Well, the new truck finally had to stop looking pretty in the driveway and go to work.
After switching from our 2024 Ram 2500 gas truck to the 2025 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD Duramax, I had been waiting for the first opportunity to hook up our Grand Design Reflection 295RL and see whether the difference was really as noticeable as everyone says.
Now I know. Yes. Very much yes. Our first towing trip wasn’t some 600-mile cross-country expedition through the Rocky Mountains. It was a short run down to Vienna, Illinois, for the Southern Illinois Meet & Greet. But in some ways, that made it an even better comparison because this is a road we travel several times a year. I know the hills, the curves, the interstate entrances, and pretty much exactly how the old Ram behaved on the same route. The trip is about 38 miles each way—roughly 11 miles of two-lane road and another 27 miles on the interstate. So we’re talking about a 76-mile round trip. Not enough to proclaim myself the world’s leading Duramax expert. But definitely enough for me to say: Holy cow, what a difference.
First, Let’s Talk About the Two Trucks
The truck we replaced was a 2024 Ram 2500 with the gas engine. It wasn’t a bad truck. Actually, I want to make that very clear. The Ram did everything I asked it to do. It pulled our camper, rode well, looked good, and never left me sitting beside the road questioning my life choices. But towing a fifth wheel with a gasoline heavy-duty truck and towing one with a modern diesel are two very different experiences. Our new truck is a 2025 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD Custom Crew Cab 4×4 with the 6.6-liter Duramax diesel and Allison 10-speed transmission. The Duramax puts out 470 horsepower and, more importantly for towing, a whopping 975 lb-ft of torque. That second number is the one that matters. Torque is what you feel when several tons of truck and camper need to start moving. And compared with the gas Ram? You feel it. Immediately. Our Chevy also isn’t exactly an ordinary 2500HD configuration. It has the Max Trailering Package, fifth-wheel/gooseneck prep, and the heavier rear suspension setup with 3500HD-type rear springs. My payload sticker shows 3,633 pounds of available payload, so Chevrolet apparently built this particular 2500 with work in mind. That was one of the big reasons I bought it. Now I finally got to see what all those numbers meant once the camper was hooked to it.
Hooking Up the Grand Design
Our fifth wheel is a Grand Design Reflection 150 Series 295RL. The minute I lowered the camper onto the hitch, I noticed something. The truck simply didn’t seem terribly impressed. The Ram handled the camper fine, but you always knew there was a fifth wheel sitting back there. With the Chevy’s heavier rear suspension, the truck felt more planted before we ever left the campground. That’s not to say the camper magically disappeared. Believe me, I am still very aware that I’m pulling a fifth wheel. Anyone who forgets that has absolutely no business towing one. But the truck felt like it had considerably more reserve capacity. And then we pulled onto the road. That’s where things really started getting interesting.
The First Thing I Noticed: Acceleration
This may have been the biggest surprise of the entire trip. Getting up to highway speed was dramatically easier. With the Ram, when I entered the interstate towing the camper, I would get into the throttle and the gas engine would do what gasoline engines do. RPM goes up. Transmission starts working. Engine gets louder. Truck accelerates. Nothing wrong with that. But there was never any doubt that both the engine and transmission had received the memo that roughly five tons of camper had joined the party. The Duramax is completely different. You press the accelerator and it just… goes. There isn’t nearly as much drama involved. The combination of that massive low-end torque and the Allison 10-speed transmission means the truck can find the gear it needs without feeling like it’s desperately searching through the toolbox trying to figure out what wrench fits. And there is one interstate entrance on this route that really showed the difference.
The Vienna Interstate Ramp
Anyone familiar with the Vienna area probably knows the type of entrance I’m talking about. You come around a fairly sharp right-hand turn, you’re heading uphill, and you don’t exactly have three miles of entrance ramp available to get several tons of truck and fifth wheel moving. With the Ram, this was one of those places where I knew ahead of time: “All right, time to give her some gas.” And the Ram would do it. But the engine had to work. With the Duramax, I came around that turn, rolled into the throttle, and the truck simply started pulling. No screaming engine. No big production. No feeling like I needed to send a written request to the engine room asking for additional power. The 10-speed dropped into the right gear, the Duramax delivered the torque, and we were merging onto the interstate. That was probably the moment during the trip when I realized just how big an upgrade this truck really was.
The Hills Were Almost Boring
There are a couple of decent-sized hills on this route. They’re not Colorado mountain passes. Let’s not get carried away. This is Southern Illinois. But they’re big enough that I knew exactly how the Ram responded while towing. The Ram would pull them, but again, you could hear and feel it working. The engine would rev higher and the transmission would downshift. The Chevy just seemed to lean into them. That’s probably the best way I can describe it. The diesel doesn’t feel like it’s trying harder. It just produces more pulling force. Instead of hearing the engine wind up and thinking, “Okay, here comes the hill,” I found myself looking down at the speedometer because the truck was maintaining speed so easily. That’s where having almost 1,000 lb-ft of torque really starts making sense. I’ve read the numbers. I’ve talked about the numbers. I’ve compared the numbers. But numbers on paper don’t mean nearly as much as feeling the truck pull a fifth wheel up a hill without breaking a sweat.
