10,000 mile RAM 5500 report

[Hay Dude]

Will say that the computer on my 2019 is just a little over the actual mileage on all highway use. Local driving it will be a couple miles per gallon high, about 20% in my case. I suspect it has issues with use of fuel when idling?

I dont idle at all. Theres conflicting reports on the good/bad of idling, but if its going to be more than 2 minutes, it gets shut down.

 

[fried1765]

I dont idle at all. Theres conflicting reports on the good/bad of idling, but if its going to be more than 2 minutes, it gets shut down.

UPS shuts down for EVERY stop!

 

[nikerret]

My truck is set up as follows: Ram 5500 crew cab 4x4 with a 9’ aluminum flatbed with (4) tool boxes. 40,000lb rated gooseneck hitch and a 20,000lb rated bumper pull hitch. It weighs 10,500lbs with a tank of fuel.
Trailer: Kaufman 38,500lb 35’ gooseneck with 3” ball. Max load capacity is 14 tons. Typical load is 12 tons of hay or a 10,000lb-20,000lb farm tractor.
I am ordering a 20,000lb deck over dump trailer as soon as they start making them again (due to Covid, most have discontinued deck over dumps).
I do both hand calc mileage and the trucks computer and so far the computer is spot on.

Nice setup! What brand is the bed? How well is the Kaufman holding up? I’m looking at them, currently, but a lighter class. What dump trailer brand are you leaning toward?

 

[Hay Dude]

Nice setup! What brand is the bed? How well is the Kaufman holding up? I’m looking at them, currently, but a lighter class. What dump trailer brand are you leaning toward?

Brand of bed: EBY
How well is Kaufman holding up: Pretty well. Very strong. As with most trailers, wishing for better paint. For the price, they are unbeatable.
What brand dump trailer: PJ, Load Trail, or Titan. PJ & Load Trail have stopped their deck over assembly lines until further notice. Titan will build but theres some difficulty with them, too. Very few of the deck over dumps are a full 96" or wider inside.

 

[Hay Dude]

UPS shuts down for EVERY stop!

If I run any diesel hot, I always idle down a few minutes to keep oil from turning to coke in the turbo bearings.

 

[TMGT]

A lot of delivery vehicles have a timer now, after a few min in park they will alarm then shut off anyways. Delt with that on a FedEx truck the other day that was having problems, have also seen the UPS trucks do it.

The FedEx was an older truck. 5.9 cummins.

 

[Redlands Okie]

Thats the bad thing about some of this EPA stuff. Save some fumes and fuel, spend way more on engine repairs along with the pollution for manufacturing and shipping the parts.

 

[nikerret]

Brand of bed: EBY
How well is Kaufman holding up: Pretty well. Very strong. As with most trailers, wishing for better paint. For the price, they are unbeatable.
What brand dump trailer: PJ, Load Trail, or Titan. PJ & Load Trail have stopped their deck over assembly lines until further notice. Titan will build but theres some difficulty with them, too. Very few of the deck over dumps are a full 96" or wider inside.

View attachment 694317

Damn, that’s a nice setup. Looks like your truck isn’t squatting much, if any. With that deck on the neck, you could fit a few more bales. That might squat it, some!

 

[Hay Dude]

Damn, that’s a nice setup. Looks like your truck isn’t squatting much, if any. With that deck on the neck, you could fit a few more bales. That might squat it, some!

Nope, won’t squat it at all. Levels, but not squats. This load was ~47,000lbs

Try that with an ecoboost lol

 

[Hay Dude]

Thats the bad thing about some of this EPA stuff. Save some fumes and fuel, spend way more on engine repairs along with the pollution for manufacturing and shipping the parts.

Yeah, mines “Certified Clean Idle”
Shuts off pretty quick if you leave unattended.

 

[bdog]

Are the tow ratings on these things still screwy? When I was looking at rams maybe three years ago the 3500 dually was rated by ram to be able to tow more than the 5500. Made no sense to me. The 5500 was rated for massively more payload capacity but less towing.

 

[Hay Dude]

Are the tow ratings on these things still screwy? When I was looking at rams maybe three years ago the 3500 dually was rated by ram to be able to tow more than the 5500. Made no sense to me. The 5500 was rated for massively more payload capacity but less towing.

No, now it makes sense. 4500/5500 rated to tow a bit more 43,000 GCWR
GM's 3500 has higher GCWR than GM 4500/5500/6500
Really stupid, otherwise I may have bought one. I didnt like the size of the truck for everyday driving, either.

 

[gtbensley]

How come you are looking for a deck over dump trailer? Or are you going goose neck dual tires and axles big boy?

Nice truck. Have always loved the idea of a 5500 or f550. Have no practical use for one though.

Gentleman on the cummins forum bought a 5500 and single rear swapped it, full kedlman air ride, and had a pickup bed made for it. Pretty nifty setup.

 

[crashz]

Thanks for sharing Hay Dude! That is a nice looking rig you have.

The new Rams are just nice looking trucks and seemingly well built. I'd love a new Cummins powered rig, but its a bit out of my price range

 

[Hay Dude]

Thanks for sharing Hay Dude! That is a nice looking rig you have.

The new Rams are just nice looking trucks and seemingly well built. I'd love a new Cummins powered rig, but its a bit

How come you are looking for a deck over dump trailer? Or are you going goose neck dual tires and axles big boy?

Nice truck. Have always loved the idea of a 5500 or f550. Have no practical use for one though.

Gentleman on the cummins forum bought a 5500 and single rear swapped it, full kedlman air ride, and had a pickup bed made for it. Pretty nifty setup.

Thanks, Crashz. Get an older Cummins powered truck. They are really nice pullers, too.

gtbensley- I want a deck over dump so I can haul 4x5 round bales butted together in a double row, then stack a second row on top. The 7' wide dump trailers wont do that. Also like having the fold down sides, for my pallets of materials. The way things are going, it wont be a possibility until late summer. PJ has shut down deck overs. Most others are not actually 8' wide inside. Very few build anything above 16K GVWR. I'd like something over 20k GVWR for stone.
I am starting to shift to a "plan B" of buying 2 trailers instead of the one 20k deck over dump:
(1) a 14-16k deck over 8x20 bumper pull for the smaller loads of hay
(2) a 7' wide dump (with fenders on the outside). The 8x16 deck over dump I want is $20,000 from PJ. I can do the plan B, 2 trailer scenario for a few thousand less and use the bumper pull to replace my aging equipment trailer.
Might make more sense in the long run.
Its a lot to think about and hay season is about to hit like a sunami.

 

[gtbensley]

Sounds logical. I used a smaller 8x16 deck over with folding sides to haul firewood last fall. Worked great for that but was a little overkill for my 2500....and I had debates bout how well the folding sides would hold up. One good hit to bend them out of place and they won't be folding very well. Believe Suretrac was the maker of it.

Plan B sounds like a good option from here.....more trails always seems better.

I have a baby 7x10 7k dump and use it for everything. Next trailer will be a 7x12 12k however. I run out of weight too quickly.