Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives towing with a Hemi

Anyone towing about 12,000 pounds with a 2019 2500 with a Hemi? Just wondering how it tows with the new 8 speed transmission. Does it have enough power pulling that weight ? Thanks for all answers

Oh, there’s enough power. As with any half-ton truck, controlling and stopping 12k lb is the challenge. Half ton pickups are fitted with “P” rated tires, and don’t have the brakes, or the weight of a 2500 or 3500. You’d better be on your game if you’re going to tow that much with a light duty truck.

I think he’s asking about the 3/4 ton.

Pard bought a new 2500 with the 6.4 hemi for a work truck. So far he loves it. He doesn’t pull anything near 12k though.

Well, I’m the dumbass for not properly reading your question. My apology. You should be fine. The 6.4 Hemi is pretty stout. The diesel does of course, have a lot more torque and the advantage of an exhaust brake, but there are quite a few gassers pulling 12k+ 5th wheel RV’s without problems.

Which hemi motor the 5.7 0r 6.4.I have the 6.4 in my 2016 Ram 2500 crew cab.I have pulled 13,000 lbs Pulls great IMHO.Gets. about 9.5 MPG,s with that weight attached.

I have a 2014 2500 with the 6.4 and have pulled loads of hay approaching 14k for short distances (less than 100 miles) on relatively flat ground, Texas, without a problem. We have towed our 10k travel trailer thousands of miles, all over the country, without an issue. As “coopie” said, 9-9.5 mpg. Doesn’t pull like my previous diesel pickups, but does the job.

The question is how often are you going to pull 12,000 and in what part of the country?

I looked at them, but my truck, trailer, and camper on the truck goes about 17K.You don't say if the truck bed is empty or not. The 6.4 just wouldn't do it on Colorado mountain passes. So I bought the 2019 Chevy Duramax 2500HD with the Allison 6 speed transmission.I don't do a lot of loads pulling, but it really does the job.I passed on the Dodge diesel because the Chevy has a lot more torque, but mostly because Dodge messed with their short bed length and cut it down another 3-4 ". My slide in camper was too long for it.

BTW, concerning gas mileage, I have been getting 16-18 mpg empty running 70mph and remember those 6.4's take premium gas,so you don't save anything there

Coming down off the side of a mountain with 6 or 8 tons behind you gives you a real appreciation for an exhaust brake.

Yep,When I first bought my 98 Dodge cummins, 5 speed, I was loaded with a 20 ft goose neck, 4 mules, all my hunting gear. and hay. It pulled up the east side of Loveland pass like I wouldn't believe. It was stock then and no compression brake.

I came out of the tunnel, down shifted to 3rd and start down the mountain. I had to break and then shifted down to 2nd.By the time I hit the bottom I had used up about all my brakes , the engine was past red line, and I was doing 65 mph. When I got home,I had a compression brake put on.Now I hardly touch the brakes with the same load.The new truck has tow mode and a factory compression brake.

Exactly right. I've tried pulling 8K around with a 5.7 Hemi and aftermarket 4.88 gears (IIRC) all over Colorado, still redlined and got hot in the mountains. I was lucky to do the speed limit in most cases. Nothing can replace a turbo diesel for towing.

12K behind any gasser is going to be limited to short trips and casual use.

What do you get without that weight attached?

Couple things.

The truck should handle that with relative ease, if we're talking the 6.4L fo sho.... That's what it was built for The 8-speed trans in no longer new. It's been around for 5 years now. I had one and had absolutely ZERO issues with it. None. In fact, it was the best shifting transmission I've ever had.

I know times have changed, and power is easy to get today.
And an engine brake is nice.


But those who would say a 6.4 Hemi is light for 12,000 pounds.
You all are either young, or lack knowledge of what used to move freight in this country.
And yes, freight. Not a play trailer, but up to 73,280 pounds.
Yes, even in your big bad western mountains.
With no engine brake, and crappy brakes.


The Hemi is roughly comparable to the Ford 534.
One of the "Big Dogs" of the day.

Makes a big difference in how many gears you have available though, 12+ is HUGE difference vs the ones in 3/4T pickups

Mine is a 2014 2500 6.4 and 3.73 gears. It gets 13-14 around town and 17-18 on the highway.

There should be a distinction here between "can do it" and "should do it". Yeah, I've done stupid stuff in the past, including pulling a heavy tandem axle trailer with with a skid loader behind a Nissan Hardbody pickup, guessing about 11k lbs. Scared myself sh1tless trying to stop it, and won't do that again..........

Saddlesore,

Your right of course.
And back then 13 speeds were common.
But company trucks usually had some 8 or 9 speed.


The p/u in question is an eight speed.
It makes it's torque at a higher rpm, but the automatic offsets that.

