Going to try for a new tow vehicle

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RockinRobin

RockinRobin

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Bought a new RAM 1500 to tow the race rig last year. It gets about 8.5 mpg towing about 10,000 lbs of loaded trailer. With gas prices being what they are I want to go and see if dealerships are willing to deal on their RAM 2500's that they have in stock. I'm being told the diesel will get about 18 mpg empty and about 13 towing that same load. None of the dealers in my area have the truck with the 6.4 hemi, they are all diesel. I would drive it 90% to tow to the track. I can get about 40k in trade on the RAM 1500, maybe even 45k, they are still hurting for used vehicles. I figure 15k off list would be the deal to shoot for.
 
RockinRobin said:
Bought a new RAM 1500 to tow the race rig last year. It gets about 8.5 mpg towing about 10,000 lbs of loaded trailer. With gas prices being what they are I want to go and see if dealerships are willing to deal on their RAM 2500's that they have in stock. I'm being told the diesel will get about 18 mpg empty and about 13 towing that same load. None of the dealers in my area have the truck with the 6.4 hemi, they are all diesel. I would drive it 90% to tow to the track. I can get about 40k in trade on the RAM 1500, maybe even 45k, they are still hurting for used vehicles. I figure 15k off list would be the deal to shoot for.
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Im looking at vehicles for my wife right now and it’s been very difficult finding someone that will come off list. Everything they bring in is already sold so demand is higher than supply. Pleas keep us posted though.
 
doogievlg said:
Im looking at vehicles for my wife right now and it’s been very difficult finding someone that will come off list. Everything they bring in is already sold so demand is higher than supply. Pleas keep us posted though.
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I bought a new 1500 last June and also only use it for towing ( doesn't even have 4,000 miles on it yet ) I really like the way it tows , smooth and comfortable . My trailer is only around 7,200 lbs loaded I considered a 2500 but after driving one I felt it road rough compared to the 1500 and the 6.4 requires premium fuel . I didn't like the look of the standard cab / 8 ft bed and they don't offer a quad cab in the 2500 only a crew cab or mega cab which would be to big for where I park my truck. The diesels are another ball game: the initial cost is a lot more , maintenance costs a lot more , the price of diesel around here is about a dollar a gallon more than gas , and there's the whole DEF thing. As far as power and towing ability they can't be beat though

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I get about 17 average & 13 towing I have a lot of hills to get home. Best my truck ever does is 21 going down hill at 60
 
BVoelzke said:
I bought a new 1500 last June and also only use it for towing ( doesn't even have 4,000 miles on it yet ) I really like the way it tows , smooth and comfortable . My trailer is only around 7,200 lbs loaded I considered a 2500 but after driving one I felt it road rough compared to the 1500 and the 6.4 requires premium fuel . I didn't like the look of the standard cab / 8 ft bed and they don't offer a quad cab in the 2500 only a crew cab or mega cab which would be to big for where I park my truck. The diesels are another ball game: the initial cost is a lot more , maintenance costs a lot more , the price of diesel around here is about a dollar a gallon more than gas , and there's the whole DEF thing. As far as power and towing ability they can't be beat though
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Yep, my 2500 is very rough, rough on suspension parts too. 8 foot bed and crew cab is too big for alot of parking places.
 
2500 smooth compared to my 3500. They are trucks, not cars. Longer wheel base will ride better. I take up 2 places when I park and give a chit. WTF can you haul in a short bed? lol
 
I bought a new Ram 2500 in April of 2021, 6.4 gas hemi version as there were no diesels available in my area in Maine for months. I think it has a fairly smooth ride all things considered. It tows my race rig just fine but the gas mileage is horrendous when towing, but I knew it would be. I average 15 MPG with just normal driving. And the word that they require premium fuel is news to me. I've run nothing but regular in it and have had no issues. It has a little over 10,000 miles on it now. I definitely want a diesel as a tow truck but I will bide my time until this economic stupidity subsides.
 
Les Gibson said:
I bought a new Ram 2500 in April of 2021, 6.4 gas hemi version as there were no diesels available in my area in Maine for months. I think it has a fairly smooth ride all things considered. It tows my race rig just fine but the gas mileage is horrendous when towing, but I knew it would be. I average 15 MPG with just normal driving. And the word that they require premium fuel is news to me. I've run nothing but regular in it and have had no issues. It has a little over 10,000 miles on it now. I definitely want a diesel as a tow truck but I will bide my time until this economic stupidity subsides.
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We have the same truck as you but a year older in my fleet at work. It’s had nothing but 87 run through it and it gets ran HARD 5 days a week hauling material all over the city.
 
Here is my 2000 E150 Ford Tow Vehicle.

