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RE: Towing with a 2005 Ram 1500
The power was acceptable just had to go slow on grades to keep the rpms down.Why would you want to keep the RPMs down?!? Higher RPMs is where the Hemi makes its power. Take it up to 4500 RPM and it will pull like crazy. The noise might make you wince, but it won't hurt the engine a bit -- that's what it was designed to do!
-- Rob
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bimbert84
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11/18/11 04:00am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Towing with a 2005 Ram 1500
I drove to Dave Smith Motors and gave them the keys for the Ram 1500 and in return (along with a few dollars) they converted it into a 2011 Ram Laramie 2500 CTD 4X4 Crew Cab.Based on my experience with a 1500, that's the mod I would've recommended. With a 5800# dry trailer and a 4x2 truck, I'm right at my GVWR. The extra 1500# on your trailer and the 4x4 on your truck would've put you well over your GVWR and probably your rear axle rating, too.
-- Rob
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bimbert84
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11/13/11 07:55am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Dodge Ram 1500 Hemi 4X4 quad cab Revere Shasta tt
steer axle: 3200 lbs
Drive axle : 2600 lbs
Gross weight: 5800 lbs
With trailer attached:
Steer axle : 3380 lbs
Drive axle: 3420 lbs
Trailer axle: 5040
Gross weight: 11840 lbsWith the trailer attached, the gross weight on your truck is 3380+3420=6800, which is 100 over GVWR.
The trailer weighs 6040, with 5040 on the trailer axles and 1000 on the truck. This means almost 17% of your trailer's weight in on the tongue (should be 12-15%). Also, of the 1000 pounds added to the truck by the trailer's tongue, 820 of it ended up over the rear axle.
I'm guessing the rig does not appear level when viewed from the side, but rather droops at the rear of the truck. Sounds to me like you need better weight distribution. Your goal is to shift weight off the rear axle onto the front axle and trailer axle. Try tightening up your WD bars and your numbers should improve quite a bit.
-- Rob
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bimbert84
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09/25/11 06:23am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Why do I keep smoking my rear-end?
That is some good news! Are you going to keep the temperature gauge on it? Sounds like a worthwhile item.Yeah, I think I'll have him set up a more permanent temperature gauge. After all this, I'm not sure I would ever feel confident without one.
-- Rob
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bimbert84
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08/29/11 05:28pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Why do I keep smoking my rear-end?
Update: This morning when I left home it was 56F ambient. By the time I arrived at work (not towing), appx. 10 miles < 45 mph, the rear-end was at 123F. That's a rise of 67F.
I took it over to the shop later in the morning. At the end of the day, the owner told me he saw two things he didn't like:The cross pin shaft was scored. He replaced the entire positraction unit.
The holes formed where the main caps bolted on were 0.003" out-of-round. He shimmed the caps so that they formed a round hole.On the drive home, it was 79F ambient. When I got in the truck, the rear-end was at 89F (he had previously test-driven it). All the way home, 15 miles, the highest I ever saw was 105F, and that was only momentarily. Once I started moving again the temp dropped back down. By the time I got home it was 100F. That's a rise of only 11F!
HUGE difference. I'll keep my eye on the temperatures throughout the week, and over the weekend I'll test it with the trailer. So far the improvement is very promising. Thanks to everyone for your help so far. I'll keep you posted.
-- Rob
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bimbert84
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08/29/11 05:08pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Why do I keep smoking my rear-end?
Are the rear tires a matching set? Same size and manufacturer?Yes, brand new Michelin MS/2s. I do need to get them rebalanced, though, as I notice a slight vibration above 70 mph (I typically tow at only 61-62 mph).
Is it noteworthy that the first towing trip with the new tires coincided with the first overheating of the rear end?
-- Rob
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bimbert84
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08/29/11 03:08am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Why do I keep smoking my rear-end?
If the shop installed new gears, what brand? Did they use the ever so prevelent China bearings? Did they replace the axle bearings?
Pinion bearing preload, carrier bearing preload, gearset backlash and pinion shim thickness measurments should be provided to the customer. What are they? What is your gear ratio?My gear ratio is 3.92. To my knowledge they never replaced any axle bearings.