No, it's not a semi, and 40 years have gone by,
But will it do ok with 12k?

Yep.

Will your friends new diesel pass you?
Yep. (Ironically, if it doesn't break down. F' the EPA)

Does that matter?
Up to you.

We had an old crane truck at a place I used to work that had a SuperDuty 534 in it. What a behemoth of an engine. It wasn’t running when I was there but I always wanted to hear it run. Pump on the crane had it’s own Ford 300 six mounted on the back. Pretty neat old rig.

Did you get it to stop? Or just slow down enough so you could bail out?

.[/quote]

There should be a distinction here between "can do it" and "should do it". Yeah, I've done stupid stuff in the past, including pulling a heavy tandem axle trailer with with a skid loader behind a Nissan Hardbody pickup, guessing about 11k lbs. Scared myself sh1tless trying to stop it, and won't do that again.......... [/quote]

Did you get it to stop? Or just slow down enough so you could bail out? [/quote]

Kinda blew through a 4 way stop with the front wheels locked up and the seat cover wadded up my butt. Glad there was no traffic...........

I tried to pull my 4K # boat/trailer single axle on my ATV once. It was a poor decision moving straight forward, it was even dumber trying to turn, and not having the hookup to lock out the surge brakes made backing up impossible. I'm glad there weren't many witnesses.

I recall more than a few loads behind old 70’s era full size station wagons that some today would declare you need a turbo diesel DRW set up for. Doubt they were pulling mountain passes at 70mph, lol, but they seemed to get over some N GA hills alright. Getting down the other side I bet was scary though!

Wasn’t that long ago a 460 or 7.3 diesel couldn’t touch the HP and torque of today’s gassers. A 1990 F350 with a 460 couldn’t break 400ft lbs of torque.

I used diesels for years towing heavy loads for work, they worked great. Now I have a Chevy 6.0 gasser and tow my 20' boat with a cabover camper and going over the hills humming along at 4000rpm and doin the speed limit works great for me.

I love the sound of the 6.0 when it is in it's power band and it is as smooth as can be.... just gotta drive em.... wind em up

For the cost of a new set of diesel injectors I can replace my whole motor....

my 09 gas chevy 1/2 ton is rated at 11500 towing. I had 8000 lbs on my 1100 lbs trailer I built it pulled it fine but did not stop it very good. had 12000 lbs on same trailer with a f 550 with a 8 x 12 flat bed with welder / tools hole nother ball game .it aint the motor it is the truck

How's the engine braking in these new pickups with 6 and 8 spd trannies compared to a manual? I haven't driven one in the mountains.

I can only speak to the 6 speed/6.7 cummins, but the exhaust break is awesome. It takes some getting used to, but it works great.

My 2016 Ram 2500 with the 6.4 hemi pulls great with 3.73 gears.

I haven't tried mine with real heavy loads,but it works fine w only towing horse trailer

No experience with engine brakes on pickups, but I think they are just exhaust brakes.
If so, they help a fair bit.
Nowhere near like a Jacobs, though. A true engine retarder is able to match horsepower
in modern engines. 460hp going up the hill, 460hp holding you back going down the hill.

Not sure if you are referring to a diesel or gas? as others have said the diesel brake is very effective. My 2009 Chevy gasser has a 6 sp auto with a tow mode and that thing really downshifts hard,
Only so much a gas engine can do for braking with the relatively low compression and all. Overall I would say it is very effective.

Pretty damn good. I towed a travel trailer back from Utah a few weeks ago and I went over like 3 passes hovering around 10,000ft on the way back and man it’s so nice just to let the brake do all the work.

Sorry I wasn't more clear. The OP topic was Hemi and I was talking about that. I know what it does with a diesel. I was wondering what the new transmissions do for braking compared to the older 4 speed trannies or a manual (which isn't available any more)

All of the new automatic transmissions have a simple manual mode that work with a +/- button on the shifter. They're every bit as "manual" as a manual, save that they won't downshift if it'll over-rev the engine. They shift faster and more smoothly than even the most practiced driver of a true manual. The only thing missing is the 3rd pedal and it's ability to keep a fair number of folks out of the driver's seat.

And how far. Pulling it 50-100 miles round trip compared to 500+ miles round trip makes all the difference in the world!

Just a heads up warning when towing heavy with gas or diesel with automatic transmission on long, slow, steep back country mountain roads or trails. At 5 to 10 mph, the tranny will be in first gear torque convertor mode (not in lockup) and the continous normal torque convertor slippage can overheat the tranny fluid quickly. On very slow speed pulls on gravel or dirt roads, I would use 4wd low range to let the tranny shift up to second gear convertor lockup mode and it would run much cooler. Later traded Dodge 3500 6.7l diesel/automatic for same truck with 6 speed manual transmission, that problem solved.