Ram 2500 4x4 Cummins-opinions

[Raspy]

My first set of factory Transforce 275s were pretty much shot at 19,000 miles. I then went to Toyo AT2 in the same size. Real good tires and I have run a number of sets of those on my other truck too.

Then I went to a set of Toyos in the 295 size. But they could not get them balanced. Discount tires tried four times at different shops and they were still not right. So I went back and told them to take them off and refund my money for defective tires. They did and I got a set of Michelin defenders in 295/70/18.

These are wonderful tires. Very long lasting, absolutely round and smooth running. Will carry any load the truck is capable of. They aren't aggressive off-road tires, but have been excellent for everything I've done.

The only problem was the gearing. In my thinking, the truck was already geared to high with the 3.42 ratio. With the bigger meats, it was annoying to drive, would not pull anything in 6th, was always hunting for gears. Sixth became useless with any towing, headwinds or slight grades, and I would just lock it out most of the time.

So I re-geared to 4.10 and fixed it. Perfect gearing. Now 6th, with the taller tires, is just a little higher than 5th was with stock tires. Again, perfect. 1st is more aggressive, the truck runs up through the gears better, 6th can actually build boost and pull reasonable grades and there has been no noticeable drop in mileage. In fact, it may have improved a bit. The truck has about an inch more ground clearance and the tires fill the wheel wells better.

 

[deerefan]

If you don’t mind me asking, who did the regear and what was the cost? Thanks for the tire info.

 

[MickeyDBC]

A quick update on my 2014 2500. Right after Christmas the truck started losing turbo boost and the exhaust brake so it went into the shop for that and a couple of fresh recalls. Turned out the turbo actuator had failed ($3800) but was mostly covered under warranty (mostly, wth?). Also got the front end aligned because it was eating front tires again and the steering wheel was going off center - they said that it was out of adjustment but I suspect that it was the drag link adjuster backing off. 93K miles and they said that I needed to replace the front and rear brakes, the ball joints were getting loose and should be done, and replacing the rear suspension bushings should fix the "loose rearend" feel that it was developing. My wife said that I should just replace the truck.

Traded it in on a 2019 F350 DRW XLT. I had been casually looking at trucks online for a few months and knew I wanted a one ton long bed this time. Aisin transmission Rams are hard to find here and the 68RFE 3500s do not add much in towing over the 2500. Spoke with a GM mechanic that I know and he said that they are having the blues with the new series Duramax engine control systems. Also looks like they have encrypted the computers so you cannot delete them down the road if you need to. Went with the XLT because I wanted the cloth interior (the Lariat bonded leather did not hold up well) .

Comparison between the Ram and Ford. The Ford is a lot quieter on the inside - less wind, road, and engine noise. The Ram front seats are a little more comfortable, but the rear seat in the Ford is huge and folds up to a flat floor that the dogs and kids really like. The console in the Ford locks and is big enough to hold a laptop, the factory bedliner seems to be thicker and nicer done, and the tie downs and bed lights are better. There is no comparison between the Ram and Ford mirrors - the Ford mirrors are better and no more blind spots with the Ram's folded in. Mine has the surround cameras and they are great in tight spots. Despite both being 6.7 diesels the engines feel totally different. The Cummins had better low end torque but the Ford with it's wonderful transmission is a lot faster on acceleration and much less throttle lag. Also no more "dead throttle" when you are accelerating, have to let off the throttle, and then when you press it again nothing happens for a couple of seconds. Mileage wise the Ford and Ram are about the same in town (13.5 to 14.5 hand calculated) but on the highway the Ram would get about 18 while the Ford is only getting about 16 now. I also love the 48 gallon tank on the Ford.

 

[Ford850]

A quick update on my 2014 2500. Right after Christmas the truck started losing turbo boost and the exhaust brake so it went into the shop for that and a couple of fresh recalls. Turned out the turbo actuator had failed ($3800) but was mostly covered under warranty (mostly, wth?). Also got the front end aligned because it was eating front tires again and the steering wheel was going off center - they said that it was out of adjustment but I suspect that it was the drag link adjuster backing off. 93K miles and they said that I needed to replace the front and rear brakes, the ball joints were getting loose and should be done, and replacing the rear suspension bushings should fix the "loose rearend" feel that it was developing. My wife said that I should just replace the truck.

Traded it in on a 2019 F350 DRW XLT. I had been casually looking at trucks online for a few months and knew I wanted a one ton long bed this time. Aisin transmission Rams are hard to find here and the 68RFE 3500s do not add much in towing over the 2500. Spoke with a GM mechanic that I know and he said that they are having the blues with the new series Duramax engine control systems. Also looks like they have encrypted the computers so you cannot delete them down the road if you need to. Went with the XLT because I wanted the cloth interior (the Lariat bonded leather did not hold up well) .

Comparison between the Ram and Ford. The Ford is a lot quieter on the inside - less wind, road, and engine noise. The Ram front seats are a little more comfortable, but the rear seat in the Ford is huge and folds up to a flat floor that the dogs and kids really like. The console in the Ford locks and is big enough to hold a laptop, the factory bedliner seems to be thicker and nicer done, and the tie downs and bed lights are better. There is no comparison between the Ram and Ford mirrors - the Ford mirrors are better and no more blind spots with the Ram's folded in. Mine has the surround cameras and they are great in tight spots. Despite both being 6.7 diesels the engines feel totally different. The Cummins had better low end torque but the Ford with it's wonderful transmission is a lot faster on acceleration and much less throttle lag. Also no more "dead throttle" when you are accelerating, have to let off the throttle, and then when you press it again nothing happens for a couple of seconds. Mileage wise the Ford and Ram are about the same in town (13.5 to 14.5 hand calculated) but on the highway the Ram would get about 18 while the Ford is only getting about 16 now. I also love the 48 gallon tank on the Ford.

