Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
I added a page to my website commenting on my experiences with my 2004. 5 CTD-600 tow vehicle project. Much of the info is about mounting the PullRite Super 5th hitch. For anyone interested in reading the complete page, you can see it at http://www.klenger.net/dodge/project-600.html I posted this on the towing forum, but many of you may not visit that area, so I am posting here also.
Following is the summary from the report:
After installing the hitch, I was anxious to hook-up and see how everything worked. Of course by now, it's getting dark outside, but we went anyway. I decided on a short drive to TTT truck stop to get a CAT scale weighing on the truck with the trailer attached (2004 Ram Towing). Results with the camper dry, no tailgate on the truck, and me and the wife in the truck were 9520 lbs on the truck and total for truck and camper was 17,860 lbs. That puts us about 400 lbs under the 9900 lb. GVWR for the 3500 SRW, and about 3000 lbs below the GCWR of 21,000. After getting weighed, I decided to take a short trip to Benson AZ, about 35 miles one way with a few small hills on the way. I have been anxious to see how the Cummins 600 with the 3. 73 gears worked pulling the 5er. My 2001 truck has 4. 10 gears, so I was a bit concerned with the 3. 73s. All I can say is that somehow the Cummins seems to make power-on-demand based on the load because it towed great. I was able to make the whole trip in 6th gear running anywhere from 62 (1800 RPM) – 73 (2100 RPM) MPH (Excel Gear Speed Calculator). Pulling a small hill on the way back from Benson, I downshifted to 5th and was able to run about 60 MPH at 2400 RPM, which is a nice speed RPM for long grades.
The BrakeSmart controller seemed to work well. I didn't have much time to mess with it, but braking worked fine. I noticed that the current and voltage display was fluctuating so much that you can't get a good reading. I don't think this is normal and will have to look into it. The other minor irritation with the controller is that the buttons are not backlit. The display looks great day or night, but you can't see the buttons at all. This should not be much of a problem as you shouldn't need to mess with the settings once it is setup, but lighting them would be a nice product improvement.
Final comments: I love this truck. It has a lot of power, good gearing compromise between highway running empty and towing. I absolutely love the quiet and the Sirius radio. Steering and handling are much improved over the 2nd gen. Rough roads and speed bumps do not throw the truck all over the place like my ’01 did. I also noticed that the truck settles quite a bit more with a load than my ’01 did. The ’01 would settle about 1 ½” with the camper attached, and not even come close to the overload springs. The ’04. 5 3500 settled 3 ½” and was just sitting on the overloads. I assume that the primary springs are softer on the 3rd gens, which makes the ride nicer. Having the truck settle more really helps with 5th wheel clearance. I have about 6” bed to camper clearance with the camper level. All-in-all, I am very glad I made the move to the new truck. I was able to buy at dealer invoice, $2500 cash back, and 0% financing for 4 years. What more could you ask for? If I could order over again, I would choose the Atlantic Blue two-tone instead of the Deep Molten Red two-tone. I had Atlantic Blue on my ’01. 5 and didn't want to repeat the color. Oh well, the Deep Molten Red is nice, and appears to be the only color that now has an up-charge.
Following is the summary from the report:
After installing the hitch, I was anxious to hook-up and see how everything worked. Of course by now, it's getting dark outside, but we went anyway. I decided on a short drive to TTT truck stop to get a CAT scale weighing on the truck with the trailer attached (2004 Ram Towing). Results with the camper dry, no tailgate on the truck, and me and the wife in the truck were 9520 lbs on the truck and total for truck and camper was 17,860 lbs. That puts us about 400 lbs under the 9900 lb. GVWR for the 3500 SRW, and about 3000 lbs below the GCWR of 21,000. After getting weighed, I decided to take a short trip to Benson AZ, about 35 miles one way with a few small hills on the way. I have been anxious to see how the Cummins 600 with the 3. 73 gears worked pulling the 5er. My 2001 truck has 4. 10 gears, so I was a bit concerned with the 3. 73s. All I can say is that somehow the Cummins seems to make power-on-demand based on the load because it towed great. I was able to make the whole trip in 6th gear running anywhere from 62 (1800 RPM) – 73 (2100 RPM) MPH (Excel Gear Speed Calculator). Pulling a small hill on the way back from Benson, I downshifted to 5th and was able to run about 60 MPH at 2400 RPM, which is a nice speed RPM for long grades.
The BrakeSmart controller seemed to work well. I didn't have much time to mess with it, but braking worked fine. I noticed that the current and voltage display was fluctuating so much that you can't get a good reading. I don't think this is normal and will have to look into it. The other minor irritation with the controller is that the buttons are not backlit. The display looks great day or night, but you can't see the buttons at all. This should not be much of a problem as you shouldn't need to mess with the settings once it is setup, but lighting them would be a nice product improvement.
Final comments: I love this truck. It has a lot of power, good gearing compromise between highway running empty and towing. I absolutely love the quiet and the Sirius radio. Steering and handling are much improved over the 2nd gen. Rough roads and speed bumps do not throw the truck all over the place like my ’01 did. I also noticed that the truck settles quite a bit more with a load than my ’01 did. The ’01 would settle about 1 ½” with the camper attached, and not even come close to the overload springs. The ’04. 5 3500 settled 3 ½” and was just sitting on the overloads. I assume that the primary springs are softer on the 3rd gens, which makes the ride nicer. Having the truck settle more really helps with 5th wheel clearance. I have about 6” bed to camper clearance with the camper level. All-in-all, I am very glad I made the move to the new truck. I was able to buy at dealer invoice, $2500 cash back, and 0% financing for 4 years. What more could you ask for? If I could order over again, I would choose the Atlantic Blue two-tone instead of the Deep Molten Red two-tone. I had Atlantic Blue on my ’01. 5 and didn't want to repeat the color. Oh well, the Deep Molten Red is nice, and appears to be the only color that now has an up-charge.
Last edited:
Marty
