Made the mistake of selling my 10 year old Cummins and buying a 15 "Hemi" based on hearing how great they are. POS has to shift down two gears to go up a hill empty on our highways around here, The MDS is even more annoying than turbo spool up on the company Ecoboost. One of the lifters pounds like a jackhammer on startup occassionally (I did a search after buying the POS and apparently this is "normal").
Are they all this bad? What's all the hype about? And 395HP, my butt. Based on my experience, I'd take a 90's Magnum over this turd any day.
Anyone drive a Chebbie lately? I hate the Fords and I'm not liking this dog either.

Sheldon

Does it have the eight speed trans? What size truck?

Six speed half ton. I felt bad running my Cummins around empty all the time but I am not impressed at all with this thing, I'd hate to try to pull a car trailer with this pile. I've pulled trailers with Magnums no problem at all and that was with 4 speed autos.

Sheldon

I have an 04 2500 with a hemi. Gutless gas guzzling turd. It has 3.73 gears but honestly needs 4.56 or steeper.

Have you dropped a blue pill in the fill tube yet?

that seems to be their gimmick.

I drove a 4:56 dually for 13 years, man did it burn up the gas. Luckily I only drove it a mile to work each day. But I wanted a pulling machine and it did the job OK, it was BB chevy.

Our 05 durango has a hemi and it is very quick and pulls a open car trailer with power to spare, but the short WB sucks to tow with. It gets terrible gas mileage though and does not have MDS.

I have the 360 Mag and 5.7 MDS as you are comparing Sheldon:

I haven't towed anything with the 5.7, but to me, it runs like a 340 or the 426: only makes power when you scream their guts out. I spoke to a Guy who tows with the new 6.4 and he said it does next to nothing unless you get it to 3000 rpm. So, I can imagine your frustration.

My 360 Mag, with an open car hauler (approx. 5500 pounds) pulled 1400 miles in top gear no problem. At 1700 rpm the tach needle just stays there and it chugs along. It's impressive for a gas engine.

As you get more miles on this truck you will miss your diesel less and less: I know I don't miss my Cummins one bit. I drive the 360 Mag everyday and think it's a great engine, until I drive the 5.7 it's one-time-a-year outing, and it's waaaaay better than the the 360. And, that trans you have: no worries whatsoever.

How many miles do have on it?

It's only got 1400KM on it but I sure am not impressed so far. Grizz you hit it on the head. This thing has to buzz to make steam and that is not what I like in a truck engine at all. At this time I think the Magnum package has it all over this so called Hemi garbage.
I hate dealerships so I think I'll let it pound at startup until it self destructs, very embarrassing to say the least. But taking a half day off to run to the dealer, argue with those clowns, setup an appointment, take another half day off to bring them the truck, go down after a day or two and have them tell me there is nothing wrong just doesn't work for me. When it comes in on a hook with broken parts they won't be able to tell me there is nothing wrong.
The only positive thing I can say about this thing is that I didn't run my Cummins past 130KPH but I can run this gasser at 160KPH without worry and I like to get places in a hurry.

Sheldon

I have an '05 Ram 4x4 HEMI QCSB, also had couple of 5.2 Magnums, and the Magnums can't hold a candle to a 5.7, not even close. Maybe you're still used to how the Cummins drives. A friend has a '10 (basically same truck as yours) with an aftermarket ram air, MRBP exhaust an a Diablo tuner and the thing goes like a scalded cat. Mine has a set of Chinese shorties and a better exhaust and it goes pretty good. Shouldn't a '15 have an 8 spd? Is it a dial or a shift handle? An 8 spd is going to be shifty as they're programmed to keep the engine in its happy place. They also take awhile to figure out how you drive (adaptive learning)

Well, the first thing will be to get it to knock everytime it starts up so they can fix that part of it I guess. Then I'll be running the ever loving heck out of it like I do with my other Dodges. I've never had a Dodge give me engine problems until this one and my first new Dodge truck was a 76, pretty sad.
I look at my driveway right now, see the Cummins is gone and this pencil dick "Hemi" sitting there is not therapeutic right now. I don't usually make bad decisions but this was definitely not a good one.

Sheldon

Sheldon, just a suggestion. Even if the dealership tells you there is nothing wrong with the truck you should still get a record of your concerns for later, just in case. The more you complain about it the better it will be should something go wrong down the road. So take it in as often as you can and make sure there is a repair order written each time so you have a written record of your complaints. Also works well for "lemon law" cases.

I have a feeling that "knock" is something common to the newer HEMIs. A while back I started a post for a friend that has the same issue. He still hasn't taken his in. His is a standard cab, short bed, 4X4 with an 8 speed auto. He doesn't do any towing with it, but it doesn't seem to lack any power. It'll darn sure get on outa here when you step on it.

I bought my 14 Ram quad cab three weeks ago with 4400 miles on it. It's a 5.7 with 8-speed and 3.21 gears. I'm still getting used to the trans. It feels like there is engine braking in every gear when slowing down. I'm not used to that. Occasionally, one of the down shifts is somewhat harsh. There was no trans re-flash available a couple weeks ago when I checked.

While normally taking off from a stop sign while turning a corner, there is a noticeable increase in acceleration at around 1500 RPM. The truck wants to spin the tires if I'm not careful. I haven't towed anything with it yet but it seems to have plenty of torque down low.

I drove the truck to Carlisle this past weekend. On the drive out, we averaged 25.7mpg. No joke! We averaged 24.4mpg for the entire 2000+ mile trip. That includes all the in town driving and sitting in traffic waiting to get in and out of the show. To say I'm pleased with that is an understatement.

Have these things always ran 5-20 oil in them? It's over 100 degrees here and it calls for 5-20 Dog urine. That's probably the problem but thicker oil will void the warranty no doubt.

Sheldon

you have to use that oil, if you put thicker oil in it, the mds system senses that and will turn the check engine light on within a couple miles.

Thanks More.

Sheldon

"Made the mistake of selling my 10 year old Cummins"

After having 500+ ft/lbs just off idle, anything that runs on gas is going to feel underpowered.

Ours has been running on 15-40 diesel oil for 82K miles and no ticks in the motor. IT don't have MDS.

Sheldon, it's true:

After break-in I upped mine to 10-30 and the MDS worked less and the fuel mileage went down. I went back to 5-20 and right away you could feel the MDS was more active and the mileage went back to normal.

Never would have believed it, but yup, 'dats whut happened.

I guess Fords' been using 5-20 for a number of years now, at least thats' my Oil Guy told me. So now, I'm kinda thinkin' I might try this light stuff in my 360 Mag............ It has 15-40 in it right now, wonder where that stuff came from, huh?

If you don't have MDS then it's not as big of a deal