Does the 2020 Chevy Silverado HD Duramax Crush the new Ram HD Cummins on the World’s Toughest Towing Test? (Ike Gauntlet Video)

2020 chevy silverado hd ram hd 2500 3500 ike gauntlet

In this heavy duty truck comparison, you will see …

  • New 2020 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD towing 16,000 lbs up and down the Ike Gauntlet highway.
  • The new Chevy 6.6-liter Duramax diesel and a 10-speed Allison transmission compared to the new 6.7-liter Cummins diesel and a 6-speed Aisin transmission with the same trailer.
  • An answer to a question, “which is better for towing this trailer? Is it a 3500 dually, or a 2500 with a single rear wheel?”

TFLtruck is first to test the all-new 2020 Chevy Silverado HD truck in the real world with a heavy trailer. In this Ike Gauntlet – world’s toughest towing test comparison we take a new fully-optioned Silverado 2500 HD crew cab 4×4 and hitch a 16,000 lbs trailer to it. We measure its mountain towing performance against a new 2019 Ram 3500 HD truck. It’s closer than you might imagine.

2020 Chevy Silverado HD

The Silverado HD is all-new with a stronger frame, new body, and a new transmission. The 6.6-liter Duramax turbo-diesel V8 remains largely the same, although its cooling system has been improved.

The power rating is still 445 hp and 910 lb-ft of torque. The diesel is mated to a new 10-speed Allison-branded automatic transmission. This truck is a fully loaded High Country model with most options and a price tag of just over $76,000.

The maximum towing rating for this new Silverado HD 2500 crew cab 4×4 is 18,500 lbs. The maximum payload is just over 3,000 lbs.

2019 Ram HD

This Ram 3500 HD is equipped with the high output Cummins inline-6 turbo diesel. The engine is fully redesigned for 2019.

The new power rating is 400 hp and 1,000 lb-ft of torque. This engine is mater to a 6-speed Aisin automatic transmission.

This truck is rated to tow over 32,000 lbs and has a maximum payload of over 5,000 lbs.

Ike Gauntlet

This is an 8-mile stretch of I-70 with a 7% grade and a maximum elevation of over 11,158 feet above sea level.

Not surprisingly, both Ram and Chevy performed very well on the downhill with two brake applications each. Very Surprisingly, they went up the mountain in the same time – 8 minutes and 25 seconds.

Watch the comparison video on TFLtruck!