First they just replaced the inside bearings (Timken). They told me I needed to put on only 100 miles or so before towing.
After it overheated the first time, they then replaced the gears with OEMs, and new bearings again. I followed a 650-mile break-in schedule before towing.
After it overheated the second time, they replaced the gears with a used set so I could start doing test tows right away. They said the gears came from a new truck that did a gear swap and had only 700 miles on them.
I don't know any of the measurements you mentioned other than pinion bearing preload. The first two times they set it at 15 in-lbs; the 3rd time they backed it off to 10 in-lbs to see if it would make a difference. It didn't reduce heat, but I now notice a whine from 40-45 mph. I had planned to have him set that back to 15.
I'll ask about the other measurements tomorrow.
-- Rob
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bimbert84
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08/28/11 06:05pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Why do I keep smoking my rear-end?
with the fill plug hole welded shut...It's not welded -- he just put some silicone on there to hold the plug and wire in place.
-- Rob
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bimbert84
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08/28/11 05:30pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Why do I keep smoking my rear-end?
Here's a picture of mine. It has only 12 bolts on the cover. I know it's 9.25" with a 3.92 ratio. Any idea what it is?
http://i54.tinypic.com/2mg1bbo.jpg
-- Rob
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bimbert84
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08/28/11 10:46am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Why do I keep smoking my rear-end?
I would take it to the current shop if you don't feel you can do it yourself.... They may even offer to put it in for nothing, just to get your truck out of their hair, if they think that might solve the problem and stop them from having to continually do more free work to your current axle, to no avail.Good point. I'm scheduled to take it there tomorrow morning for them to open it up and check everything out. But the test drive the other day tells me it's still running too hot (the suspicious part is they didn't know what temperature ought to be considered normal). If they still see nothing wrong, I'll press for another assembly. I'm not sure what else to do.
-- Rob
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bimbert84
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08/28/11 07:56am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Why do I keep smoking my rear-end?
At this point, it may be a good idea if you buy a junkyard rear axle and put it under the truck and see what happens. 1/2-ton axles are not very expensive at the junk yard and would likely be less than paying another shop to do more work on the current axle.I'm not mechanically inclined enough to do something like this myself. Where would you suggest I go to get this done? The current shop? A dealer? An indy?
-- Rob
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bimbert84
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08/28/11 07:28am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Why do I keep smoking my rear-end?
just by saying this shop used regular gear lube instead of the proper 75/140 synthetic lube that was installed by Chrysler and recomended in the owners manual for towing tells me this shop really does not know what they are doing. at this point I would find another shop.Thanks for the response. At this point, they're working with me and picking up everything on their dime. If I take it elsewhere, I'm going to be paying for everything all over again.
it is possible that they may have set up the carrier and or pinion depth improperly, and with that the excess heat may have slightly warped something in the rear axle throwing off bearing alignment.How would I determine this? I'm inclined to believe this is the case. What started as a pinion bearing fix has now gone into full-blown rear-end problems. If they caused the problem, how would I prove it?
-- Rob
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bimbert84
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08/28/11 06:47am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Why do I keep smoking my rear-end?
Are you sure you haven't been over loading the rear axle under the trailer's pin weight?To all who have suggested overloading, I should've provided this info in my original post. It's a travel trailer, not a 5th wheel.
Rated weights: GCWR=14000, GVWR=6650, GRAWR=3900, GFAWR=3650
Actual weights: GCW=13320, GVW=6620, GRAW=3240, GFAW=3380
These readings came from a CAT scale shortly after I purchased the trailer. The trailer was loaded and ready for camping and the truck had 4 people in it.
I believe the shop already checked for deflection of the axle tubes and found none. I'll raise it to their attention once again, though. Also, I'll have them re-check the gear backlash to ensure it's on the loose side, and also re-check the housing.
I'm not sure where I got the 7400# trailer number from (bad memory?). The scale readings show it's 7160#, with 6700# on the trailer axles and only 460# finding its way to the truck.
-- Rob
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bimbert84
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08/28/11 05:47am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Why do I keep smoking my rear-end?
Did you get a 4 wheel alignment? What about the driveshaft?I recently had the front end aligned when I had the ball joints replaced, but I don't think it was a 4-wheel alignment. I've done nothing special with the driveshaft -- are you suggesting maybe it's bent?
