Toy hauler towing experience with a 1500

Doubtful. My guess, is someone in marketing dreamt warm, fuzzy feelings over that displacement number. I’m just happy they’re going with displacement over another shitty sounding, turbo V6 with EGR buildup problems.

 

That’s a really nice setup.

 

Very nice man. Thank you.

 

Got a link to the for sale thread?

 

Haven’t officially put it up. Gimme a couple of days

 

First LS's were the LS1 5.7L put in 97 Corvettes. Then 98 Camaro's and Firebirds. Trucks got 4.8/5.3's in 99.

 

What make/model is it?

 

FYI this has been fixed in the 2019/2020 new design 1500s and should carry over into the new 2020 HDs. Very interested in the 2020 GMC 2500 with the L5p diesel and 10spd tranny.

Surprised there hasn't been more talk of axle ratios in this thread. My '15 Ram 1500 with 3.21s would have been a bit of a wimp with my 8000lbs TH but my new '19 pulls really well with 3.92s.

 

I would think with a 10 speed transmission, or even an 8 speed, the "Axle ratio" would start becoming a lot less important. What overall ratio do you want at a given time? With 8 or 10 to choose from, I imagine that it is in there.

Getting serious off road or pulling something out of a ditch is where you might want really low first or reverse gears is another matter, but we are talking towing a trailer on the highway.

 

Axle ratios aren’t as big of a deal as they used to be. At least not for the trucks with eight speed transmissions. In tow mode with the trailer my truck spends most of its time in 5th or 6th.

 

I think this is a very interesting point regarding final drive ratios. Everyone seemingly is concerned with final drive ratios but no one ever mentions transmission ratios. Reviewers (Mr. Truck) loves to say in EVERY Tundra review that "it has a 4.30:1 rear axle ratio, only the F450 and higher have that!" But he never mentions the transmission ratio that must also be considered.

So the Tundra (which I love btw) has a ratio set of 3.33 (1st), 1.96 (2nd), 1.35 (3rd), 1.00 (4th), .728 (5th), .588 (6th)
The ZF 8speed ram has 4.71 (1st), 3.14 (2nd), 2.10 (3rd), 1.67 (4th), 1.29 (5th), 1.00 (6th), .84 (7th), .67 (8th)

So we can see that even with a difference of 4.30 for the Tundra vs 3.21 for the Ram, the Ram is geared both shorter and longer than the Tundra and should ultimately be able to put down more power or rev lower in any situation (assuming engines power and rev ranges are identical, which obviously they're not, but for simplicity's sake, humor me).

 

Axle ratios are still a big deal, but given that it's only 1 variable, the transmission ratio spread is definitely more important. To use your point of towing in 5th or 6th (about a 1:1 ratio), if the transmission had 15 gears, there'd be 2 more gears between your current 5th and 6th that would be maybe .94:1 and .88:1. Those differences might yield a 2% MPG improvement towing on flat ground. The same could be said for just driving empty on the highway. Two percent isn't much, going from 20mpg to 20.4mpg , but as competitive as this segment is, every bit counts.

OEMs design and implement cylinder deactivation and v4 modes and all kinds of hideously complicated stuff for .4mpg.

 

This will probably be my next toy hauler.
http://www.forestriverinc.com/rvs/travel-trailers/no-boundaries/NB19.1/4300

 

that is a nice and light, compact and utilitarian TH. i dont know where you are, but do you do a lot of dry camping? or is this only for the track? 30 gal fresh water tank is probably fine for a solo trip but i wouldnt be able to take my family on a multi day trip on 30 gal. just a thought.

 

That's one of the things I love most about my ATC. 100/50/50 for fresh/grey/black in a 20' trailer..........that's unheard of with most manufacturers.

 

So far I haven't had any tank size issues. Almost everywhere I go has showers and toilets. I use it for race weekends, atv weekends and kayak/tubing trips. It's just me and my girlfriend and sometimes the dog.

 

Holy crap, that's 835 lbs of fresh water alone!

 

Totally worth it! When I first got my toyhauler, I always worried about water. I was constantly trying to conserve, and I was always checking the levels. It was a moot effort; 100 gallons was always way more than enough for 3-4 days at the track. It took me a bunch of trips to realize that. My biggest problem is actually the 50-gallon grey tank filling too quickly. I take my time in the shower, and although I am in no danger of running out of water, it is possible to fill the grey too quickly. This is a bigger deal when I have buddies hanging out with me and I end up doing a bunch of dishes after.

Oh, and to bring this full circle to the original topic of the thread: the added weight of the water was noticeable when I towed with my 1500. The diesel, albeit overkill as a whole, has allowed me to not worry about water in the tanks.