What is the best setup for hauling 5th wheel campers ?

[RaceC]

For a perspective from someone who is a hotshot driver, contact http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/member.php?u=417377. His signature used to have a link to "Why I drive the rig I drive".

He could probably link you to it or at least explain it. I suspect his objective is to stay below 26000 pounds GCVWR.

His truck is a Ram 2500, 2wd, air leveling suspension. And he drives a lot of miles hauling RVs.

PS. I looked for the forum rules, to make sure posting that link is not a violation, and could not find them.

 

[smittyd174]

Hi I've got a 2016 6' box srw 6.7 cummins 3.42 axle and aisin transmission. I chose the 3500 over the 2500 for 1 reason pin weight. I tow a 39 ft 5th wheel 14000lbs and around 2300 lbs on the pin which maxed out a 2500.Also don't get the ram box and get the 5th wheel prep kit.Single or dual rears up to you. I use a slidder hitch but haven't needed that feature yet. My trailer drops the rear about 1 " so the truck is level. The fuel mileage is about half when towing. I hear people *****in about fuel mileage but I can't complain as my last long empty highway run I averaged 9.6 l per 100 km or 24.5 mpg US. Only you can decide but I did alot of reserch before my purchase because the salespeople don't know their products. good luck.

 

[Blackhawk7204]

OK, How do you get 24.5 MPG empty? The first 2 Rams I test drove were 2018 3500 4x4 crew cabs with the 6.7 cummins and a 3.42 rear end and they both got only 18.4 MPG at 70 MPH on the interstate on flat ground. The 3500 dually 4x4 with a mega cab and the 4.10 rear end only got 15.6 MPG.

 

[smittyd174]

I live in Canada and speed limits on highways vary from province to province and range between 55-65 mph. I'm not sure how speeding tickets work in the states but up here the fines are ridiculous anď your licence is suspended.. Driving the limit is probably why. By the way I only tow recreationally and the setup I have works great the truck has lots of power no issues on hills very impressed but for work and full time towing you will have to decide what you require.

 

[smittyd174]

Something I should say is that does seem about right for a new truck.Mine has 52000kms or 30000 miles . My mileage has gotten better since it was new . Stopping and starting and short trips kill the mileage . That was the best I ever got and it was a 14 hour run only stopping to eat use restroom and 1 stop for fuel. Normal trips 1-2 hours probably around 21-22mpg. Ease up on the right foot and you will be fine.

 

[gsbrockman]

Don't get sucked into the 3.73 compromise theory.

This coming from someone that hasn’t accrued 337K miles of towing and bob-tailing miles w/3.73’s

 

[NIsaacs]

To the "you should be able to run all the gears" people. Do Semi's run in top gear when loaded??? I'm thinking they have other gear or gears for running unoaded for mileage.

Big trucks typically have 10+ gears, Ram's have 6, so you need them all. If you are going to haul commercial why buy less than the Max tow? Buy some margin for when you do need it. If he goes hot shot with a big gooseneck, he will need it.

Nick

 

[NIsaacs]

OK, How do you get 24.5 MPG empty? The first 2 Rams I test drove were 2018 3500 4x4 crew cabs with the 6.7 cummins and a 3.42 rear end and they both got only 18.4 MPG at 70 MPH on the interstate on flat ground. The 3500 dually 4x4 with a mega cab and the 4.10 rear end only got 15.6 MPG.

You can't get a true fuel mileage average on a short test drive, plus your are probably using the evic, ya gotta do the math. Winter fuel will always be less than summer fuel. Big trucks use fuel, even small ones. My '01 (2500) with a gcw of only 19k gets 11.78 for the summer average, running the Rocky Mountain states. At freeway speeds, empty, I will get 17 mpg winter and 19 mpg summer. My truck weighs 7600 lbs equipped to tow, A new dually off the lot will be heavier than that.

