Hi all,

I'm new to this forum and new to Dodge. I've been a long time Ford fanatic with my previous tow rig being a very custom 1986 F250 6.9l diesel. This truck has served me well but is starting to show it's age. My normal load is an 11000 pound travel trailer. The old Ford did okay for most of the pulls but would suffer on hills or with strong head-winds.

I just purchased a 2007 Ram 3500 with the 6.7l CTD. This truck is basically stock with all emissions systems in place. I'm very impressed with this truck so far. I pulled a nearby 9% grade (1.5 miles long) with my trailer at 55mph early this week (5th gear @2100rpm). What can I say... WOW. My Ford would pull the same hill at 35 with max boost and exhaust temp the whole way.

The question that I have is about performance. I did notice on that test run with the trailer that when traveling on flat level ground in 6th gear (60mph @1500rpm), occasionally if I try to roll into the throttle, it acts like there's no power. I even noticed it lose a little speed. A local diesel mechanic said it was likely the EGR system running open and it taking a while to close it off and purge the hot exhaust gasses from the intake. If I drop the engine into 5th, it takes off and then pulls hard in 6th again.

Trying to understand the unique towing characteristics of this compared to the old Ford.

Thanks,
Aaron

 

That hypothesis by the mechanic may be true and causing some lag in 6th gear. 1500 Rpm is pretty much the low end of the torque curve and if you need to accelerate, dropping to 5th is the best bet. I typically try to tow around the 1700-2000 Rpm range.