wiskeyVI

I was at the dodge dealer picking up an air filter today and afterwards was looking over a new 09 Ram 1500. It is a VERY nice looking truck.

Anyway, a salesperson came out and started talking about the truck and I told him I'd wait till the 2010s come out to see what the b ig trucks look like as the 25/3500 are the same as what i have body wise.

I mentioned that my 3500 may not be big enough to tow to my liking and he recommended the 45/5500s and that they were down to invoice price.

I told hoim that per thier website, they only had autos and if I went to one of them, i'd want a standard.

He them went into the fact that they are 6spds and such, but what he told me that I did not know was that supposedly, you can manually shift the autos with a buttom on the steering wheel, like a sports car. He said you canhold it as long or short as you like.

Is this corrrect??

Colo_River_Ram

WELL..not sure on the 09's but the 08 has the G-56 6sp stick or the six speed Aisan.. I went with the Aisan and love it, the shifting is done by moving the lever not on the wheel (the 2500/3500 have a switch on the end of the shift lever)..it has two tow haul modes, hit the button on the end of the shift lever once and it locks up the torque converter and locks you out of 6th hit it again and it locks you out of 5th as well... With the 4.88 the Aisan is a work horse.. check out the pics in the bed is done post..

Depending on what you are towing I would go with the 4500 as it gives you a better ride..You could always add air bags if you needed more weight capacity..

wiskeyVI

Thanks for the reply.
I knew he was off some.
How do you like that 6.7??
What kind of mileage are you gettin??

I could get by with what I have, but the 4500 has the bigger bakes which are really nice compared to what I have on the 3500...
The ones here as I recall have 4.11 gears?!?!?! seems a little odd.

They also may be to big to manuver around some places with an RV.

I have looked at that flat bed of yours a few times. It is nice. The truck I sw today had a standard type flatbed which I also like alot.

Colo_River_Ram

As for the 6.7 emissions...Well if I had the 5.9 with the E-brake I would like it better..
So far the best highway millage is 13.8 but it only has 3100 miles on it.. Off road pulling 25K (which it handles with no problems) I've seen as low as 8 but i high idle a lot as I run the A/C and inverter to power the laptop.. If you don't get one with the PTO prep make sure you get the dealer to enable the high idle feature.
Gears on the 4500/5500 will be 4.88's for the auto and 4.44 for the stick. at the max speed of 75(factory preset) you will will be at 2500rpm.
as for maneuvering an rv off road get the shorter wheel base go online to dodge and check out the options.. (besides with a flatbed you will have a lot of clearance-and not worry about the cab)) with my 188.5 I can jack-knife the goose past a 90' angle makes spotting in tight places easy..

wiskeyVI

Thanks for the info.
I have a pacbrake on my trk.
I towed last weekend and averaged just under 10mpg. This was some stop and go, hills ect. I pushed it a few times at 65mph for a spell.

The trailer per mfg is 9750lbs. one way I had a tank of fresh water. Shouldn't be more than another thousand at the most in cargo. I just din't think it did that good.

I know the handling would be better with the 4500.

Colo_River_Ram

I'm thinking the pacbrake is in the ne'er future for the 05 as well..To many stories out there on the Jake E-brake vacuum pump dieing.
The shape of the front of the trailer will affect your millage, more so than the than towing 10K.

rfeiller

i have found that the 164" quad cab 4x4 wheel base i have has a tighter turning radius then I had with the 03 & 05 3500's. the front end is i believe 7" wider which allows for more movement of the front wheels on my 08 5500.

wiskeyVI

I do like the idea of a tighter turning radius. I just worry about overall lenght with an RV getting into some places.

I work on the road and now we have a 32ft Jayco and a golf cart for the my Wife. If I put that on the 3500, that may be a bit for it. A 4500 flatbed should be much better.

I was cruzing the chevy lot and they had a CC Durasmak 35HD dually with a nice small flatbed. It's nice, but still not the benifits of the 45oo.