2025 Ram trucks

[WinterDeere]

That was 10 pages of wasted time....

9.9 pages, until you contributed. But you really turned it around!

 

[bmaverick]

9.9 pages, until you contributed. But you really turned it around!

9.99999 fine silver.

 

[nisaacs]

So, anyone else feel dangerous and buy a first year truck? I did, love the 8spd. '25, 2500 Bighorn, white, 4x4 short bed. Installed, Westin steps, Mopar HD mud flaps, air bags and power hop damper kit. Drove it 600 empty miles for rear axle break in, dumped the oem 75/85 gear oil and filled it with 75/140 and put'er to work.

I hauled three loads of cinders today, gonna keep this truck, Lol. What a beast (coming from an SO) It is flat out, power on demand. The exhaust brake will hold back to about 9 mph. Between it and the transmission, the hills (big ones) just get shut down. One short steep hill by the pit on the highway, 6 or 7%, about a quarter mile long is no problem shutting it down. My 21, I would set the cruise at 48 (45 mph limit) and it would gain to about 54 mph. This one, same setting, it holds it 48-49 mph.

It does have an annoying issue in 3rd or 4th, i can't see the gear numbers very well, it is very faint, same with the clock. But the issue is, it holds that gear too long. You keep backing off the gas and it just still hangs right there, way too long. I quit using tow/haul except in the pit, it is awesome there. Pulling the empty trailer, the issue is not there but with a load, even with tow haul off, it will still do it. It is more controllable with the right foot however. Its like the transmission knows there is resistance/weight and it tries to adjust for it. The transmission is just super smooth, not ever a clunky shift.

I have a lot to learn, the electronics are complicated for me. Sometimes when I am backing up a smidge or shifting back to forward I do something wrong and it automatic parks...

Hauled (12) 3x3x8 fresh cut alfalfa bales to a customer. As soon as I moved I knew I was heavy so I stopped at the gravel pit and weighed it. 27,460, tare 15,150, net 12,310 or 1025# per bale. I also picked up 6 ton of playground sand for a customer. Did I say I like this truck

 

[Hay Dude]

Glad you like it.
I looked at the specs on the new 5500 and decided to hold on to my ‘20 5500.
There wasn’t enough improvement to get me into the dealership.
I’m gonna sit the fence and extend the warranty on mine a few more years. It does the job perfectly and still runs like new.

 

[tacticalturnip]

My good friend just traded his '22? 2500 in for a '25 3500 and he absolutely loves it.

Damn near the same truck, but a nice gray, and the loaded end of the Tradesman versus the lower end.

 

[Hay Dude]

I like the new transmission and improved Cummins, but why build a truck who's identity was literally built on towing with no improvement on towing? I read somewhere the towing specs actually went down a bit.

 

[tacticalturnip]

Oh, a big improvement for him, it's got a column shifter.

 

[dieselscout80]

No. Because the same would be true for naturally aspirated trucks, too.
A 6cyl NA truck makes more torque at low RPM than a V-8
A 6cyl turbo diesel truck would make more torque at low RPM than a turbo diesel V-8.


Can’t wait for someone to sho a picture of a diesel v-8 with turbos. There’s like 10 of them left in the USA.

I agree with all of this except the last statement.

Cummins 903 is alive and well as every Bradley and Paliden has them. I am sure there are others too.

 

[WinterDeere]

Oh, a big improvement for him, it's got a column shifter.

I only drive a 1/2 ton these days, but that stupid round shifter knob is the only thing I really dislike about my Ram pickup. It is one of the dumbest user-interface device decisions ever made by a car company, and I'm amazed they stuck by it as long as they did.

Column shifters have been around and ingrained into our muscle memory for nearly 100 years, and I've never heard anyone ever say, "I'd buy that truck, if only they could replace that column shifter with a second volume knob next to the radio."

 

[Hay Dude]

I only drive a 1/2 ton these days, but that stupid round shifter knob is the only thing I really dislike about my Ram pickup. It is one of the dumbest user-interface device decisions ever made by a car company, and I'm amazed they stuck by it as long as they did.

Column shifters have been around and ingrained into our muscle memory for nearly 100 years, and I've never heard anyone ever say, "I'd buy that truck, if only they could replace that column shifter with a second volume knob next to the radio."

I hate the column shifter lever. It has to be the most dated, room consuming, useless device on a truck or cars interior. The colum shift lever isn’t even connected to a cable anymore, its just a huge, stupid electric switch!!! Don’t even ask me about how it covers access to other switches or readouts to the right of the steering column.
While I have heard others complain about the rotary know, at least they tried to eliminate that stupid 2 foot long, waste of space column shifter.
I have always like the Allison keypad, like the one in my International.
Takes up ZERO space, requires less effort, it includes a digital readout and self diagnostics.
Column shift levers suck, too. lol

 

[Hay Dude]

I agree with all of this except the last statement.

Cummins 903 is alive and well as every Bradley and Paliden has them. I am sure there are others too.

Do a lot of people drive those? Are they a common, everyday truck?
Theres a huge CAT V-8 and a Mack V-8, too, but they are crazy uncommon.

 

[nisaacs]

I like the new transmission and improved Cummins, but why build a truck who's identity was literally built on towing with no improvement on towing? I read somewhere the towing specs actually went down a bit.

When I ordered it, the standard GVW was 10,190, options was 10K. They must have had a mid year change, mine is 11040, 3070 payload, so tare is 7970.

