Well I thought I could live with a gas truck for towing and have it do well for DD economy, hasn't been the case. 15 mpg DD and 9 mpg towing. Craptastic 66RFE transmission. I mean absolute crap. So today I'm saying buh-bye to my Hemi Ram - and I'm not really going to miss it.
The new tow pig is a 2011 Chevy 2500 HD crew cab with Duramax and Allison transmission. 4x4, LT package, 38k miles. Did quite well on my trade in and managed to beat them up pretty well on their price. As we all know, they still won, but I'm happy with the price I paid.
Gas mileage will be significantly better. With a good tune and dumping some of the emissions crap you can get 25 mpg easy. Big difference will come towing where my 9 mpg Hemi really sucked. Fuel costs will be fairly close to a wash with diesel being more expensive.
Highway speeds were a joke with the 66rfe trans behind the Hemi. Moderate uphill grades and it was dropping to 3rd gear near redline to maintain 70 mph.
IDK Duncan, my Commander with a HEMI does about 9-10 mpg when I trailer my TJ, but I can barley feel the load on the engine... Hills and such were not an issue especially when I got the tongue weight right...
1970 Jeepster- stock
2003 Jeep Rubicon 2" BDS Spring lift 35s and MCE fenders
2012 Jeep JKU 2.5' Terafkex spring lift, Rock Hard Bumpa, skids, BodyArmor4x4 sliders..
I averaged 15-16 in my 5.0L Ford pulling my friends '83 Caprice home or pulling the YJ.
Hills are a piece of cake with the tranny never shifting below 4th. Typically, it's 5th for long hills.
I have no brand loyalty though. My older Ford averaged about 10-11 MPG trailering the YJ to Moab.
I heard Nissan is going to run a 5.0L Cummins V8 soon. Nice engine, but I don't think I would get a Nissan unless they step up their quality (they only sold 10,000 Titans as of July this year).
Carl McFly wrote:X2, I agree with Joe. And not just because he's man candy
Glad it works for you, I guess I'm just biased. I've tasted the sweet fruit of towing with a diesel and I'm not sure I could be satisfied otherwise. One of the reasons I went with a 1/2 ton originally was fitting it into my driveway in Somerville. It was tight, definitely no way I would have for a 3/4 ton truck in there. I think the biggest issue is if I don't have a huge truck how will people know I have a huge....
Oh wait...it's not a Dodge... 
