
Front Axle: 4520 lb
Rear Axle: 5400 lb
Trailer Axle: 15980 lb
Gross: 25900 lb
Quick question. Seeing how you seem to often haul heavy loads, and you have a cummins, why do you even use the power wagon for towing? I mean, it must feel like a complete turd after using a diesel, no?
Actually, I don't find as much difference as you might think. The Power Wagon (410 hp) has 60 hp over my CTD (350 hp) and the CTD is still 500 pounds heavier. From a dead stop, the Power Wagon will get to 55 mph faster than the CTD with the same heavy load. The Power Wagon does make a lot of engine noise if you are trying to keep up with stop and go traffic and have the engine racing above 4000 rpm
OEM 2.5" receiver..
Oh for sure. Duratracs are known for weaker sidewalls. Especially the stock tires. It's a well known issue. E vs D is generally just shorthand for relative sidewall thickness. I've heard the normal duratracs are much better. But in larger tires there are a lot of Ds with 3600 load rating and Es with 3150ish load rating in the same size. It's just not always as clear as it should be. If you have any wiggle problems or porpoising let me know. I already chased those down and can give you a few places to start.dustinsayes wrote:In the 285/70-17 duratrac load range D and E, as per spec, share the same load ratings. I destroyed the D tires that came with truck while doing some very light dirt trail riding in Fruita CO.. so the guy at the tire shop said the E's are made with a stiffer compund and may help the tire last longer on the road and be more durable on the trail. I was willing to accept the loss of some tire flex, for traction off road, for improved durability. We will see..
My 2016 and 2018 2500 Cummins only got 10-11 MPG towing 23' (5K) to 30' (9K) @70 on the east coast in a stock configuration. I can get 12.5 towing my 16' (3.5K) tramper. These are hand calculated numbers. 9-10 MPG on my new 6.4 PW will be acceptable.dustinsayes wrote: ↑Wed Oct 17, 2018 5:11 pmMy experience so far....
I have a 2017 PW.
We recently started living and traveling full time in a 30' toy hauler.
My gross combined weight is just under 20,000 lbs. The trailer weighing in right around 10,800 lbs. The truck has added weight from White Knuckle sliders, ARE topper and a 35 gallon water tank. Also, the tongue weight, I estimate, is 1,500+ lbs.
I've added the firestone air bags with the day star cradles and the air lift wireless remote, along with load range E tires (same tire, same size, different load range)
With the air bags I can tow the load level. I keep the rear about .5" above the front (rear air bags at 85psi). I've flexed my suspension with the bags and at full extension, all is well and comes back together fine. I do think I've lost a little bit of travel on the top - even aired down to 5psi on the bags. If driving fast offroad, the rear does seem to bottom out sooner and harder than before.
We started in Colorado and have mostly been in the mountainous regions. On the steepest, longest grades at high altitude my truck will gear down to first gear and i just back off the throttle and hold at 30mph. This puts the RPM pretty high, its noisy, slow, but gets me to the top. The truck can easily climb out of first gear, but it cannot maintain 2nd for long. Thus, I ease off the throttle and hold 30mph in 1st gear.
Down hill is no issue for the power wagon. Transmission downshifts and I do not have to break often. When I do break, I will wait for speed limit or 5 over then break to 5 or 10 below speed limit then let off the breaks again.
Truck does 70mph, at 3000rpm, flatish terrain at 5k+ altitude.
In general, while towing, on a long trip that is mostly interstate driving I average 8.5 mpg. That drops significantly once i get into stop n go driving.
I have a K&N air intake and a flowmaster 50HD, no resonator. These combined did make a difference in seat of the pants feel and some fuel economy increase. However, it is noisy, now. Kinda wish it were back quiet, but also it does sound good.
The hardest (on the truck) situation i've been in was towing on I-70 across Kansas. I netted about 3mpg going 50mph, due to high winds.I was not happy.
I'm hoping the fancy PW multi link suspension parts will hold up over time, with the extra weight. As much as I'd like to think switching to a turbo diesel would make towing easier, I think it would only really matter on those steep, high altitude climbs and possibly 12-14mpg instead of 8. Had I had this trailer before buying the PW I likely would have chosen a 3500 single wheel CTD instead.
All else aside the truck handles the load very well. Last week I had to slam on my brakes, going 70, to a dead stop as fast as it could - car in the middle loan broke down and came over right in front of me as it came to a complete stop. I was able to make the stop with a few feet to spare. This partly due to keeping my eyes ahead and started to slow down before the car left the middle lane. Also, I do take curves at the posted caution speed. It just feels better. I typically wont drive much over 65. Though I've traveled at 80 and felt stable.
My trailer break gain is set to 6.