-- Rob
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bimbert84
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08/27/11 06:46am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Why do I keep smoking my rear-end?
go to a dodge site and tell your story they should be of great help.Any recommendations for which site(s)?
-- Rob
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bimbert84
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08/27/11 06:44am |
Tow Vehicles
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Why do I keep smoking my rear-end?
2003 Ram 1500 QC 4x2, 5.7L Hemi, 3.92, GCWR=14000#
2004 Springdale 295BHL, 31'5"
On edit: To all who have suggested overloading, I should've provided this info in my original post. It's a travel trailer, not a 5th wheel.
Rated weights: GCWR=14000, GVWR=6650, GRAWR=3900, GFAWR=3650
Actual weights: GCW=13320, GVW=6620, GRAW=3240, GFAW=3380
These readings came from a CAT scale shortly after I purchased the trailer. The trailer was loaded and ready for camping and the truck had 4 people in it.
I've been towing with this rig for 8 years with no issues. Back in June I noticed a whine in the rear-end and took it to a rear-end specialty shop who has a great reputation. I was told it was the pinion bearings, which I had serviced. They used regular oil even though I told them I had always run synthetic.
Everything was fine until the next trip, when I overheated the rear-end coming back from a 200-mile trip (melted ABS sensor and speedometer pickup). The overheating scored the gears and the whole thing had to be rebuilt. Regular oil again.
After a proper break-in period, fast forward to the next trip. 80 miles in, the rear-end overheated again. Same problem, and back to the shop it went.
The shop has been in business 38 years and does nothing but rear-ends, and are very much working with me, but they have no explanation as to the overheating. They rebuilt it again, but this time they used synthetic oil (ordered from the Chrysler dealer) and also rigged up a temperature sensor so I could test drive it on the freeway. During yesterday's test pull, the temperature was up to 280F after about 50 miles, and it was still slowly climbing. I pulled off the freeway at that point.
Question is, what temperature is normal while towing? When I was running solo, I couldn't get it above 182F. I've noticed online temperature gauges for rear-ends range from 100-250F. That tells me 280F is already hotter than it should be. The shop plans to install a more permanent temperature pickup on Monday and also fabricate a heat shield to keep the exhaust away, but I'm not convinced this will help. They've already checked the bearing preloads and bores (not sure what that is), and everything is normal. They also measured the housing and said it is not warped.
There is no evidence of the trailer brakes dragging, nor are the trailer tires showing any uneven wear. In fact, we pulled the trailer back from the last breakdown with another tow vehicle, and everything was fine.
The trailer is slightly heavy for a 1/2 ton, but I'm within my limits, and I've been towing it successfully for 8 years. Any ideas what could be causing this overheating?
Some further reading: http://www.amsoil.com/articlespr/2007/article_changegearlube.aspx
-- Rob
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bimbert84
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08/27/11 06:03am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Michigan U.P. first week of October camping
I've been in Copper Harbor in August and it was in the 40's.I hear that. We were at Tahquamenon Falls a few years ago in August. We woke up to frost on the trailer windows (by afternoon, though, it was 70 and we were swimming in the falls).
-- Rob
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bimbert84
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08/13/11 08:11am |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: P Vs LT
When I replaced my tires a few years ago, I tried a set of LTs. After the first tow trip, I returned them for Michelin Ps. The LTs gave too rough of a ride for my tastes. The Ps were much smoother and I never had a problem towing. When it was time to replace them again last week, I went straight for the Ps. Love the ride so far -- first tow with them is today.
-- Rob
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bimbert84
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07/22/11 06:16am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: 1/2 Ram 1500 w/ Hemi
I think you're going to have payload trouble. With my 7400# trailer attached, my 4x2 Ram weighs in at 20# below GVWR. Your 6500# trailer will have 100-200# less tongue weight than mine, but your truck is a 4x4 which will weigh 300-400# more. Plus you're adding a 650# ATV to the bed of the truck. My guess is you'll easily be 700-800# over GVWR.
-- Rob
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bimbert84
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06/17/11 07:50am |
Tow Vehicles
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