2022 6.4L Tradesman - First Impressions (2024)

I picked up my new truck over the weekend from Mark Dodge and road tripped it ~1000 miles home to Ohio. Figured I would share some of my first impressions. My previous truck was a 2015 GMC Sierra 1500 SLT.

Almost 20 weeks from when I ordered the truck to delivery.

• The first thing I noticed was the infamous "chirp" of the 6.4L - i'll just have to get used to it.
• The Hemi seems to have a lot of power, and the transmission is very smooth.
• The truck is very quiet on the inside compared to my last one. It's like a luxury car.
• The cloth seats are quite comfortable, I do wish they had height or lumbar adjustment but I can live without.
• Tire pressures were 80+ psi across the board. I stopped and aired down to the 65/60 as stated on the door. The truck rides very smooth, comparable to my old 1/2t that had a leveling kit on it.
• It wanders a bit on the road. Seemed like I was constantly steering.
• Lane keep assist made me realize how poor I am at staying in the dead center of my lane. I haven't played with the settings at all, but it seems pretty aggressive.
• Adaptive cruise control is great. There were a couple times where it braked when I wouldn't have, but overall the system made the trip a little more enjoyable.
• Digital rearview mirror is great during the day. It has a wide angle clear view that gives you much better rear visibility than the mirror would.
• Blindspot monitoring is a nice addition on such a large vehicle. The passenger mirror seems very magnified to me.. I will have to flip them up and see if there is any improvement.
• The stock stereo system is fantastic. Great bass, clear mids, and crisp highs. I am very impressed with it. It is easily on par with the Bose system that was in my previous truck. I have seen complaints on the forum about the higher end systems, I would be interested to hear them compared to just the base system.
• The plastic door panels on the Tradesman are completely fine. I didn't have a sore elbow like some others said I would.
• Halogen headlights seem to be just at the level of acceptable. I think I will swap them out with the OEM LED headlights and try to sell them to recoup some of the cost.
• The measurements of the truck published by RAM are spot on. I was concerned when ordering that it wouldn't fit in my garage if they were off at all. It clears by about an inch (as expected)!
• I averaged 14.9 MPG hand calculated. The EVIC seemed to be a little more optimistic - closer to 16 MPG on the display.

Overall I am really happy with my purchase so far. Can't wait to do some towing with it to see where it really shines!

My window sticker

Christofo said:

I picked up my new truck over the weekend from Mark Dodge and road tripped it ~1000 miles home to Ohio. Figured I would share some of my first impressions. My previous truck was a 2015 GMC Sierra 1500 SLT.

Almost 20 weeks from when I ordered the truck to delivery.

• The first thing I noticed was the infamous "chirp" of the 6.4L - i'll just have to get used to it.
• The Hemi seems to have a lot of power, and the transmission is very smooth.
• The truck is very quiet on the inside compared to my last one. It's like a luxury car.
• The cloth seats are quite comfortable, I do wish they had height or lumbar adjustment but I can live without.
• Tire pressures were 80+ psi across the board. I stopped and aired down to the 65/60 as stated on the door. The truck rides very smooth, comparable to my old 1/2t that had a leveling kit on it.
• It wanders a bit on the road. Seemed like I was constantly steering.
• Lane keep assist made me realize how poor I am at staying in the dead center of my lane. I haven't played with the settings at all, but it seems pretty aggressive.
• Adaptive cruise control is great. There were a couple times where it braked when I wouldn't have, but overall the system made the trip a little more enjoyable.
• Digital rearview mirror is great during the day. It has a wide angle clear view that gives you much better rear visibility than the mirror would.
• Blindspot monitoring is a nice addition on such a large vehicle. The passenger mirror seems very magnified to me.. I will have to flip them up and see if there is any improvement.
• The stock stereo system is fantastic. Great bass, clear mids, and crisp highs. I am very impressed with it. It is easily on par with the Bose system that was in my previous truck. I have seen complaints on the forum about the higher end systems, I would be interested to hear them compared to just the base system.
• The plastic door panels on the Tradesman are completely fine. I didn't have a sore elbow like some others said I would.
• Halogen headlights seem to be just at the level of acceptable. I think I will swap them out with the OEM LED headlights and try to sell them to recoup some of the cost.
• The measurements of the truck published by RAM are spot on. I was concerned when ordering that it wouldn't fit in my garage if they were off at all. It clears by about an inch (as expected)!
• I averaged 14.9 MPG hand calculated. The EVIC seemed to be a little more optimistic - closer to 16 MPG on the display.

