Tow capacity

Trucker2565 · 06-12-2021, 05:00 PM

Ok don't hammer me. I just have a question on tow weights. I have a 2018 ram 2500 HD with 6.4 liter hemi. 4x4 crew cab. The door stickers says cargo capacity 2957lbs. So wife and me 500lbs. 5th wheel hitch and small tool box 300lbs. So my pin weight can be 2157lbs. Technically correct??? I tow a keystone hideout 282 RKS. Thinking just thinking how much bigger I could go???? I know everybody here believes the only tow vehicle is a DRW diesel but its not my daily driver so don't want and can't afford 80k for a diesel to sit in driveway. Just short trips to the lake and maybe q to the mountains of Colorado. My truckbdoes well with this trailer.

Javi · 06-12-2021, 05:13 PM

5th wheel pin weight is 23% average so 10,000 x .23 = 2300 pounds

So you need a trailer with a GVWR of less than 10K

**sourdough** · 06-12-2021, 05:20 PM

Well first, I am certainly not one that believes everyone needs a DRW OR a diesel....but;

I have owned a truck very similar to yours; 3/4 Ram, 6.4L and mine had a 3190 payload. You can't go big enough in upsizing trailers to matter much. Your trailer is a 5th wheel and if you are looking for bigger, larger 5th wheels you are about maxed.

Your current (no scale weights) situation is about all I would want to strap behind that 6.4L IF you had the 4.10 axle and the new 8 speed. Don't know if the 18s had them but think so. If you have the 3.73 you don't need to go bigger at all (btdt).

Might look at a longer bumper pull and stay in the same weight class but you lose some of that roomy feel with the tall ceiling. I'd be thinking how happy I was with that trailer OR how much I wanted a new truck...

Trucker2565 · 06-12-2021, 06:10 PM

Its a 6 speed auto with 410 gears. It pulls much nicer than my 06 power wagon 5.7 and 4 spd auto. I know I'm about maxed . Just would like maybe 1 more slide.... only use the trailer maybe 6 times a year..

travelin texans · 06-12-2021, 08:26 PM

Regardless of how lightweight you may load, how much water you haul, how far you may tow or how many times a year, overloaded is overloaded.
I would have to agree you are maxed out with your current setup.

**flybouy** · 06-13-2021, 03:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelin texans

Regardless of how lightweight you may load, how much water you haul, how far you may tow or how many times a year, overloaded is overloaded.
I would have to agree you are maxed out with your current setup.

Sort of like the guy who goes to the cardiologist and gets a stress test and is told he's straining his heart. "But doc, I only get a strsss test once in a while and it's omly for 20 minutes. "

wiredgeorge · 06-13-2021, 05:01 AM

You are already a bit overloaded so going bigger with a 5th wheel isn't a great idea from a safety standpoint. Perhaps a bumper pull would suit your current tow vehicle better?

notanlines · 06-13-2021, 07:27 AM

Trucker, you've been given good, accurate information. What you do with it, and how the situation is handled is up to you. We can't force you to make changes, nor keep you from buying bigger. All we can do is give accurate information.
And as Danny pointed out, not EVERY member here thinks dually diesels are required by every situation. Your gasser will tow the load just fine. That screaming you hear climbing 10K foot passes is probably ......uh, well, it couldn't be that gasser.

Yes, just a little humor, but just stay with what you have, and do us all a favor: Run through a CAT scale on your way to camp next time and post it for us, and for your benefit.

**JRTJH** · 06-13-2021, 07:42 AM

As stated, not everyone believes you need a diesel dually to tow a fifth wheel. I'm towing a fifth wheel with a diesel F250 and doing "just fine".

That said, the numbers simply don't lie and can't be "manipulated to lie"... What you see is what you get. No matter how you slice it or dice it, you simply can't get 3400 pounds of payload out of a yellow sticker that says 3000 pounds max.

So, figure a pin weight around 22% (you can use 23% if you want) of the trailer GVWR (not empty weight or your estimated cargo weight, but the trailer GVWR), then add the weight of your hitch and any other cargo in the truck to get an approximate pin weight. If you calculate more than your yellow sticker, keep shopping and DON'T BUY until you find the trailer that does "calculate within your payload"...

Otherwise, you're going to be buying a new truck after towing over a CAT scale, or you're going to be towing overweight with that "little devil on your shoulder (your conscience) nagging you with every mile on the highway.

You can have an entirely controllable outcome without a dually.........

As for the statement, "I don't want and can't afford a $80K diesel to sit in the driveway"... If you can't afford an "ADEQUATE TOW VEHICLE" for the trailer you choose (and that doesn't have to be a diesel or a dually), you'd be better served not buying the trailer and just keeping what you currently have.... There's no need to buy a trailer heavier than your truck can safely tow just because you want bigger without including the tow vehicle needed for the "bigger".....

goducks · 06-13-2021, 08:18 AM

After owning a 2018 Ram 2500 6.4, 4.10 CC LB 4x4, I wouldn't want to tow anymore than 10,000 lbs. The Ram 6sp is terrible. The more weight you put behind it the worse it gets. Hills and mtns are the worst as the 1-2-3 gearing is spaced for the high torque or the Cummins.
From what I've heard the 8sp is a game changer.
I towed a 9500 lb TT through OR, WA, ID, MT, WY, UT, NV and Ca on a month long trip. It was the trip that broke the camels back. I previously owned a 2012 CTD and after owning the 18 Hemi I went back to a CTD. I found a 2019 in late 2020 that was sitting on the dealers lot for months. I got in just before the used/new truck shortage ramped up.

