eagle21
chicago il
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Had my first towing experience with my 1500 4x4 hemi this weekend and very unhappy! I was towing a two place enclosed snowmobile trailer with one sled in the bed of the truck, about #2200 lbs. Only was getting about 9 miles to the gallon never going over 68 to 70 mph.I could not hold overdrive and the new tow haul mode sucks on the 04 models. There was a slight head wind of 5 to 10 mph and the trans kept kicking in and out of overdrive even with the tow haul mode on. There is no true drive gear to keep the rpm up and to keep the trany from shifting so much. My brother has the same truck but with the 4.7 motor and carrying the same load gets better gas mileage and pulls the load easier because he has an 03 model without the tow haul and a true drive gear. Nice truck but very diapointed in the towing for such a light load!!!!!!
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Kenneth
Washington, the state
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Joined: 03/20/2001
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What is a true drive gear?
What differential gear ratio do you have? What gear ratio does your brother have?
How did the truck perform if you shifted out of overdrive?
Ken
I'm free of prostate cancer for 5 years now.
All men over age 50 should get an annual PSA blood test. Mine had a low reading, but the yearly jump was significant. The biopsy showed cancer just entering the aggressive stage. Dr. Hackenslash removed it.
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big vic
carefree az
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I have a 2004 dodge hd diesel,6 spd,stock rear (3:73) long bed quad cab,larmie package.......3500 miles on the,clock, tow a 96 28ft hilo...total wgt truck/trailer....truck...7000 lb,trl...6000...13000,
solo....is b/t 19 to 22 mpg....with trailer...17 to 20.....just returned from a 525 mil. trip from carefree az to globe az with some 7% grds.......returned to carefree with 1/4 tank....avg 20.3 mpg
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eagle21
chicago il
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I have the 392 rear end and so does my brother. In 04 they added the tow haul mode on the gear selector instead of being able to shift into "drive". The tow haul is about 400 or so rpm higher than overdrive but it is not high enough to keep the truck in its power range so the trans keeps shifting up and down.
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tech47
Grosse Pointe Woods Mi. USA
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Bottom line is, its still a small block, its torque band is higher up in the rpms. People here Hemi and keep flashing back to the 60,s. By far this is no 426.
ROBERT & VIRGINIA HAMILTON
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Navy SCPO
Virginia Beach, VA
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eagle21,
Sorry to hear your problem. I had an 2003 Ram Quad with the HEMI, auto and 3.92 gears. I didn't have the tow/haul switch. I had an OD switch. However, I towed my 5000 lb Haulmark trailer with ATV's, motorcycles, and gear through the mountains in West Virginia and in North Carolina and never experienced these issues. When I towed my boat which is 7000 lb, it did shift and hunt on occasions for the right gear, but very few times. It didn't have a problem towing either. There are quite a few on this board that have towed with great success with that set up and haven't had these issues either. It is unfortunate that you have. I would take it to the dealership and have them check it out and if they don't find something...take it in with the trailer and take a test ride so, they feel it. It could be a torque converter problem. With that minimal weight, that set up shouldn't even know it was there.
Additionally, my MPG was between 9.5 and 10.5 while towing but it only averaged 13.5 to 14 MPG unloaded. The Hemi in my case was thirsty.
IN any case here are some links to the Hemi.
http://www.allpar.com/mopar/new-mopar-hemi.html
http://www.dodgeboy.net/news/57hemi/index.htm
* This post was
edited 02/23/04 06:05am by an administrator/moderator *
JOHN
04 Dodge 2500, 4x4, Quad, HO CTD, 48RE, 4.10, Laramie
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DaYooper
Land of Trolls, below the Big Mac bridge
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Your MPG is surprising. We towed our 3100 pound pop up to West Virginia, plus all the other junk in the bed of the truck and are overall milege was 13.1 according to the computer. That was with OD off the entire trip. Towed over 1000 miles and had another 250 miles of sight seeing miles during the trip.
Steve
IAFF # 2289
SE Michigan
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gonecampin
Palmetto, Florida
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I get about 9 mpg pulling my 5000# TT with the 4.7
Dave
2003 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab SLT Shortbed 4.7L 4x2 3:92 Rear GCWR 12500# Curb weight 5021# Tow rating 7350#
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rdturn
Indepenence, MO. USA
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We returned this weekend with our 04 RAM QC LB 2500 HD w/Hemi....I got about 7 miles per gallon on this trip. That was pulling the truck (7600lbs) + trailer (6000lbs). I had some of the same shifting problems you incurred. I attributed it to my driving???. It drove alot better than my Ford F150 did. Sorry to hear about your disappointment in the Hemi.
-Roger
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PSDExcursion
Millstone NJ
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But the gasser guy's say HP is king and the Hemi has more of that than the 600 Cummins.
2002 Chevy Express 3500 8.1 155" WB passenger van
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