Recently upgraded from Ram 1500 to a Ram 3500

[swan2125]

Hello all...as you can see from my title, I recently upgraded to a 2014 Ram 3500 Longhorn, SRW, 4x4, CC, 6.7 CTD, 3.42 with 5th Wheel Prep from a Ram 1500 (excuse the old picture below with the TT).

With this upgrade, my DW would also like me to look for a toy hauler that has a loft in order to have enough room to lug around our two boys and our daughter.

My question is, how do you make that happen....I see everyone has these very large toy haulers paired up with various model SRWs, but if you look at the numbers, can a SRW support or I might just be looking at the wrong numbers or something?? Using the FZ342s weights (from keystone website), the hitch is 3090 and the unit is 12988 (dry), that bumps me right up against my 17,000 max, not including anything I load into it for the trip.

[Richard6959]

Dry weight is the total weight of the unit when it was shipped from the factory. It has nothing to do with hitch weight. If you added a 1000 pounds of contents, your still at 13,988.

Your hitch weight is the amount of downward pressure on your truck.

[chuckster57]

Take your truck to a CAT scale. Load it with everything you'll have in it when you tow, including a full tank of fuel.

Look at the tag on the drivers door and you'll find the GVWR and rear axle rating. Subtract your scale weights from those figures and you'll know for sure

[ri_truck_guy]

I found this site quite handy when I was making my purchases. One thing you'll find is a lot of guys are running right up to the limits on their trucks. I preferred a safety margin along with the added stability, so I went with the Ram 3500 dually.

http://changingears.com/rv-sec-calc-...ue_percentage=

[swan2125]

If I know the GCWR is 25,000 and the max tow is 17,000 and the max payload is 3,893 (per Ram website for my VIN), don't you have to subtract the max payload (which takes into account the pin) to get the new max tow?

[chuckster57]

Max tow is what your rated to yank down the road.

Max payload is what you can put IN the truck.

Payload is affected by number of people, amount of fuel, hitch, and any "stuff" you put in the cab and bed. Optional equipment can also affect payload, that's why it's best to take YOUR truck to the scales with everything that would be in it while towing and use THAT number to subtract from the max payload to see what's left for tongue/king pin.

[swan2125]

Understand all that.....using the calculator that ri_truck_guy provided a link for, its gives me a new max trailer weight of 13,300 and a max pin weight of 3,325. Using the ram link for my VIN, adding 600 pounds for passenger's, it gives me a max trailer weight of 13,407 and 3,593. I guess I have a baseline to start with.

[chuckster57]

600 lbs for passengers...then add a full tank of fuel, the ice chest with whatever, the tools, the hitch, etc.

[swan2125]

got it, thanks. Goes back to my original observation, seems like a lot of guys run heavy.

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by swan2125

got it, thanks. Goes back to my original observation, seems like a lot of guys run heavy.

Scary the number of people who are WAY overweight.

[gtsum2]

I did the same thing (2013 ram 1500 Laramie to a 2013 ram 3500 Laramie megacab srw). My payload is 4074. I too am looking for th and have come to the conclusion that I really need to stay around 15-15500 gvwr on the hauler. Seeing rigs on the road and at truck stops I gotta believe more people are over their max payload than are under it. Especially the 3/4 ton crowd

[swan2125]

yeah, we've talked before....hows the new truck?

[gtsum2]

Great so far. As you know, just an amazing difference compared to the half ton hemi. Still haven't decided on a th and will likely wait until march or so to pick one up. I want a th 38ft or less, 4 place seating that reclines, stand up full size shower, auto level up, under 16k gvwr....seems to be tough to find!

[swan2125]

I've had mine for just over a week now, and yes, it was worth - only got the longhorn because I got a great deal and couldn't let it pass me by. Let me know when you come up with any ideas on the TH, I'm looking everywhere right now. My TT is having the front cap repainted brown and Keystone is paying the 3K bill from the dealer.

[gtsum2]

Will do. Enjoy the new ride!