Went on a good round trip run Thursday, 398 miles, display said 20.2, math was 19.7. I am fine with that.

The transmission takes forever to warm up to what appears to be operating temp, 154 degrees. 200 miles to my turnaround, it finally reached operating temp. It was 72 degrees ambient. Then on the return as the ambient started dropping as I climbed the Continental Divide the transmission temps started dropping. On top, for about 30 miles the ambient was 66 degrees, transmission dropped to 138. When you stop for a few minutes the temps will rise slightly. The pan has cooling fins so they must work.

I really like the slide out mirrors, fully extended is perfect for 7' wide dump sides. I can see it might be an issue with a 8'-8.5' RV or box trailer, they only slide out about 3". Even the flip ups were too narrow for the 8.5' wide loads. The spot mirror is even electric.

The transmission stayed at 154 degrees all day. When you shut down for a few minutes it will go up to about 160, like the heat soak from the engine block heats it up some. I forgot to check the rear axle temps, I have a load of hay and sand to deliver today, I will try not to forget.

When you plug in the trailer the lights will self check. Thats cool, just walk to the back and watch it check them all. The exhaust brake shuts off every time you shut down, my '21 stayed on. With the trailer hooked up the rear park sense shuts off, that makes sense.

The preheater must be recalibrated from my '21. Even at 50 degrees it starts immediately, then the light comes on for a few seconds. The '21 always wanted to preheat. The exhaust has a slight rumble/growl to it when you pull hard, kinda cool.

 

[WinterDeere]

I hate the column shifter lever...

I'll agree the column shifter isn't exactly the best solution, but it's nowhere near as bad as a rotary knob. Of the two, it's the lesser of two evils.

In approximately 35 years of driving, I have NEVER shifted any other vehicle into park or the opposite direciton of travel while rolling, but I have done it literally countless times in that one truck, due to that stupid knob. The system is smart enough to lock out the command when you're rolling too fast (10 mph?), but when you're doing just parking lot maneuvering speed it will happily shift into park while you're rolling backwards, not knowing you intended to shift toward neutral instead.

I've also shifted it into reverse or park at highway speed, meaning to grab and spin the radio volume down in a hurry, but thankfully the stupid thing just blinks the park light while you crap your pants and shift back to drive.

I prefer manual transmission, but given that's no longer an option, at least give me a friggin console shifter. I know it's just a switch, but the animalistic muscle memory part of my lizard brain doesn't care.

 

[Engineer42]

I'll agree the column shifter isn't exactly the best solution, but it's nowhere near as bad as a rotary knob. In approximately 35 years of driving, I have NEVER shifted any other vehicle into park or the opposite direciton of travel while rolling, but I have done it literally countless times in that one truck.

The system is smart enough to lock out the command when you're rolling too fast (10 mph?), but when you're doing just parking lot maneuvering speed it will happily shift into park while you're rolling backwards, not knowing you intended to shift toward neutral instead.

I've also shifted it into park at highway speed, meaning to grab and spin the radio volume down in a hurry, but thankfully the stupid thing just blinks the park light while you crap your pants and shift back to drive.

Yeah, I bet that would cause things to come tight, lol.

 

[dodge man]

I’m also not a fan of the rotary dial. For some reason it’s better for me on my wife’s car where it’s in the console. When we had Rams at work the dial on the dash bothered me.

 

[TMGT]

When I ordered it, the standard GVW was 10,190, options was 10K. They must have had a mid year change, mine is 11040, 3070 payload, so tare is 7970.

Went on a good round trip run Thursday, 398 miles, display said 20.2, math was 19.7. I am fine with that.

The transmission takes forever to warm up to what appears to be operating temp, 154 degrees. 200 miles to my turnaround, it finally reached operating temp. It was 72 degrees ambient. Then on the return as the ambient started dropping as I climbed the Continental Divide the transmission temps started dropping. On top, for about 30 miles the ambient was 66 degrees, transmission dropped to 138. When you stop for a few minutes the temps will rise slightly. The pan has cooling fins so they must work.

I really like the slide out mirrors, fully extended is perfect for 7' wide dump sides. I can see it might be an issue with a 8'-8.5' RV or box trailer, they only slide out about 3". Even the flip ups were too narrow for the 8.5' wide loads. The spot mirror is even electric.

The transmission stayed at 154 degrees all day. When you shut down for a few minutes it will go up to about 160, like the heat soak from the engine block heats it up some. I forgot to check the rear axle temps, I have a load of hay and sand to deliver today, I will try not to forget.

When you plug in the trailer the lights will self check. Thats cool, just walk to the back and watch it check them all. The exhaust brake shuts off every time you shut down, my '21 stayed on. With the trailer hooked up the rear park sense shuts off, that makes sense.

The preheater must be recalibrated from my '21. Even at 50 degrees it starts immediately, then the light comes on for a few seconds. The '21 always wanted to preheat. The exhaust has a slight rumble/growl to it when you pull hard, kinda cool.

Im glad Ram is finally going away from the flip up mirrors, I can't tell you how many times I haven't flipped them up because I have to readjust them every time and they look ridiculous flipped up when you're not towing.

I always liked the "elephant ears" on my old F550, I could slide them in and out for larger trailers without having to readjust them.

I still can't justify a newer truck, but it looks like Ram is fixing a lot of the little things I don't like on my '07.

I have been throwing around the idea of getting another older F650 for heavier towing as I really enjoyed driving my 05 rollback I had.