Behind the Scenes of the Ike Gauntlet Testing – 2016 Ram 3500 HD.

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Here is a quick look behind the scenes of the Ike Gauntlet testing. The job is to prepare and execute a fair and accurate towing test in search of the best towing trucks in the land. It is a part of an extensive battery of tests: a highway MPG loop, 0-60 mph acceleration, the extreme Ike Gauntlet towing test, Gold Mine Hill off-road test, and more.

Lets take the heavy duty Ike Gauntlet test as an example. The first HD truck to compete for the 2016 Gold Hitch HD towing award is the 2016 Ram 3500 dually with the high-output 6.7L turbo-diesel engine that leads the class with 900 lb-ft of torque. We used the orange gooseneck trailer for the 2015 Gold Hitch awards loaded with a WWII half-track with a total trailer weight of 21,600 lbs. Although we no longer have access to the half-track, we can load the same trailer with a similar weight.

What should this weight be? How about more than 6,500 lbs of water ballast and a 2016 Ram Power Wagon? That should do the trick.

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The next questions is: how do we position the weight on the trailer to get the right distribution and a proper tongue weight. The goal is to have somewhere between 15-20% of tongue weight for this trailer. Initially, the positioning of the weight has to do with an educated guess. You don’t want to put too much weight all the way in the back or in the front. Then it comes to weighing the truck and trailer and shifting the load accordingly. Thankfully, we can easily roll the Power Wagon one way or another to dial in the weight. Stay tuned for the video that shows the loading the weighing.

By the way, we do most of the Ike Gauntlet testing in the winter time when the new model-year trucks are available. It means that we need to cover the water containers to avoid freezing. It also means that we have to diligently watch the weather forecast and see the day that the Ike Gauntlet run can be possible. It so happens that the 8-mile Ike Gauntlet run goes from Dillon, Colorado from 9,000 feet of elevation to 11,115 feet of elevation at the Continental Divide and the Eisenhower/Johnson tunnels. This stretch of the interstate highway has a grade of up to 7 percent. We cannot execute the test on snowy or icy roads. We test both braking performance on the way down and full power up the hill.

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Oh yea, and the truck and trailer need to be clean as well. It’s another small challenge when you consider melting snow and slush.

We have many more Ike Gauntlet, MPG loop, off-road and other videos coming your way very soon. In the meantime, here is the 2015 Ram 3500 dually Ike Gauntlet run. Can the 2016 Ram beat this time?

Andre Smirnov
Andre Smirnov is an Automotive Enthusiast, Producer, Reviewer, Videographer, Writer, Software Engineer, Husband, Father, and Friend.