Was originally built with an RV package with 3/4 ton rear leaf springs and the comfortable Flex-Steel seats.

5.4 Triton gas engine, has great power and mileage. Have pulled 34' enclosed trailers across country, along with cars loaded to the brim with mopar parts cross country.

8.8 rear end with perfect ratios and heavy duty automatic overdrive transmission.

I added the rear air bag option and custom built the tuck under reciever hitch, and the running boards that help protect the lower body.

Perfect vehicle as far as I am concerned, still in like new condition, and has a cot and curtains in the back for sleeping along the way. And the nice part, well under 10 grand invested.

Have owned it for 10 plus years, still many, many miles left in it yet. Handles the road nice. Have it with me now in Florida.

My Mopar Hauler.

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George Jets said:
Here is my 2000 E150 Ford Tow Vehicle.

Was originally built with an RV package with 3/4 ton rear leaf springs and the comfortable Flex-Steel seats.

5.4 Triton gas engine, has great power and mileage. Have pulled 34' enclosed trailers across country, along with cars loaded to the brim with mopar parts cross country.

8.8 rear end with perfect ratios and heavy duty automatic overdrive transmission.

I added the rear air bag option and custom built the tuck under reciever hitch, and the running boards that help protect the lower body.

Perfect vehicle as far as I am concerned, still in like new condition, and has a cot and curtains in the back for sleeping along the way. And the nice part, well under 10 grand invested.

Have owned it for 10 plus years, still many, many miles left in it yet. Handles the road nice. Have it with me now in Florida.

My Mopar Hauler.

View attachment 1715907389
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The working man’s RV. I freaking love it brother.
 
doogievlg said:
The working man’s RV. I freaking love it brother.
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I really debated on the 2500 but decided on the 1500 it’s rated for a little under 10,000 gross towing weight I am at around 7,200 the only thing I had to add was air bags as the coil spring suspension sags when towing a trailer . It said on the window sticker of the 2500 uses premium fuel perhaps it’s a regional or state by state thing . If they had offered a 2500 quad cab it might have been a different story , the 2500s were actually a little cheaper than the 1500s. I didn’t mention that I had a 1500 regular cab / short bed 1500 on order for 4 months that didn’ t arrive until 6 months later by then I had purchased the 1500 I have now it had just came in with the trailer tow pkg and the 3.92 rear I wanted so rather than wait any longer I bought it. I know bigger is better at times but my trailer is only 20 long and relatively light even with the car , pit bike , generator etc. I don’t travel far to race my local track is only 30 miles way and the trip is hilly and the furthest I go is maybe 150 miles . My 1500 tows great ! Even better than the 08 H.Q.C it replaced.



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Picked this up 2019 1500 5.7 almost 2 weeks ago, I really like it so far, it has the trailer tow package and 3.92 rear, I plan on pulling a car trailer a few times a year but that’s probably it. I have a enclosed trailer too for swap meets if I decide to use it and a utility trailer as well. Where I live in central MN the 2500 is not hard to find, but it is more expensive. There were a couple 2500’s with a 392 engine but were well used. I drove a 2016 I really liked but it had 75k miles, and didn’t drive as nice and the newer body style. This 19 has 36k miles, a bigger cab also, It had to have the 6 1/3’ box and bigger rear door too so I decided to get this 1500. I also have a lifetime powertrain warranty and extra bumper to bumper full coverage up to 100,000 miles except for wear items, even repairs door dings and covers ALL electrical.

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I have a 2017 Ram 2500 with 6.4 hemi and 4.10 gears. It has the 6 speed auto trans. It gets 13 mpg or so daily driving back and forth to work only a 3 mile commute. Gets around 8-9 mpg towing a 24' box trailer that's around 7-7500lbs when towing to the track. When using an open trailer and car it gets 12ish mph and to be honest it's hard to tell you even have a trailer hooked up. My 30 mile tow to the track is mixed with a decent amount of red lights and I have 3 "hills" that I have to go up and down. If taking the highway going somewhere with no trailer it'll push 14-15 mpg. I've only ever put 87 octane in it and have just over 15K miles on it. Wife and I bought a small Class C motorhome so she uses the truck to tow her car and open trailer now. I thought about trading it in and getting a 1500 but from the guys I know with 1500 trucks they are getting 18-20 mpg if they are lucky. For all the more we drive the truck and the little bit of fuel savings I'm just going to hold onto the 2500 for the moment.
 
Traded my '17 2500 6.4L hemi in on a '21 2500 CTD. 6.4 got 14-15 mpg empty and 9-10 mpg with my camper. Owners manual said regular 87 acceptable, 89 recommended. I used 89, tried to use 87, sucked mileage and performance. The new truck gets 19-20 mpg empty and 11-12 mpg with the same camper. And rides so much better, heavier in front. Maintenance, who cares, it's a beast. Best trade ever!!! 15,000 miles between services. And I do them myself, no big deal!
 
