Ram trucks, payload, suspension, and off-road ability

3500. 6.4. Do it.

For travels alone I'm still a believer in a winch. (And a wench comes in handy too.)

Steve

PS My son's favorite saying to me is, "Dad, you are engaging in paralysis by analysis... again!"
 
CarlG,
Well you're not alone. Last week, I pulled the trigger and ordered a new truck. I sat on the fence with legs dangling on each side. The payloads are very good on the 2500 Ram with the 6.4L Hemi. Better on the 3500. Depending on your load/tow, you may need to enhance the rear suspension on the 2500, and probably not on the 3500. I read countless articles and opinions from experienced truckers and those who have owned both coils and leafs on their trucks. There are pros and cons for both. But, I like having a little more than I need, especially when boondocking.
But, the bottom line is, get the truck you want and the truck you believe will get the job done "and" get you back home. For my situation, (Hawk loaded 24/7, no extreme towing) and 500 bucks more it was a no brainer. I bought a 2016 Ram 3500 Crew, SLT, 6.4L Hemi, with 4.10 gear ratio.
Good luck with your decision.
 
NorCalHawk said:
CarlG,
Well you're not alone. Last week, I pulled the trigger and ordered a new truck. I sat on the fence with legs dangling on each side. The payloads are very good on the 2500 Ram with the 6.4L Hemi. Better on the 3500. Depending on your load/tow, you may need to enhance the rear suspension on the 2500, and probably not on the 3500. I read countless articles and opinions from experienced truckers and those who have owned both coils and leafs on their trucks. There are pros and cons for both. But, I like having a little more than I need, especially when boondocking.
But, the bottom line is, get the truck you want and the truck you believe will get the job done "and" get you back home. For my situation, (Hawk loaded 24/7, no extreme towing) and 500 bucks more it was a no brainer. I bought a 2016 Ram 3500 Crew, SLT, 6.4L Hemi, with 4.10 gear ratio.
Good luck with your decision.
Click to expand...
Nice truck. Interested to hear your gas mileage with camper. I removed the previously mentioned restrictive exhaust components on my '16 CTD and recently averaged 17.5mpgs on over 7k miles with the camper on.
I did add aftermarket coils to my 2500 but not for payload purposes which depending on the spring rate, are what makes the difference in capacities of 3/4 and 1 tons...same drivetrain, same brakes, etc. One could just save the $ on aftermarket stuff and buy a 1 ton if payload is the primary concern, but ride quality of the new long-arm/rear coiled Rams is what had me favoring a 3/4.
 
Thank you for your comment. This will be a good truck for my purpose. I drive for a local Ram dealership as a transporter, so I have the opportunity to drive their trucks, new and old often. I have seen on the average, ~16-17 MPG with the 6.4L Hemi in both (new) 2500/3500. With the camper loaded I'm guessing that mileage will drop to ~13-14(?) at best (conservative driving which I do). Not so bad considering I'm averaging ~12-13 with my Toyota Tundra. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't air bags simply "level" ones hauling load and they do not increase payload/capacity. Also, the new (4th gen) 3500's are not as rigid as the older (2nd/3rd gen) models, plus with my camper onboard may help smooth out some of the bumps. Did you have any issues adding after market air bags to your 2500 with coils?
 
Don't start with any restrictions from day one, get a 1 ton. You'll thank all that give you this advise later.

Note: unless you are planing to haul really heavy loads I would avoid a 4:10 rear end I replaced the one in my 1998 Ram Deisel when I realized my top speed was about 83 mph, rpm was running at 2600 at 70 mph and mpg was not great. Rpm dropped to 2100 at 70 mph. My new 2015 Ram has twice the power, thus a 4:10 is really not needed unless your doing major hauling.
 
BrianG said:
Don't start with any restrictions from day one, get a 1 ton. You'll thank all that give you this advise later.
Click to expand...
I will definitely go with a one ton on my next truck.
 
4.10 and lower (numerically higher) is good for torque multiplication and crawl ratio off road, but with a diesel the torque multiplication probably isn't necessary.
 
With a 2016 Ram 2500/3500, 6.4L engine, you are given a choice of two gear ratio's, 3.73 or 4.10. After reading copious amounts of literature regarding this gas engine, hauling <8000#, 24/7 and gear ratio, it became clear, for my purpose as described above, that this ratio, 4.10 was best for me. May not be for someone else. Some of the comparison included stop and go driving and open highway driving while hauling/towing. Granted, cruising at 65 with 4.10 gears vs 3.73, one see's a slight difference in MPG, ~1. However, in city driving the MPG was near identical, if not consistently better with the 4.10. Reason: The 4.10 provided better torque which made for a more efficient start from stop than did the higher 3.73 gear. The difference on the highway was not significant enough to go with 3.73's.
 
NorCalHawk said:
CarlG,
Well you're not alone. Last week, I pulled the trigger and ordered a new truck. I sat on the fence with legs dangling on each side. The payloads are very good on the 2500 Ram with the 6.4L Hemi. Better on the 3500. Depending on your load/tow, you may need to enhance the rear suspension on the 2500, and probably not on the 3500. I read countless articles and opinions from experienced truckers and those who have owned both coils and leafs on their trucks. There are pros and cons for both. But, I like having a little more than I need, especially when boondocking.
But, the bottom line is, get the truck you want and the truck you believe will get the job done "and" get you back home. For my situation, (Hawk loaded 24/7, no extreme towing) and 500 bucks more it was a no brainer. I bought a 2016 Ram 3500 Crew, SLT, 6.4L Hemi, with 4.10 gear ratio.
Good luck with your decision.
Click to expand...
Congrats NorCal! I'm assuming you'll have no issues fitting your tundra built Hawk on the ram?
 