It sounds like you did the right thing, with so many recalls and trips back to the dealer with your 'old' truck, and turbo issues are expensive. I think Ford has a great HD line going right now, and that's the reason they only did tweaks on the latest version compared to major changes by GM and Ram. Their inhouse designs are working well together.

 

[Raspy]

If you don稚 mind me asking, who did the regear and what was the cost? Thanks for the tire info.

My re-gear included a new front carrier assembly, required for the 4.10 gears vs the 3.42 setup in the AAM axle. I had it done at a differential shop in Carson City, NV

Since I had 140,000 miles on it, I included new front axle Ujoints, and the old ones were shot.

They used OEM gears and bearings. And they used OEM Ujoints saying the greasable ones are not good enough steel. All new bearings and seals.

The cost was $3,000. out the door. This was higher than a couple of the bids I got, but this is a real gear shop and they do excellent work.

I was starting to get a bit of a hum from the rear diff under light throttle at about 50 MPH. So I was wondering if a bearing was getting worn. The AAM axles are an excellent and very tough design, so I was a bit surprised. The limited slip was starting to do the typical chatter that they do at about 100,000 miles, and I can feel it with the break-in oil. So that will get fixed with the 75-140 synthetic I put in next.

Overall, I love the gearing. It should be available as an option of the SRW trucks.

 

[deerefan]

My re-gear included a new front carrier assembly, required for the 4.10 gears vs the 3.42 setup in the AAM axle. I had it done at a differential shop in Carson City, NV

Since I had 140,000 miles on it, I included new front axle Ujoints, and the old ones were shot.

They used OEM gears and bearings. And they used OEM Ujoints saying the greasable ones are not good enough steel. All new bearings and seals.

The cost was $3,000. out the door. This was higher than a couple of the bids I got, but this is a real gear shop and they do excellent work.

I was starting to get a bit of a hum from the rear diff under light throttle at about 50 MPH. So I was wondering if a bearing was getting worn. The AAM axles are an excellent and very tough design, so I was a bit surprised. The limited slip was starting to do the typical chatter that they do at about 100,000 miles, and I can feel it with the break-in oil. So that will get fixed with the 75-140 synthetic I put in next.

Overall, I love the gearing. It should be available as an option of the SRW trucks.

That is a good price. I have read about the limited slip chatter and plan to address at my next oil change. I have put 12k miles on her since Nov 1.

 

[Raspy]

I've been talking about the chatter for years. My '04 did it too. I tried the 140w oil and it fixed it, so I recommended it online and a bunch of other guys did it too. Never heard a bad response and it worked for them too.

You might be able to add "friction modifier", used in the Dana limited slip diffs instead, but I prefer the 140w. The only downsides are a little more HP loss through the differential gears, and possibly less effective locking. But the chattering is annoying and probably not good for the limited slip gears.

Definitely go with full synthetic.

If you are living in an extremely cold climate, I'd stay with the 75W 90, unless towing hard or dealing with the chatter.

 

[deerefan]

I have owned the truck nearly 4 months and have put 12k miles on it. Everything has been great so far. I pulled a nice load of 6 12’ long 30-36” dia oak logs to a lumber mill today. Not the heaviest, the dozer wins that award, but still pretty heavy. Did it with no issue. To give you some insight, I do small civil jobs on the side and haul for folks that need it, a part-time hotshot, but only people I know well. My full time gig is in project management for a large commercial contractor. This truck has really made me some good money so far, hopefully that continues. I am ordering filters from Geno’s Garage tomorrow along with their 2 sided fuel filter wrench. Any one use their wrench? Thoughts?

 

[wmonroe]

I have a 2017 and have changed filters once. I bought the Genos single end water in fuel sensor wrench and the 28mm??? socket for the fuel filter canister. Where the canister is located on the engine I thought it would be easier with the socket and extensions than the wrench. I’ve changed filters once and the socket worked well but I can’t say if it’s better/easier than the dogbone wrench would have been. One thing I did after the fact is buy some clear tubing to I can extend the drains to the ground to make it easier/less messy. One other thing when draining the engine mounted filter, leave the drain open even after it stops flowing. If you close the drain and then loosen the lid the canister is still almost full and will make a mess. Leave the drain open and slowly loosen the lid and once the seal breaks the rest of the fuel will drain.
I buy all my filters from genos, they might now be the cheapest but their customer service is top notch. I had an issue with a product and their response was better than I could have asked for.

 

[Monster5601]

I am ordering filters from Geno’s Garage tomorrow along with their 2 sided fuel filter wrench. Any one use their wrench? Thoughts?

++ using Geno's. One thing for sure about them, you will get original Mopar filters. There seems to be a lot of "knock-offs" on the market these days at prices too good to be true. Well, you know what they say...

The Geno's wrench doesn't seem to appetizing to me. The first time I changed the filters (both fuel and oil) were the most difficult because it was my first time and I swear, the plant had the Hulk tight the filters. Too bad they didn't use him on the drag link instead.