RockinRobin said:
Bought a new RAM 1500 to tow the race rig last year. It gets about 8.5 mpg towing about 10,000 lbs of loaded trailer. With gas prices being what they are I want to go and see if dealerships are willing to deal on their RAM 2500's that they have in stock. I'm being told the diesel will get about 18 mpg empty and about 13 towing that same load. None of the dealers in my area have the truck with the 6.4 hemi, they are all diesel. I would drive it 90% to tow to the track. I can get about 40k in trade on the RAM 1500, maybe even 45k, they are still hurting for used vehicles. I figure 15k off list would be the deal to shoot for.
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good luck getting 15 k off list won’t happen, I assure you.
Nowhere near that much markup
 
RockinRobin said:
Bought a new RAM 1500 to tow the race rig last year. It gets about 8.5 mpg towing about 10,000 lbs of loaded trailer. With gas prices being what they are I want to go and see if dealerships are willing to deal on their RAM 2500's that they have in stock. I'm being told the diesel will get about 18 mpg empty and about 13 towing that same load. None of the dealers in my area have the truck with the 6.4 hemi, they are all diesel. I would drive it 90% to tow to the track. I can get about 40k in trade on the RAM 1500, maybe even 45k, they are still hurting for used vehicles. I figure 15k off list would be the deal to shoot for.
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how much do you actually use it to tow? the added buy in cost, added cost of diesel at the pump and added maintenance cost of a diesel may take forever to recoup if not towing a lot.. diesels like to be used often too.. i don't see dealerships moving much on price these days.. its a sellers market for sure..
 
abodyjoe said:
how much do you actually use it to tow? the added buy in cost, added cost of diesel at the pump and added maintenance cost of a diesel may take forever to recoup if not towing a lot.. diesels like to be used often too.. i don't see dealerships moving much on price these days.. its a sellers market for sure..
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yep. And I say that as a dealer with 32 years in the business.
Nobody is stealing anything these days. Me either
 
B3422w5 said:
yep. And I say that as a dealer with 32 years in the business.
Nobody is stealing anything these days. Me either
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Any guesses when things will improve. I need to buy a new vehicle and I’ve been holding off waiting for inventory to catch up.
 
doogievlg said:
Any guesses when things will improve. I need to buy a new vehicle and I’ve been holding off waiting for inventory to catch up.
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all reports i see say not anytime soon.. and hell manufactures may even like the shortage, ramps up demand.. i
 
Ok just a couple comments.
If the owners manual recommends higher grade gas.......when you are working the truck, it will perform better if you do!

What did you do with that high compression eng you build and would detonate on hot days......you turn your distributor back until it stopped. at light throttle it ran the same but you noticed the power lose when you worked it.
Same thing is happening here........only the computer notes the detonation before you do and drops the timing.

IF you pull in a hill/mountain range or your truck only leave the yard when it has a load to pull..........
You will make up the price difference in mileage and longevity with a diesel.

And lets get real here. That diesel won't slow down going up that hill and most of us wont take it easy on the equipment if it can and will pull that steep up hill grade, at or above the speed limit.

And your gasser truck you wont either. You will gear down until the eng revved to pull that grade.

The difference?
You will be pulling your load 20+ mph faster and getting double the mileage going up that hill.
 
I stupidly let this thing go. '19 EcoDiesel Tradesman.

I bought it right before the pandemic in Jan. 2020. It was $500 /mo that I could spend on my musclecars. I changed fire stations to one that is next door to me so my commute went away when I became a pedestrian. I bought the 76 D100 to replace it.

I really should have kept it because I will never get a deal as good as I did on that one. I bought it new and put about 6,000 miles on it. Made a couple thousand dollars on it. It is one of those instances where a vehicle did not depreciate when it left the lot.

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I have a 17 3500 6.4 standard cab long bed, 10 mpg empty and will beat the crap out of riding in it.
Towing is what I bought it for, and it does it well. I rarely drive it empty. It currently has 15,000 miles on it.

Last year bought a used 19 1500 standard cab short bed it had 200 miles on it, it was a pleasure to drive, nice ride, easy on fuel.
But only light towing because it was a six cylinder, easy on fuel 23 mpg. Traded it on a challenger kinda regretting doing that with gas prices the way they are but the car is nice.
 
doogievlg said:
Any guesses when things will improve. I need to buy a new vehicle and I’ve been holding off waiting for inventory to catch up.
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I agree with 1 of the other posts, I work in a auto manufacturer. Our production numbers are reduced with an occasional extra day off
 
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