[Kong]

I picked up my new camper today. On the tow home I started having some temp issues. I was running mostly dry with about 4000lbs of weight. My camper is about 3800lbs dry weight. It was 73 outside and humid. I was running in T/H mode. My temps went up to about 3/4's on the gauge. About 260 I would estimate. I was running between 60-65 mph, with some moderate hills.

I have less than 58,000 miles on the truck. When I would drop down to 50-55mph my temps returned to normal. On some hill's it took about 3500 rpm to maintain 62mph while climbing them.

Am I running too hot? I am worried that when its 100 out this summer and I am loaded, I will be left over heated.

Should I have the rad flushed and a tranny cooler installed? Am I trying to push the 4.7L too hard?

Could this aftermarket grill be cutting off too much air flow?

Sorry for the large pics, the forum won't let me attach them for some reason.

I now by the time I am loaded with pots, pans, stoves, bikes and wood, and everything else, I will be close to the 6000lb capacity of the truck. Do I need a bigger tow vehicle, or just drive at 55 all the time?

 

[HemiLonestar]

You already have a tranny cooler installed. What you need is a bigger one.

Stocker is the one directly in front of the radiator on the left

1 ton cooler is a little bigger:

 

[Kong]

I think one thing I will do this week is order SC Vivid, that was I can get a direct digital readout on the temps. That will give me a better idea of whats going on. Just to be sure, the temp gauge on the dash is for the engine, and not the tranny?

 

[ramvan2500]

Wow, I am surprised in the temps for such a small trailer. I tow a 32' travel trailer it weighs in about 4800 lbs dry. I tow using the van, anyways back when I first got it and had towed it from FL to SC it was probably in the 80's at that time of the year and anyways I towed it and the van didn't have a external transmission cooler at the time and the radiator was all clogged up at the time as well but it didn't overheat the engine, the temp was around 210 the whole time and I was towing between 60-70MPH. I was very impressed how everything went with the towing.

I'm wondering if you turned off OD when you towed because that certainly will raise temps fast. That aftermarket grille you have might be restricting air flow, at higher speeds the fans don't do anything for air movement, the wind speed due to vehicle speed is what does it.

 

[HemiLonestar]

I think one thing I will do this week is order SC Vivid, that was I can get a direct digital readout on the temps. That will give me a better idea of whats going on. Just to be sure, the temp gauge on the dash is for the engine, and not the tranny?

Yes, the dash one is for the engine. I don't know about yours, but mine doesn't tell me what the actual temperature is anyway. I was going to ask if or what programmer you have, I know a 3865 will read it, so will the one you want to get.

 

[Kong]

I was going to get a Vivid.

I was out shopping today and walked over to another brand dealer while wife was in the store shopping. I was joking around with them about trading until they offered me 19K for trade in with it. I guess we will never know what was wrong with it lol. I cut them a check for the difference on a new 2012 model with 4 miles on it.

 

[Chunkem]

Let us know how you make out????

 

[Kong]

I had looked at my Dodge dealership about a month ago, and 17K was all I could get on trade, and they did not want to deal too much. So for my truck and about 16K cash, I got a 2012 Tundra with 5.7L Crew Max, SR5 fully loaded, with BT, back up cam, anti sway TC control and heavy tow package, and a free LinX, and free stainless step bars. It has the rated 10.4K towing capacity and too much other stuff to list.

For a comparable Dodge, I could net get close for a similar truck. It would have been 7K more. I don't think they like me not owing anything on my truck and paying cash for the difference. All they wanted to do was tout finance rates.


Sorry to flip to the dark side.

 

[Gene K]

I find its hard to get much trade from a Dodge Dealer. When they have new 2012 Crew Cab 4x4 Hemis for $25,000 it puts a lot of pressure on the used truck prices.

 

[snrusnak]

I sure couldn't find value that came close to my ram, but hey if you're happy that's all that matters

 

[rdolan5]

Cooling improvements

I can help there, I own an 03 ram 1500 and pull a 33' Coachman Captivia that weighs 6800# loaded. Lots of mods including a 4:56 differential. Here are my cooling mods: At Oreilys, I purchased a heavy duty cooling fan clutch, not the standard duty. They have both! Just a note, the origional clutch on the fan will lose approx 50 to 100 RPM for every 10k miles due to fluid leakage and evaperation. Happens so slowly you won't notice it, but the new clutch will really draw more air! The HD clutch locks up sooner and slips less. I also installed a radiator from I believe it was radiator.com. The site had drawings of all the replacement radiators so I could compare specs. The 4.7 rediator is 7/8" thick. The Hemi is 1.25" thick. There was an aftermarket one that was 1 5/8" thick. I believe it was the heavy duty radiator for the 360CI engine. Everything matched up except the holes for the trans cooler, but the brackets were there and only needed to be drilled out. Problem solved! I have pulled this trailer up a few passes without any overheating! Never moved off normal!
Good luck! This mods can be done for around 200 dollars!

 

[GTyankee]

I sure hope that it doesn't turn out that the trailer brakes were out of adjustment & not releasing all the way, or the Ram braking system was not letting the trailer brakes release correctly