bneaves

I know this has been beaten into the ground about the gears.<br><br>The CFO finally approved a new truck ;D I am getting a 2500 QC SLT SB 4WD, ETH/DEE(HO/6-shooter) and am leaning towards the 3.73. I do some heavy towing maybe total trailer is 11,500(this is estimated heavy), maybe once a month or less often. I will be moving some cars, 2 at a time on a 34' GN. Most of my driving will be commuting or light towing(&lt;5K). I do alot of interstate driving at around 70-75 MPH, and want to keep the MPG up without losing too much towing ability. Would the 3.73's be OK, as I think, for the occasional tow?

RATTLINRAM

Hey Brian,<br> I don't see any reason why the 3.73 won't work for you. I'm towing a 5er at about 10,000lbs. with 3.54's and an auto (slam stock) with no problems. Being that you are getting the HO/6spd,,,, you should have plenty of power for pulling the weights you are talking about.<br> Maybe some of the folks who have got the 03 and towed with it, will give you some more input. Just my $.02. ;D<br><br><br>Dennis<br>

misterKTM

I think the 3.73's will be fine. Most seem to be in favor of the 4.10's here - but I think with the 6 speed the 3.73's are the ticket...it's what I ordered ;D- but haven't got my truck yet :'(

rich

i tow a lot of heavy loads with 3;54's . the 3:73's should be a perfect match to what you are going to use it for

Casey Balvert

I agree but it is not the gearing that should be your biggest concern. If 11,500 is the max you will be towing, then the 3.73 should do the job nicely. In fact you should be fine up to 12,850 trailer weight. Just consider future towing requirements as well. I bought the 4.10 because we will be buying a heavier fifth wheel in in the 16,000 pound range. I have not found the 4.10 to have any real impact on my mileage. I just returned unloaded from a 500 mile trip at 70 mph and average over 21 mpg on winter fuel.

Your biggest concern may be that you will exceed the truck's GVWR with the 2500. If you are using GN trailers a better choice may be the 3500 SRW. That gets you an extra 900 pounds of payload for nominal cost. Download DC's trailer towing guide and you will see that your intended truck has a payload of 1990 pounds. That includes all passengers and cargo. That does not leave a lot of pin weight available if you are to stay within the truck's ratings. If your GN weight 11,500 you are looking at a pin weight of at around 2500 pounds. You are already over the GVWR before you get behind the wheel. The 3500 in your configuration will give you a towing weight of 13,750 and a payload of 2,820. Not a huge margin but you will at least stay within the numbers if you are careful. Given the weight you intend to pull, I think you are fine with the 3.73 axle, however the 3500 is your only choice if you want to remain within the GVWR. I hope this helps.

Enjoy your new truck.

Casey

bulabula

Concur with Balvert above - seriously look at a 3500. The HO is a lot of motor. I've got 4.10's and if I had ordered this truck rather than taking it off the lot, I would have selected 3.73's.

03quadduallyho

3.73!!! I love mine and get 21 mpg at 70. Tows the fiver great!

PHONSE

My 5er weighs in at approx. 11,000 loaded. I,m planning on a 3500 with HO, BUT WITH THE 48RE AUTO-TRANS., QC, longbed, WOULD really like the 373 also, since I will only be towing about 5.000 miles a year the rest is daily driving . Would like the better MPG for the daily driving. Will the 373 be ok with the 48re trans. ALSO , DODGE uses 25% TO FIGURE YOUR PIN WEIGHT, why so high? I've seen anywhere from 15 to 25 % . If I use 25% I'm over the GVWR OF THE TRUCK EVEN WITH THE 3500. SRW.

Cat Cracker

I had a '01 eth/dee 2500, with 3.54's and now I have a '03 eth/dee 3500 srw, with 4.10's. Yes, the '01 pulled my camper fine. (11-12k weight) But the '03 pulls it better. Yes, I know there is supposed to be a power increase over the '01, but thats not all the reason why. The 4.10's have a mechanical advantage over the 3.54's, plain and simple. I could have gotten 3.73's, and I think they would have been fine, but I want to someday put bigger than stock tires on my truck. You can overcome lack of mechanical advantage with power modifications, but that also puts a bigger strain on the drivetrain. I love my 4.10's and from reading posts of others with the 3.73's, they only get about 2 mpg better unloaded, about the same while towing. (I average 18 mpg going to work) FWIW <br> Cat Cracker.

