Any one race a 1500 Hemi yet?

02 2500 Avalanche · March 11, 2003

Well I finaly saw a 1500 hemi today and I think it is owned by a kid at my schools father. The kid is a moron though and I really would like to shut him up. He told one of my friends that his dads hemi is faster than my AV, I laughed at that comment, he must think my truck is stock . So how much of a threat is this stock hemi to me?

Alex

gizzgm · March 15, 2003

Well i can say that i drove one before purchasing my 03 2500HD last week and they definately "run". I think most people exaggerate though about how fast these things are out of the gate. Granted it was cold here in PA but i could not get the tires to respond from a straight away pull from a stop sign. I buried it on the highway from 50MPH and it really took off. I really liked that truck but in the end i decided on the proven reliability and ride of the GM.

cowboy02 · March 15, 2003

I'll have to see If I can get my buddy that has a stock hemi to race me........ Then we will have the real answer, however his truck has spent more time in the shop then on the road

His heater keeps going out........

I'll keep ya updated.

Sierra5.3 · March 16, 2003

I think the hemi would beat your avalanche. The avalanche is at a serious weight disadvantage. Supercharge it and then its a diffrent story.

95whtZR2 · March 20, 2003

I think you could take him... If he beats you in racing, hook up bumpers see how he likes your BBC...hehehehe

Tom

BDBWTE · March 21, 2003

I think you could take him... If he beats you in racing, hook up bumpers see how he likes your BBC...hehehehe

Tom

I've said it many times.. The Hemi isn't a HEMI that we all know, respect and like. I'm sure it's a good motor but it's designed for a car... We pulled my buddies Toyota he bought with his Dad's 2500HD Hemi and with an empty trailer we knew it was under some load.. I was like well it's only gas and my truck does notice this trailer a little plus it's an auto tranny so I gave it a break. Then we put an 85 Toyota ext. cab short bed 4x4 pickup on the truck and went to leave and the truck felt like it was dang near maxed pulling it.. Not totally all it had but it didn't like the load at all. On the expressway the truck kept hunting for gears and always shifted to early for out back hilly country roads. Maybe a stick shift will help it I don't know.. But my $.02 I wouldn't own one.

01Burb · May 15, 2003

I was in the market for a 1500 Hemi before my 96 360 Ram blew its tranny and I came over to Chevy Anyway, I remember reading on some Dodge forum that the torque converter in the new RAM 1500 Hemis is very 'loose' and zaps a lot of the power to give the truck a smooth car-like feeling since a large majority of buyers don't really use a 1500 as a truck if you get my drift.

Anyway, one fellow dynoed his hemi and got around 255 RWHP. Not good. About a 26% trans loss. Apparently slapping in an after market TC does the trick but not a lot of regular Joes are going to do that.

Now that may be anecdotal and maybe the truck in question was a bad one but that was the general concensus. If I can find that Dodge forum I'll link to it.

staged455 · May 23, 2003

I've watched 2 Hemi 1/2 ton 2 wheel drives run at the track. Both ran 15.40s in stock trim. I wasn't impressed.

frdfandc · June 23, 2003

Anyway, one fellow dynoed his hemi and got around 255 RWHP. Not good. About a 26% trans loss. Apparently slapping in an after market TC does the trick but not a lot of regular Joes are going to do that.

26% is a tad high for drivetrain loss. It should be right around 22-23% for an auto.

My buddy has a new Hemi 1500. I think i might race him if he gets enough balls.

HillHound · June 23, 2003

The July/August 2003 Truck Trend has a shootout article between a Ram 1500 Hemi (2wd, short box, reg cab), a Silverado SS and a F150 Harley Davidson.

The Ram did 0 to 60 in 6.83s and quarter mile time of [email protected]. The Chevy and the Ford both beat it, but not by much and the other two are sport tuned trucks with tweaked engines. The Ford is supercharged and the Chevy has the high-output 6.0L

Keeping in mind the 5.7 in the Ram is the same exact engine in all the other Ram 1500s and 2500/3500s and the tested truck can be had for around $25g I'd say that's alot of performance for the money. The Ford and Chevy are right around 38 to 40 grand.

A couple grand worth of bolt on mods and it's going to be right up there with the competetion for alot less cash. I still don't like them though!

bowtiebob · July 3, 2003

I have yet to ride in a 1500Hemi, but they sound pretty neat. I think if I was still interested in half-ton trucks, the Hemi would be a serious contender......until I went to the Chevy dealership.

dcairns · July 7, 2003

The July/August 2003 Truck Trend has a shootout article between a Ram 1500 Hemi (2wd, short box, reg cab), a Silverado SS and a F150 Harley Davidson.

The Ram did 0 to 60 in 6.83s and quarter mile time of [email protected]. The Chevy and the Ford both beat it, but not by much and the other two are sport tuned trucks with tweaked engines. The Ford is supercharged and the Chevy has the high-output 6.0L

Keeping in mind the 5.7 in the Ram is the same exact engine in all the other Ram 1500s and 2500/3500s and the tested truck can be had for around $25g I'd say that's alot of performance for the money. The Ford and Chevy are right around 38 to 40 grand.

A couple grand worth of bolt on mods and it's going to be right up there with the competetion for alot less cash. I still don't like them though!

Keep in mind that was a regular cab Dodge vs and ext cab Silverado SS, slight case of apples and oranges.

HillHound · July 19, 2003

Keep in mind that was a regular cab Dodge vs and ext cab Silverado SS, slight case of apples and oranges.

True, but you have to admit the Ram packs a heavy punch for the relative cost. The Silv SS and the HD F150 have sticker prices that are a good $10 grand higher and the Ram even has higher tow and cargo ratings.

On second thought, the Ram's higher tow rating may be a lame point because everything I've seen makes me think the 5.7L Hemi is a wounded duck when you put a trailer behind it.

MarkD · July 19, 2003

True, but you have to admit the Ram packs a heavy punch for the relative cost. The Silv SS and the HD F150 have sticker prices that are a good $10 grand higher and the Ram even has higher tow and cargo ratings.

That's my biggest problem with the whole deal. $41k for a truck! On top of that, our local dealers usually add "market adjustment" of $3k to $5k on top of that on limited production vehicles.

A friend is seriously looking at a new '03 SuperDuty w/ 6L diesel, auto, crewcab, 1 ton, 4wd, decked out for $35-$36k.

dcairns · August 4, 2003

That's my biggest problem with the whole deal. $41k for a truck! On top of that, our local dealers usually add "market adjustment" of $3k to $5k on top of that on limited production vehicles.

A friend is seriously looking at a new '03 SuperDuty w/ 6L diesel, auto, crewcab, 1 ton, 4wd, decked out for $35-$36k.

If your dealer is still trying to get more than sticker for an SS, he needs a reality check. $36K seems to be the going rate these days, and that is before rebates.

I got my SS as they first came out, and paid $37K including rebates for a fully loaded SS. Still expensive, but it was almost exactly what I wanted in a truck. Just needed the supercharger to finish it. Now it is perfect .