Nick

Nick

 

[SnoKing]

To understand Ron's argument on 3.42 or 4.10 you do not have to look much further than the 3.54 or 4.10 second gen auto's. The 3.54 guys had to tow in direct(not OD) and the 4.10 guys like me had no true freeway gear. So the 3rd gens had a compromise 3.73 gear set for the auto.

Along came the 68RFE and it sort of fixed the situation. THEN along came the Aisin with lower 1st and 2nd gears and the circle was closed. One can have their cake and eat it to!

4.10's and the Aisin tow fine in 6th gear and have 1st as a spare gear in all but the heaviest tows starting on a hill.
3.42's tow fine in 5th gear, leaving 6th as a freeway cruising gear.
3.73 would put you between two gears, towing slower in 5th(or spinning extra RPMs in 5th) or faster in 6th(or below required RPMs in 6th).

 

[kthaxton]

To understand Ron's argument on 3.42 or 4.10 you do not have to look much further than the 3.54 or 4.10 second gen auto's. The 3.54 guys had to tow in direct(not OD) and the 4.10 guys like me had no true freeway gear. So in 3rd gens had a compromise 3.73 gear set for the auto.

Along came the 68RFE and it sort of fixed the situation. THEN along came the Aisin with lower 1st and 2nd gears and the circle was closed. One can have their cake and eat it to!

4.10's and the Aisin tow fine in 6th gear and have 1st as a spare gear in all but the heaviest tows starting on a hill.
3.42's tow fine in 5th gear, leaving 6th as a freeway cruising gear.
3.73 would put you between two gears, towing slower in 5th(or spinning extra RPMs in 5th) or faster in 6th(or below required RPMs in 6th).

This thought process requires one to assume that ONLY those two rpms (found by being in 5th and/or 6th gears, with 3.42/4.10) are usable, and nothing in between is. That is absurd.
With 3.73's vs 3.42, all it means is that when towing, each gear is more usable. It means (as you said) spinning more (not "extra") RPM in 5th.....which means it could hold 5th slightly longer up a big grade....it also means it could hold 6th slightly longer too. This is a good thing.

I wonder if the 3.73 guys would claim that their trucks just don't work right.

 

[SnoKing]

This thought process requires one to assume that ONLY those two rpms (found by being in 5th and/or 6th gears, with 3.42/4.10) are usable, and nothing in between is. That is absurd.
With 3.73's vs 3.42, all it means is that when towing, each gear is more usable. It means (as you said) spinning more (not "extra") RPM in 5th.....which means it could hold 5th slightly longer up a big grade....it also means it could hold 6th slightly longer too. This is a good thing.

I wonder if the 3.73 guys would claim that their trucks just don't work right.

I know this after 2.5 years and 39K with 3.42's and Aisin. If 3.73 would have been available, I would have mistakenly gone for them.

A lot of these miles are towing at 24,500+ lbs combined.

 

[Cummins12V98]

This coming from someone that hasn’t accrued 337K miles of towing and bob-tailing miles w/3.73’s

I was waiting for you to reply. What weight range do you haul combined?

Honest question give an honest answer. If your combined load would never exceed 29k would you get the 3.42's? If not give a reason why not.

 

[Cummins12V98]

"Ram's have 6, so you need them all."

That sure does not give a reason.

I'm betting SNOKING has not wished he has 6th to tow in since 5th puts him at 1,750 at 60mph.

 

[Cummins12V98]

I have never said that 3.73's won't do the job, I just think they would not be the best for under 29k nor best over 29k.

This guy wants to make MONEY, if he can run at a low RPM while going to his next load it will make his profits MUCH more.

 

[Tuesdak]

I would mostly be pulling large 5th wheel campers all over the U.S. and possibly even into Canada, and am considering later buying a large goose neck trailer to do some hot shot work as well .
I would be under a load as much as I can, but no less than 50% of the time.
This would be a work truck not a daily driver for personal use.