Overall I am really happy with my purchase so far. Can't wait to do some towing with it to see where it really shines!

My window sticker

View attachment 27363

Click to expand...

Nice truck. I like the clearance lights on it.

The Hemi chirp is definitely something…Mine also wanders a bit on the roads. It’s a full time job keeping this thing in the middle of the lane.

Christofo said:

I picked up my new truck over the weekend from Mark Dodge and road tripped it ~1000 miles home to Ohio. Figured I would share some of my first impressions. My previous truck was a 2015 GMC Sierra 1500 SLT.

Almost 20 weeks from when I ordered the truck to delivery.

• The first thing I noticed was the infamous "chirp" of the 6.4L - i'll just have to get used to it.
• The Hemi seems to have a lot of power, and the transmission is very smooth.
• The truck is very quiet on the inside compared to my last one. It's like a luxury car.
• The cloth seats are quite comfortable, I do wish they had height or lumbar adjustment but I can live without.
• Tire pressures were 80+ psi across the board. I stopped and aired down to the 65/60 as stated on the door. The truck rides very smooth, comparable to my old 1/2t that had a leveling kit on it.
• It wanders a bit on the road. Seemed like I was constantly steering.
• Lane keep assist made me realize how poor I am at staying in the dead center of my lane. I haven't played with the settings at all, but it seems pretty aggressive.
• Adaptive cruise control is great. There were a couple times where it braked when I wouldn't have, but overall the system made the trip a little more enjoyable.
• Digital rearview mirror is great during the day. It has a wide angle clear view that gives you much better rear visibility than the mirror would.
• Blindspot monitoring is a nice addition on such a large vehicle. The passenger mirror seems very magnified to me.. I will have to flip them up and see if there is any improvement.
• The stock stereo system is fantastic. Great bass, clear mids, and crisp highs. I am very impressed with it. It is easily on par with the Bose system that was in my previous truck. I have seen complaints on the forum about the higher end systems, I would be interested to hear them compared to just the base system.
• The plastic door panels on the Tradesman are completely fine. I didn't have a sore elbow like some others said I would.
• Halogen headlights seem to be just at the level of acceptable. I think I will swap them out with the OEM LED headlights and try to sell them to recoup some of the cost.
• The measurements of the truck published by RAM are spot on. I was concerned when ordering that it wouldn't fit in my garage if they were off at all. It clears by about an inch (as expected)!
• I averaged 14.9 MPG hand calculated. The EVIC seemed to be a little more optimistic - closer to 16 MPG on the display.

Overall I am really happy with my purchase so far. Can't wait to do some towing with it to see where it really shines!

My window sticker

View attachment 27363

Click to expand...

Nice truck! It does seem like I have to steer mine quite a bit, but I didn't think much of it because it is better than an old SUV I was replacing. Do you guys think this has to do with the Transforce tires on it?

Congrats on the new truck.

Couple of suggestions.

Lower the tire pressure down to 50 or less. I run mine at 45/40 but I've changed tires to BFG 35's. the 65/60 is for when the truck is fully loaded. Don't need that much when running empty and the ride will be that much better.

Get an alignment done and use the Thuren specs. When I had mine done, we found out it was out of factory specs from the factory.

The "chirp" is in the exhaust at the merger of the 2 to 1 after the cats. Not sure how to fix it. Once the truck warms up, it goes away. I just roll up the windows and crank up the tunes.