The 10-Speed Transmission Is a Huge Part of It
I don’t think the Duramax deserves all the credit. That Allison 10-speed transmission makes a major difference. Having ten gears allows the truck to keep the engine in a very useful part of its power range without making huge jumps between gears. While towing, the shifts were smooth and the transmission seemed to know exactly where it wanted to be. I’m sure there will be situations later—especially on bigger hills—where I’ll notice it shifting more. But on this first trip, the entire drivetrain just felt incredibly well matched. Engine. Transmission. Rear suspension. Tow package. Everything seems designed around the idea that somebody might actually hook something heavy to the back of this truck. Imagine that.
How Did It Feel on the Interstate?
This was another area where the Chevy impressed me. Once we were up to highway speed, the truck felt extremely stable. The heavier rear suspension certainly plays a role here. Again, my particular 2500HD has the Max Trailering Package and the heavier spring setup, which makes it a little unusual compared with some standard 2500 configurations. With the Reflection behind us, the truck felt planted. At highway speed, it simply settled in and cruised. That may be the biggest difference between the two trucks overall. The Ram could pull the camper. The Chevy feels like it was built around pulling the camper. There’s a difference.
What About the Exhaust Brake?
Unfortunately, I didn’t really get a good opportunity to test one of the features I’ve been looking forward to the most—the diesel exhaust brake. That’s going to require a longer trip with some bigger and longer grades before I can give it a fair review. Coming from a trucking background, an exhaust brake is one of those features I immediately appreciate. Instead of relying entirely on the service brakes to control speed coming down a long grade, the engine and exhaust system can help hold the truck back. With a fifth wheel behind you, that’s not just convenient. That’s a very useful towing feature. I had it available on this trip, but there simply weren’t any grades long or steep enough for me to come away with a meaningful opinion. So that test is still coming. And I’m actually looking forward to finding a hill. That’s probably a sentence only someone with a new diesel truck would say.
Gas Versus Diesel: Do You Need a Diesel?
Here’s where I’m going to annoy both sides of the eternal gas-versus-diesel argument. You don’t automatically need a diesel just because you own a camper. Our Ram 2500 gas truck pulled our camper. It did the job. For someone who only tows occasionally, stays relatively close to home, or has a lighter trailer, I still think a gas heavy-duty truck can make plenty of sense. Diesels cost more. Maintenance can cost more. Modern diesel emissions systems add complexity. And if your truck spends its entire life making five-mile trips to the grocery store, a diesel probably isn’t being used the way it was designed to be used. But after towing this fifth wheel with both? I’m not going back. At least not willingly. The difference in towing experience is simply too substantial. It’s not just about how much weight the truck is technically rated to pull. It’s about how easily it does the job. That’s the part towing charts don’t always explain.
The Biggest Difference Is Confidence
After this first trip, I think the word I’d use is confidence. The Ram was capable. The Chevy feels effortless. When I need to accelerate onto an interstate, there’s power available. When I reach a hill, there’s torque available. When the transmission needs another gear, it has plenty of choices. When the camper puts weight over the rear axle, the heavier springs handle it. And when we eventually start traveling into areas with real grades, I’ll have an exhaust brake available to help control everything going downhill. That entire package makes towing more relaxing. And anything that makes towing a fifth wheel more relaxing gets my attention. Because I don’t care how long you’ve been towing—when you’re responsible for a heavy truck, a large camper, your passengers, and everybody else sharing the highway with you, relaxed and confident beats white-knuckled and hopeful every single time. Getting our Grand Design 295RL ready to travel.
Was Switching Trucks Worth It?
After only one towing trip, I obviously can’t give the Chevy a long-term reliability grade. I can’t tell you what ownership will look like after 50,000 miles of towing. I can’t tell you yet how it will perform crossing the Rockies. And I haven’t put the exhaust brake through a serious downhill test. Those reviews will come as we put more miles on it. But I can answer one question already. Was moving from the 2024 Ram 2500 gas truck to the 2025 Chevy 2500HD Duramax an upgrade for the way we camp? Absolutely. And it wasn’t a small upgrade. For towing our Reflection 295RL, the difference was remarkable. This first trip was only 38 miles each way. But because I’ve driven this same route so many times, it gave me a nearly perfect comparison. Same camper. Same roads. Same hills. Same driver. Different truck. And a very different towing experience. The Ram got the job done. The Duramax made the job look easy. That’s about the best compliment I can give it. Of course, this was only Trip Number One.
Something tells me I’m going to enjoy that test. Stay tuned. The new truck has officially graduated from driveway decoration to tow vehicle. And so far? I think we’re going to get along just fine.
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