- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
His 5.0L will at least keep up with my V10 on the hills and get a couple more mpg doing it. I can tow a lot more but at a mpg penalty.
New DD/tow rig?
- Thread starter Greg
- Start date
His 5.0L will at least keep up with my V10 on the hills and get a couple more mpg doing it. I can tow a lot more but at a mpg penalty.
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
It burns more fuel because it's so rad.
- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
My truck does that very well. One other thing it does is take anything I throw at it if you’ll fuel it. 100* heat towing two rigs to Rubicon and back. 6.5 mpg with the AC on and the truck doesn’t care even at 22500 GCVW. That hill from Carson City over to South Lake Tahoe is about as nasty as anything I’ve ever pulled on. Bonus points for it having a stop light at the bottom so your truck can rest before the hill. Temp gauge barely budged going up the hill. That’s where Sweaty Betty earned her name.
If I stick to a single car hauler, it makes sense to look at a half ton. I’ve not been real impressed with the GM despite @cbryson having a NICE 2018 5.3 GMC 1500. I LOVE the GM power trains a lot. They remind me of my turdalicious 2004 Dodge Cummins as far as quality goes and I’ve not yet warmed up to the exterior styling on the Chev trucks. The GMC tends to be better styled in my opinion (and they use lock washers where the Chev does not to justify the extra $)
I may be testing a new towing setup for EJS this year. We’ll see how that goes and make some decisions.
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
Have you thought about getting your V10 tuned? Brennan Metcalf had his tuned and he gets some very respectable mileage out of it.
- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
I have not thought about that other than the 5 star tunes. I’ve probably still got a setup in my cart if I found the 5 star browser tab? I just am not sure it’ll make as much difference on a gasser vs a deezel?
Coyote likes to rev for power motor wasn’t built originally for the truck. Mine has 215k still runs great, burns a bit of oil but to be expected. Was a work truck prior to my ownership. Haven’t towed with this one for a long distance but I did with my last coyote. It had 3:55 this has 3:73 it liked to live above 4K on the hills towing the 4Runner. Didn’t require a lot of throttle just rpm. 7.3 is way overkill for me at the moment right now as well. Plan right now nothing more than a slide in and the sxs/4Runner on the car hauler. I just want this to be the last new truck I buy until I’m over towing stuff
- Location
- West Bountiful, UT
My '13 Ram 1500 on coil springs is pretty dang smoove. No complaints from me on the 5.7 either, it's a 400/400 NA motor, nothing wrong with that. The 8 speed has been great too. It's the highest trim available at the time, so super plush and comfortable interior, with great stereo etc. I get a hand calc'd 16 mpg DD on 34's. It's weak on payload, but not a real issue for me. Has a Mopar lifetime warranty but has had absolutely no issues so far - nothing but routine maintenance. Cost quite a few thousand less than an F-150 at the time. Been a pretty great truck for us. I've no plans of replacing it.
- DAA
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
14 MPG for all round average for most of my tanks so far. 15 on the highway. Current tank is 13.5 with a ton of stupid traffic. Towing the dump trailer with the tractor has been 11.
- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
- Location
- West Haven, UT
I think the new direct injected GM 6.2 liter is hard to beat. Then couple that with either the 8L90 or 10L90 (8 or 10 speed) transmission and you've got a really great combination.
I have an LBZ Duramax that runs like a top and looks great still but I no longer race nor have our large enclosed race trailer to drag around so I really don't need a diesel truck. I will keep it because I can't replace it for what I'll get out of it but if I were in the market for a truck today based on my current requirements I would be driving a newer half ton GM with the direct injected 6.2 liter engine.
My wife's little sister's boyfriend just bought one about a year ago and I am impressed with the economy as well as the performance. They tow a smaller travel trailer on occasion and it really does well.
Mike
I have an LBZ Duramax that runs like a top and looks great still but I no longer race nor have our large enclosed race trailer to drag around so I really don't need a diesel truck. I will keep it because I can't replace it for what I'll get out of it but if I were in the market for a truck today based on my current requirements I would be driving a newer half ton GM with the direct injected 6.2 liter engine.
My wife's little sister's boyfriend just bought one about a year ago and I am impressed with the economy as well as the performance. They tow a smaller travel trailer on occasion and it really does well.
Mike
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
That matches my impression pretty well, being a smaller displacement motor I kind of figured that it needed higher RPM's to move heavier loads.
My '13 Ram 1500 on coil springs is pretty dang smoove. No complaints from me on the 5.7 either, it's a 400/400 NA motor, nothing wrong with that. The 8 speed has been great too. It's the highest trim available at the time, so super plush and comfortable interior, with great stereo etc. I get a hand calc'd 16 mpg DD on 34's. It's weak on payload, but not a real issue for me. Has a Mopar lifetime warranty but has had absolutely no issues so far - nothing but routine maintenance. Cost quite a few thousand less than an F-150 at the time. Been a pretty great truck for us. I've no plans of replacing it.
- DAA
Perhaps we'll reconsider a Hemi Dodge, I really do like that 8 speed transmission. I was able to spend some time driving a newer rental Dodge with that same drivetrain and was pretty impressed with how it put down power and the mileage that it returned.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Good to hear, Mike! I'm leaning heavily towards the GM 6.2 and 10 speed auto in a 1500.
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
It's actually quite similar to what Brennan gets in his V10 after tuning. He does have the 6 speed manual, though.
- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
If only..... They are rare as hen's teeth. I don't hate the 5 speed auto as much as other automatics I've had. If I keep the setup(s) I have, I'll have to get serious about the 5 star tuning (need to finish paying for the TBI 350 machining and parts and then maybe look at the tuner?)
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
Do the Ram half tons still have that stupid dial shifter? That's the only dislike I have for those trucks. Their interiors would certainly please Catherine. The 5.7 and 8 speed pulled the Jeep on the Dolly a lot better than I expected.
- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Yeah, the round shifter on the dash is a big dislike. One of my concerns with the Hemi engine is if you're not on top of your oil changes when they due, the lifters are prone to collapsing. Catherine isn't the best at getting her oil changed when it's needed, so that causes some concern for me.
Houndoc
Registered User
- Location
- Grantsville
Having had a rather negative experience with an early 2000's Ram, I was kind of disappointed when I rented on in Georgia last summer and liked it a lot, even more than the GMC the rental agency made me come trade for (I was an hour or so out when they realized the Ram was one that had been reported stolen and they had me switch to avoid trouble with the law.)
For towing, I am still huge diesel fan. Had to tow my boat (24') back from Powell this summer with a borrowed Chevy 1500, did okay but certainly a noticeable difference.
For years my wife used our Duramax (couple of them, one we sold with 350K, the current one at 235K) as her daily driver.
For towing, I am still huge diesel fan. Had to tow my boat (24') back from Powell this summer with a borrowed Chevy 1500, did okay but certainly a noticeable difference.
For years my wife used our Duramax (couple of them, one we sold with 350K, the current one at 235K) as her daily driver.