NorCalHawk said:
Thank you for your comment. This will be a good truck for my purpose. I drive for a local Ram dealership as a transporter, so I have the opportunity to drive their trucks, new and old often. I have seen on the average, ~16-17 MPG with the 6.4L Hemi in both (new) 2500/3500. With the camper loaded I'm guessing that mileage will drop to ~13-14(?) at best (conservative driving which I do). Not so bad considering I'm averaging ~12-13 with my Toyota Tundra. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't air bags simply "level" ones hauling load and they do not increase payload/capacity. Also, the new (4th gen) 3500's are not as rigid as the older (2nd/3rd gen) models, plus with my camper onboard may help smooth out some of the bumps. Did you have any issues adding after market air bags to your 2500 with coils?
Click to expand...
From what I know, yes, the airbags are for load stability vs. payload capacity. I've played with pressures and have noticed some difference when the camper is on.

Re. airbags, since the springs I added to my truck were longer travel I used Daystar cradles with the airbags in the rear. In this configuration the airbags do not mount to the axle pad but sit in this cradle and, and at full droop will simply lift out of the cradle. Otherwise a long travel airbag is needed (I believe Carli offers them at a premium price). I had to slightly modify the Daystar cradles and not use the bottom mounting AirRide hardware to make this all work with the rear coils on my truck but it wasn't a big deal.
 
I'll mention one thing about range. This last trip I saw diesel prices (didn't bother looking at gas but it was probably similar) vary over a dollar and a half a gallon. Decent range gives me the ability to drive right on by those expensive places. Cheapest fuel I've seen anywhere is right here in Sac about a mile from my house. The fuel light came one just as I was pulling in to fuel up. Although your passengers will probably appreciate a smaller range :)
 
No problem with fit...I ordered a full size Hawk knowing in the near future I would upgrade my '02 Tundra to a full size 3/4 or 1T truck. The fit will be right on. In fact, the fit will be better than my set up now. I also had airbags on the Tundra, but even so, I still had some bouncing and side to side movement...too much I thought.
 
Carl I'm in a similar situation. 2 kids and use to own a cherry 93 LC. We upgraded for space, comfort and modern safety gear to the 07 Sequoia. That and we had till just recently a local grand parent that went almost everywere with us so seating space was needed.

Our typical camping set up is actually our Subaru Ob towing the 4x6 LifeTime tent trailer, 900lbs empty and about 1300 loaded. The Subaru hardly notices at 20-22mpg. Having said that I've dreamed of having a flat bed FWC with a kids bunk set up in the dinning spot. The load capacity thing vs really having no interest in a full size big capacity truck which just simply would never be driven in the Bay Area. Even the Sequoia gets banished to limited use due to size.

I have gone circles trying to sort out the ideal combo. The truck camper ability fits my need for non trailer trips and ability to trailer a small boat. Also if the truck is midsize narrower etc it works far far better for BayArea use and city use etc.

I think the most likely solution in my case would be a LB 2.8Diesel 4dr Canyon with all the nicy car interior stuff so the wife and kids are happy on road trips. The mileage / range given we are spoiled with our 400-500mile range in the Subaru.

Then probably go with a new Aluminum Flipac topper, which is about 350lbs, and lets us use the truck bed for gear, dog etc in every day use. But will double as a bunk house on wheels for non camp trailer trips. Parents up top in the flipac tent, kids in 6ft truck bed on kids Disco cot bunk beds.

On longer trips or shoulder season times of the year if we really started doing that maybe sell our slick 4x6 tent trailer and get a R-pod bunk bed trailer.
 
As my kids 4 and 7 are able to go MT Biking with Mom and dad I can see us just pushing the the load capacity on the Subaru too far. But our current set up the Subaru has proven to be really good as long as its just us 4 and the occasional dog. But we dont have added capacity for bigger heavier bikes or a 5th person regarding load capacity.
 
Just wife and I? Diesel Canyon with flat bed FWC!!!! Kids?? Grrr I find the load capacity and seating thing vs physical size and daily use is a problem
 
We only use the Sequoia for camping and road trips when we have 5+ seats to fill which case is near zero as grand parents hit the point they arent into camping anymore. We lost one local grand parent last month, he drove the Sequoia more than I did doing kids shuttle stuff. I dont think we'll keep the Sequoia given the Subaru sees 99.9% of that duty now.
 
Which case I'm thinking sell Subaru and Sequoia and get a new Canyon 2.8 to handle both aspects, kid daily transport, and give us the added load capacity the Sequioa offered on the rare cases we needed it.
 
CALIcamperdad said:
I have gone circles trying to sort out the ideal combo.
Click to expand...
Tell me about it! Everything's a compromise - it's tough figuring out the perfect fit.
 
NorCalHawk said:
No problem with fit...I ordered a full size Hawk knowing in the near future I would upgrade my '02 Tundra to a full size 3/4 or 1T truck. The fit will be right on. In fact, the fit will be better than my set up now. I also had airbags on the Tundra, but even so, I still had some bouncing and side to side movement...too much I thought.
Click to expand...
Just curious... what's the difference between a hawk built for a tundra and one for a 1 ton?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads - WTW

T
Tundra Hawk Suspension Mods
JHanson
JHanson
K
Super Springs HD coils SSC-52 Ram 2500
kmehr
K
B
Experience with newer Ram suspension & death wobbles?
Vic Harder
Vic Harder
F
2015 Tacoma SR5 w/ Eagle Suspension Upgrades
firsttracksbmax
F
H
FWC Hawk Flatbed Dodge Ram 2500 Missouri
Hblock
H

New posts - WTW

Back
Top Bottom