You have a nicely optioned Tradesman. Congrats. Enjoy the truck. They are nice.

Sent from my semi-smart telephonic device

aaronedmonton said:

Nice truck. I like the clearance lights on it.

The Hemi chirp is definitely something…Mine also wanders a bit on the roads. It’s a full time job keeping this thing in the middle of the lane.

Click to expand...

I noticed a big difference in the “wandering” when I dropped tire pressure from the factory 80 to 55 all around. Not to mention the ride improvement.

RAM_Dad said:

I noticed a big difference in the “wandering” when I dropped tire pressure from the factory 80 to 55 all around. Not to mention the ride improvement.

Click to expand...

Good to know. I think i ride around with 72 all around. The ride quality doesn’t bother me but the wandering is somewhat annoying.

dm6 said:

Nice truck! It does seem like I have to steer mine quite a bit, but I didn't think much of it because it is better than an old SUV I was replacing. Do you guys think this has to do with the Transforce tires on it?

Click to expand...

I changed mine to the Cooper Discoverer ATP2 and it drives much better. The Transforce A/T's were junk. Sidewalls are very weak. This is my second 2021 Ram 2500. The first on lasted six days and less than 500 miles before it was totaled. The truck only had three wheels on it when it came to a stop. Two of the three Transforce A/T's that were left had blown out. I guess they lost pressure as the truck rolled 3 times. The truck was replaced with an identical truck that I have problems with. At 4400 miles they had to replace the engine do to a frozen lifter roller that ate the camshaft and sent metal through the engine. I am still having issues with extremely poor gas mileage and a very rough idle at times. When the truck was new I was getting 11 mpg in town and 17 mpg on the highway. Now I am getting 5 to 7 mpg in town and 12 to 13 on the highway. These figures are hand calculated. This truck is a 2500 Tradesman 6.4 hemi.

Christofo said:

I picked up my new truck over the weekend from Mark Dodge and road tripped it ~1000 miles home to Ohio. Figured I would share some of my first impressions. My previous truck was a 2015 GMC Sierra 1500 SLT.

Almost 20 weeks from when I ordered the truck to delivery.

• The first thing I noticed was the infamous "chirp" of the 6.4L - i'll just have to get used to it.
• The Hemi seems to have a lot of power, and the transmission is very smooth.
• The truck is very quiet on the inside compared to my last one. It's like a luxury car.
• The cloth seats are quite comfortable, I do wish they had height or lumbar adjustment but I can live without.
• Tire pressures were 80+ psi across the board. I stopped and aired down to the 65/60 as stated on the door. The truck rides very smooth, comparable to my old 1/2t that had a leveling kit on it.
• It wanders a bit on the road. Seemed like I was constantly steering.
• Lane keep assist made me realize how poor I am at staying in the dead center of my lane. I haven't played with the settings at all, but it seems pretty aggressive.
• Adaptive cruise control is great. There were a couple times where it braked when I wouldn't have, but overall the system made the trip a little more enjoyable.
• Digital rearview mirror is great during the day. It has a wide angle clear view that gives you much better rear visibility than the mirror would.
• Blindspot monitoring is a nice addition on such a large vehicle. The passenger mirror seems very magnified to me.. I will have to flip them up and see if there is any improvement.
• The stock stereo system is fantastic. Great bass, clear mids, and crisp highs. I am very impressed with it. It is easily on par with the Bose system that was in my previous truck. I have seen complaints on the forum about the higher end systems, I would be interested to hear them compared to just the base system.
• The plastic door panels on the Tradesman are completely fine. I didn't have a sore elbow like some others said I would.
• Halogen headlights seem to be just at the level of acceptable. I think I will swap them out with the OEM LED headlights and try to sell them to recoup some of the cost.
• The measurements of the truck published by RAM are spot on. I was concerned when ordering that it wouldn't fit in my garage if they were off at all. It clears by about an inch (as expected)!
• I averaged 14.9 MPG hand calculated. The EVIC seemed to be a little more optimistic - closer to 16 MPG on the display.

