should make you feel more comfortable.

And it looks big, but its not THAT big, the 1500 is wider than 2500, and just as long as a PW if you opt for the long bed.

 

A friend of mine had a Duramax from the same era on his farm and a hose or clamp or something let go and started spraying diesel all over the engine. GM gave him a new truck so they could take that one back to tear down the engine, identify the root cause and improve the design.