Thanks for all the responses, it is appreciated.
I thought it was the tranny as well but the confusion came when I was pulling up trucks, 2 Laramie models for example, both autos but one was rated at the manual HP/torque and the other was at 800 torque. Of course the salesman then said he had never heard of that and would check.....haven't heard back. Now, think of this though speaking of salesmen; when I was discussing why the one was rated at 660 lb. he was looking at the specs and said "hmmm, 660 lbs at 1800 rpm.....well, you know those things will scream. The rpm is just going to keep going up and so will the power"....?? He then looked at the one that put out 800 lb. at 1800 rpm as well (I think) and so I said "Man! 800 lbs. at 1800 rpm and those rpms will just keep climbing! Reckon it would make 1000 lbs at 4500 rpm??" He said "You know, it might....I bet it would!!) I was being facetious obviously and please don't think I don't understand engines, HP, torque, torque curves, rpm etc. because I've built, rebuilt, modified engines and vehicles for years....just have no experience with a diesel. He's also the guy that read the specs on one and said "it shows it has the optional 3.42 rear end but I thing the front is a 4.10...that will help pull a lot". Ok, enough of that.....yes, he had no clue.
I know all of the big 3 have great trucks and I'm not stuck on Dodge (although my last several have been Dodge/Ram) - I'm getting close to trying to make a decision on one (can't have a goofup on truck #3 or DW will probably.....well, you get the picture
) and you have to love those mirrors
. I'm not really hung up on the power as long as it gets the job done but I have a hard time swallowing a 9k increase in price and just getting the 660 torque while the same premium will get the 800 lb.
Anyway, thanks for all the input. After driving the Ram I was extremely impressed with the diesel. It is nothing like the ones I used to drive years ago. Most impressive was the power it had (I didn't get to pull anything) at highway speeds and the acceleration without jumping up to 4000 + rpm. I've always hotrodded engines (gas-cars/bikes) and I associate ripping it up with "screaming/roaring" - high rpm....not so with the drive I made.
The search will continue, I suppose far and wide, because the 3500 Ram is proving hard to find around here. I then have to repeat the process for the other brands (or more likely run the searches concurrently). Thanks.
Desert185 🇺🇸 (Retired Chemtrail vendor)
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