Buy your GN trailer NOW before the poor pay and high losses of hauling RV's bankrupts you and then you can't. Read your lease agreement to the broker - likely it's an exclusive to them lease and you will owe them 10% or more for any 'Hot-Shot' work you do on the side. You need to figure out commercial insurance coverage as well because you may not be covered for side work through the broker's insurance. Commercial insurance on your own is very expensive! Don't forget MC numbers and other DOT stuff to do it on your own... Again the biggest savings to be had starting out is going with a used work truck. We switched from bleeding cash hauling RV's to a daily route of delivering tires and auto parts all over the state. Took the last good credit we had to buy the cargo trailer. Regardless the 50% (or more unloaded miles - quit BSing yourself) unloaded miles is a huge loss. Do you live next to the yard you pick up the RV's at - that's close to 50% unloaded as you can get. This is why the driver turnover is so high for delivering RV's: people go broke and burn up their new pickups before they figure out there isn't any money in it. They are left upside down with 100-200K on pickups that are 1-2 years old, a high payment, thousands in needed things worn out repairs, and no way to get out of the high payment short of going bankrupt. When the fellow who won the new Dodge pickup is grumbling that they haven't made money hauling RV's yet...

We stepped into RV hauling just before the Great Depression V 2.0 hit. This doesn't change the numbers or hemorrhage of cash spending 1/2 your miles unloaded at the low pay. It just means there are loads out there to haul from the factory to the dealer. More than new factory to dealer: We hauled closing Dealer to Dealer, closing Dealer to Auction, Auction to used dealer, Repo yard to auction... Our 1993 has: over 1/4 million miles on it, thousands in repairs, more Elk than most hunter's guns, and IRS audit over several years that couldn't disagree with parts write offs, nevermind PIA DOT "logs" paperwork... But we own it and the bank couldn't take it away when it wasn't working. We purchased the 1993 CASH from back-pay from delivering parts. Frankly we went under and lost our 2008 when they didn't pay us for a month - out $200 a day in fuel adds up quick. Of course we quit over not being paid. They paid us upfront fuel every day when they had us work for them again. Parts showed up so they didn't care what hauled them. A Dodge blew a $1000 part the owner couldn't afford to replace, par for commercial hauling, so they called us to take the route over and again didn't care we had a 1993. The extreme lender negotiations to keep the unrepo'd cargo trailer including renting it out just for the payment were a sign of The Great Depression V2.0. Not saying it can't be done, but, adjust for the rose colored BS the recruiter is showing you.

 

[NIsaacs]

"Ram's have 6, so you need them all."

That sure does not give a reason.

I'm betting SNOKING has not wished he has 6th to tow in since 5th puts him at 1,750 at 60mph.

Why would anyone with a choice, want to go from 0-60 mph with 5 gears and 29k when they could do the same thing with 6 gears? Why in the world would you want to "save" a gear?

Nick

 

[SnoKing]

Why would anyone with a choice, want to go from 0-60 mph with 5 gears and 29k when they could do the same thing with 6 gears? Why in the world would you want to "save" a gear?

Nick

Because it (6th) provides a non towing second OD. With 4.10's and loads under that, 1st is a wasted gear period.

 

[Cummins12V98]

Because it (6th) provides a non towing second OD. With 4.10's and loads under that, 1st is a wasted gear period.

For someone who does not have what we have/had sure likes to argue about it.

I REPEAT up to 29K PER SAE ratings get the 3.42's the drivetrain WILL be fully warranted to 100K. OVER that get the 4.10's.

 

[NIsaacs]

With 4.10's and loads under that, 1st is a wasted gear period.

Huh? Tell that to TransEngineer and see how far you get.....I don't have enough education to try and reason with this thought process.

Nick

 

[Newsa]

No matter what I'm towing, I don't think I would get a 4.10 with an Aisin. A 4:10 only makes sense with a 68RFE or G56.

If going Aisin 3.73 is an excellent combo.

I test drove a 4:10 g56. But bought the 3.42 g56 without even test driving or blinking