jgilbert

[quote author=RATTLINRAM link=board=11;threadid=11271;start=0#107555 date=1045873883]<br> I'm towing a 5er at about 10,000lbs. with 3.54's and an auto (slam stock) with no problems. <br>Dennis<br> <br>[/quote]<br><br>Dennis,<br><br>I had a 2000 Ram 2500 CTD with 3.54's and auto that had a dead spot around 65-70 mph. Once i reached that speed I no longer had ANY power to speed up (towing, that is). I could slam it to the floor and basically got no response from the throttle. That was one of the only two things I hated about the Dodge. It wouldn't tow and speed up acceptably, and it did not have 4 doors. I traded for a 2001 Ford 250 PSD Crewcab and it has done well, but I find myself strangely attracted to the 03 Dodge now that it has 4 true doors. However, I do not want to make the same mistake again. Any ideas?<br><br>Joe

PHONSE

jgilbert : Watch out for those four doors ! They are a foot shorter then the FORD 350 CREW CAB. Guess thats why they call yhem &quot; QUAD-CAB&quot; . THE QUAD-CAB is only 10 3/4&quot; bigger then my wifes F-150 SUPER CAB.

jgilbert

[quote author=PHONSE link=board=11;threadid=11271;start=0#109482 date=1046303810]<br> jgilbert : Watch out for those four doors ! They are a foot shorter then the FORD 350 CREW CAB. Guess thats why they call yhem &quot; QUAD-CAB&quot; . THE QUAD-CAB is only 10 3/4&quot; bigger then my wifes F-150 SUPER CAB.<br>[/quote]<br><br>Phonse,<br><br>I know that the Dodge 4 door cab is no match for the Ford 4 door cab roomwise. But, I don't usually have anyone with the wife and I on camping trips of distance so having less room is not a problem. Plus, the separate doors makes it sooooo much easier to put stuff in the back seat. <br><br>Joe

RATTLINRAM

[quote author=jgilbert link=board=11;threadid=11271;start=0#109390 date=1046284267]<br><br>Dennis,<br><br>I had a 2000 Ram 2500 CTD with 3.54's and auto that had a dead spot around 65-70 mph. Once i reached that speed I no longer had ANY power to speed up (towing, that is). I could slam it to the floor and basically got no response from the throttle. That was one of the only two things I hated about the Dodge. It wouldn't tow and speed up acceptably, and it did not have 4 doors. I traded for a 2001 Ford 250 PSD Crewcab and it has done well, but I find myself strangely attracted to the 03 Dodge now that it has 4 true doors. However, I do not want to make the same mistake again. Any ideas?<br><br>Joe<br>[/quote]<br><br>Joe,<br> So far, I have not experianced a &quot;dead spot&quot; as you describe except when pulling a grade in the mountains. On level ground I still have the capability to accelerate. Granted,,, it's no rocketship,,, but so far I have been happy with the performance. However, this is the first and only diesel that I have driven and it's no comparision to towing with my old gas motored F-150 (towing a 5,000lb.Nomad 5er).<br> I also think that I may be helping some by keeping the shorter 245 tires, rather than running the taller sized tires on the truck. I would like to add a PE EZ box to see how well this would improve the towing performance also.<br> So far, in all of my towing with the Ram, I have yet to have any other brand run away from me or pull beside me and wave as they roared off in a flash ,,,,,, (well there was this guy in TN with a first gen Ram that was towing a 28' enclosed trailer,,,,,,, but I told the wife &quot;it must be empty&quot;!) : Plus taking into consideration that about 85-90% of my miles are back and forth to work on the freeways running empty, the 3.54's work out well for me. ;D

moss2904

I have a fifth wheel RV about the same weight as you mention. I have the 6 speed with 3.73's. My truck is delighted to pull at 70 mph. I think it would even like to go faster but that seems plenty fast to me.<br> I also think you should get the one ton if you are going to pull a fifth wheel that weighs 11,500 lbs.

GrandpasRam

For the weight you are talking, I strongly recommend the 1 ton, either SRW or DRW. I selected the DRW to improve handling with the 5er in cross-winds. An SRW will be a little easier to park in parking lots. Notice in my sig that I chose 3.73's, due to the fact that most of the time I run empty, but it still will do great for the 5er I pull (10,500 lbs. loaded), with a 1700 lb. hitch weight. When you look at the specs, a 1 ton has about 4000 lbs cargo weight, so the 1700 hitch weight just makes it ride nice, while that same weight is getting close to the limits of a 3/4 ton. Just my $.02; you'll be happier in the long run with a 1 ton.