Overall I am really happy with my purchase so far. Can't wait to do some towing with it to see where it really shines!

My window sticker

View attachment 27363

Click to expand...

Iam courius as to what rearview mirror you have. The digital review is not available if you have adaptive cruise. The adaptive cruise uses a Camera located on the backside of the rearview mirror which the digital mirror does not come with.

My truck has the digital mirror that has a lever you flip back and utilizes a second camera in the third brake light.
Flip the lever back and it switches back to the rearview mirror.

sstoner911 said:

Iam courius as to what rearview mirror you have. The digital review is not available if you have adaptive cruise. The adaptive cruise uses a Camera located on the backside of the rearview mirror which the digital mirror does not come with.

My truck has the digital mirror that has a lever you flip back and utilizes a second camera in the third brake light.
Flip the lever back and it switches back to the rearview mirror.

Click to expand...

I have digital rearview + adaptive cruise. It's right on the window sticker as part of the safety group package. Adaptive cruise uses radar mounted in the center of the windshield as far as I know.

Christofo said:

I have digital rearview + adaptive cruise. It's right on the window sticker as part of the safety group package. Adaptive cruise uses radar mounted in the center of the windshield as far as I know.
View attachment 29537

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I wonder if they have 2 different ones...If you order the digital rearview mirror that comes with the trailer camera and you select the safety group it won't let you select the safety group.

The way it was explained toe by another forum member was the digital rearview mirror I have is not compatible with adaptive cruise.

Doesb your third brake light have the cargo camera and the digital rearview camera?

sstoner911 said:

I wonder if they have 2 different ones...If you order the digital rearview mirror that comes with the trailer camera and you select the safety group it won't let you select the safety group.

The way it was explained toe by another forum member was the digital rearview mirror I have is not compatible with adaptive cruise.

Doesb your third brake light have the cargo camera and the digital rearview camera?

Click to expand...

Yep, I have cargo camera and digital rearview. I have the trailer camera and trailer 360 connections too.

Christofo said:

Yep, I have cargo camera and digital rearview. I have the trailer camera and trailer 360 connections too.

Click to expand...

Very odd - I see the safety group does have a digital camera - but if I select the safety group and then try to order the digital camera with tow mode it unselects the safety group - may because the its duplicated? I may have to ask @Jimmy07 again about it because now I am confused!

I didn't feel like making hole in the fiberglass of my travel trailer for the trailer 360 view so I sold that kit.

Congrats on the truck!

sstoner911 said:

Very odd - I see the safety group does have a digital camera - but if I select the safety group and then try to order the digital camera with tow mode it unselects the safety group - may because the its duplicated? I may have to ask @Jimmy07 again about it because now I am confused!

I didn't feel like making hole in the fiberglass of my travel trailer for the trailer 360 view so I sold that kit.

Congrats on the truck!

Click to expand...

Looks like you can't select both package. You can select safety group then further down the page you can add the tow-mode camera à la carte. Thanks, I'm up to 3,000 miles on it and loving it so far!

Christofo said:

• It wanders a bit on the road. Seemed like I was constantly steering.
• Lane keep assist made me realize how poor I am at staying in the dead center of my lane. I haven't played with the settings at all, but it seems pretty aggressive.
• Blindspot monitoring is a nice addition on such a large vehicle. The passenger mirror seems very magnified to me.. I will have to flip them up and see if there is any improvement.

Click to expand...

A few of things I've noticed with these:
1) The lane keep in horrendous on any roads. It just bounces back and forth. Basically unusable
2) Passenger mirror needs to be convex. You miss a lot with it just being a flat mirror. It is a safety concern
3) The wandering is due to the tires. If you pay attention, you can feel them floating as well. This is worse than any M/T tires I have owned, and as bad as Super Swampers. Previously owned a 2500HD with Mickey Thompson MTZs. I think the compound is garbage on them
4) My alignment is off from the factory. I want to get rid of these tires, so I probably won't fix it unless it goes in the shop for something else