Picture this: coming up on the Cajon Pass with the cruise set at 55 and I just sat back and let the truck do the work.... all the way down that gawd awful grade. I was impressed. This was my friends 15 2500 4x4. It was a pleasure to tow with over my modded 01 for sure!
I learned to love my 1998 1/2 24 valve extended cab short bed two wheel drive automatic with 3:54 rear gear Ram 2500 in the summer of 2001 or so when towing my 24 Ft Pace Shadow weighing right at 8600 Lbs. going up the Baker grade on I15 going to race at Las Vegas in August in the early afternoon with 117 F outside air temps, I kicked it out of O.D. at the bottom of the grade, had the cruise set at 70 MPH and the air conditioning on high cool. I blew past a similar year Dodge 2whd V10 3/4 ton pulling the twin trailer to mine about a mile up the road from the bottom of the grade, that grade is 18 miles straight uphill from the bottom at 800 Ft to the top about 18 mile later at 4400 Ft. with one small dip about 15 miles up it. I could not see the V10 in my mirror at the dip
It went over the top of the grade at 70 MPH and the coolant temp had risen to around 220 from the normal 190 cruising temps. in the summer down there
I moved to Oregon in the summer of 2005 and bought my 2006 ram 3500 4 whd due to getting stuck in the snow multiple times here in the winter of 2005/2006
9SecondPhil bought my old truck and put over 500,000 miles on it towing trailers all over our country before he was killed on that dang Harley in Florida
RIP my friend
