2018 Ram 2500 Power Wagon Long-Term Update 5: Rescue Wagon

I’ve got a confession to make: I’ve been a bit greedy with the keys to “my” long-term 2018 Ram 2500 Power Wagon. I adore the unstoppable, gas-guzzling beast, and not only enjoy driving it out in California’s backcountry, but weirdly enough in Los Angeles traffic, too—people just don’t seem to move out of my way with the same sense of urgency in other long-term vehicles, like our Alfa Romeo Giulia. At any rate, with fellow features editor Scott Evans and his lovely wife planning an expedition through Arizona over a long weekend, I figured it was only right to relinquish the keys to the Power Wagon for a few days. Turns out, it was a good thing I did. What follows is Scott’s report from the road—Christian

“I figured it was only a matter of time, but I was worried that when I did find a car in a snowy ditch, there wouldn’t be a good point to winch it from. For better or for worse, the car in the ditch was an RV.

“On a long weekend vacation out to Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon this winter, poor weather was to be expected. The South Rim sits at 6,800 feet and averages nearly 5 feet of snowfall annually. More than 6 inches of it fell just the night before.

“We came across the Cruise America rental RV just south of the park entrance, nose-down in a ditch on the east side of the road. I didn’t ask how it got there, whether the driver hit the brakes and slid off to his right, or just hit a patch of ice and the crown of the road took over. He and his adult family were from Southeast Asia—I didn’t ask where, specifically—and spoke little English. Another family of good Samaritans had already stopped and provided chains to help the Ford E-Series van–based RV get traction on the icy road, but with the passenger-side rear wheel just off the edge of the pavement, the motor home was crab-walking itself down the road rather than backing out of the ditch.

“‘My son said: Now that looks like a truck that could pull us out!’ the helpful father said to me as he flagged me down. The spirit was certainly willing, but my brain was just a little uncertain the Power Wagon would be up to the task.

“Without consulting the internet, I figured the van that RV was built on would weigh around 4,000 pounds as a bare-chassis cab and could only support a few thousand pounds of payload. Best guess, the gross vehicle weight would be in the range of 10,000 pounds. The Power Wagon’s winch is rated to 12,000 pounds, so there ought to be a cushion. “Later research would suggest a curb weight around 11,000 pounds. Regardless, there was little worry of overheating the winch motor in 20-degree weather.

“Thankfully, Cruise America RVs seem to all be fitted with trailer hitches, and although a sticker on the receiver mandated a trailer of no more than 2,500 pounds, that number is based on the RV’s ability to pull and stop the combined weight of the vehicle and trailer. With even light-duty pickup trucks able to pull over 13,000 pounds off a receiver hitch these days, it stood to reason the hitch could take the weight of the RV, so that’s where we attached the winch cable.

“I at first hoped to keep the southbound lane of Route 64 open to traffic while I winched the RV, but from that angle the motor home continued to crab along the ditch and the edge of the road rather than pull out. With the other family stopping traffic, my wife repositioned the truck and I reattached the winch. With the RV in reverse and the cable taut, it was time to put up or shut up.

“Progress was encouraging at first. Despite the snow and ice, the Power Wagon stood firm and pulled the RV toward it, not the other way around. The RV moved slowly back until the front wheels came up to the edge of the ditch. I held my breath as the winch slowed nearly to a stop, but the RV’s front wheels popped up over the lip and the motor home continued back until we not only had it on the pavement, but with enough room to turn and pull away safely without falling back in the ditch.

“Automakers greatly prefer we return their vehicles in as good or nearly as good condition as we received them, which leaves us little opportunity to test features like a winch, which only gets used when all else fails. Lucky us, we could combine a real-world winch test with a good deed.”

Read more on our long-term Ram 2500 Power Wagon here:

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