Pin weight aside towing more than 10,000 lbs anywhere except on mostly flat or slow rolling hills is my limit.
YMMV

Trucker2565 · 06-13-2021, 11:18 AM

Thank you for all the messages. I don't really have any plans for another trailer. They are getting way to expensive nowadays. You know how it is up camping you see other trailers and go hmmmm.. 2 ac would be nicer or an extra slide ( i only have the 1) but im happy with my trailer. It does the job for the wife and myself. Someday I will cross a scale just for the numbers. Maybe someday we will rv full time and then I will look at a DRW diesel . Until then I like my HEMI POWER. Haha �� thanks again

**sourdough** · 06-13-2021, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trucker2565

Thank you for all the messages. I don't really have any plans for another trailer. They are getting way to expensive nowadays. You know how it is up camping you see other trailers and go hmmmm.. 2 ac would be nicer or an extra slide ( i only have the 1) but im happy with my trailer. It does the job for the wife and myself. Someday I will cross a scale just for the numbers. Maybe someday we will rv full time and then I will look at a DRW diesel . Until then I like my HEMI POWER. Haha �� thanks again

^^^I like them myself.

Owned one (or 2) since the newer ones came out. Cousin brought one by in the 60s; 1964 Plymouth Fury with the 426 and we took it out for a few runs. Loved it but never owned one of the older ones.

I am a gas truck guy myself; maybe it's from hot rodding them, I still love to hear them "get with it".

That said, and I almost can't make my fingers type this, I'm thinking I'll get a diesel next go round if I can make the weights work (I won't buy drw - garage won't work). And that....THAT is excruciating to say. On the other hand, the diesel is made for "pulling" and if you go full time I would suggest you seriously consider them. I'm going to, despite my long held affinity for a gas engine, for that reason AND I was just in the city the other day and diesel was only 10 cents higher than gas in one place. The others were 20-40 cents higher but still closer, and better, than a buck a gallon or more as it was. We don't full time but we have changed our travel routine and will be using the RV more to go to more varied places. Combined with the fact we got a trailer as big as my truck wants to pull I figure I ought to actually own one before I start pushing up daisies.

While you're out camping take notes on those RVs that have some things you like....and don't like. When it comes time you will know what you want. I highly recommend opposing slides in the living area. Good luck and have fun; you're in a place where it's not far to some pretty country. Got a very good friend that lives in Aurora.

CaptnJohn · 06-27-2021, 03:21 PM

Not every one needs a diesel and fewer a dually. Two 5ers back the one my wife chose required an F350 diesel. The current Montana, our 3rd, she had to have required the F350 dually. Tried to talk her out of it as the truck is my daily driver, didn’t work. I learned to back the truck in and pull the mirrors in when parking in lots without the 5er. No different than an F150 except a little longer. Now I don’t care what I’d ever pull, nothing like a dually. With 5600# payload I no longer think of that. Nice having an aux fuel tank with 1000 miles before needing fuel while towing too. I’ll not even mention stability. But what you need and want but especially what you need. I was anti-dually until forced into one for safety and will not go back.

Badbart56 · 06-27-2021, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sourdough

That said, and I almost can't make my fingers type this, I'm thinking I'll get a diesel next go round if I can make the weights work (I won't buy drw - garage won't work). And that....THAT is excruciating to say.

You'll wish you had done it sooner Danny!

Todd727 · 06-27-2021, 04:44 PM

FORGET about the yellow sticker. Load your truck like you'll have it loaded for towing. Fill up the fuel tank.

Run it across the scale and learn what your front and rear axle weights as well as GVW are. Now you can easily figure out how much pin weight you can support and how how heavy of a trailer you can tow and remain within your GCWR.

Towing numbers are really very simple, but people don't want to do the math or don't want to accept the results.

You can run a pin weight between a low of about 15% and a high of as much as you can put on the truck. When moving heavy equipment, I've run less than 15%, but I'm not going to recommend that for a 5th wheel due to the sail effect of the broad sides. 20% is a very safe number for your use.

Trucker2565 · 06-27-2021, 05:28 PM

I had a dually with a 454 gas motor for last trailer. The stability was better but the truck was tired and old and a divorce put me into selling it. My tow vehicle is not my daily driver so I'm not ready to pull the pin on a diesel to sit in driveway 25 days a month.

Badbart56 · 06-27-2021, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trucker2565

My tow vehicle is not my daily driver so I'm not ready to pull the pin on a diesel to sit in driveway 25 days a month.

If this is a reference to it somehow harming the diesel to sit for 25 days, rest assured, it won't be a problem. Mine sits for a month or two at a time as I drive a truck over the road for weeks at a time.

77cruiser · 06-28-2021, 05:52 AM

Mine sat for almost a year, they don't wear out when they sit.

markjamestx · 07-25-2021, 11:34 AM

Okay, just needing your expert feedback. Currently have a pull-behind TT. We have a 2021 GMC 2500 HD SLT 6.6 gas with OEM 5th wheel/gooseneck set-up. Truck's numbers are GVWR 10650# (7420+3230), max gooseneck trailer wt is 16620# with pin wt 2490#. BW Slider with puck set-up is 250# and a tool box about 40#. Wife and I weight about 300#, no dogs and occasional grandkids maybe 120#. Seriously looking at another manufacturer's 5th wheel with a GVWR 13995# and pin wt of 2197#. If I am looking at this correctly, the 2490 max pin wt comes out to 17.8%. I have read about the 20 to 23% but what do you all think?

JDDilly · 07-25-2021, 12:32 PM

Use 23% of the GVWR. What is posted from the manufacture is not a realistic number, it is the pin weight as it leaves to factory. On your TV, look at the yellow/white payload sticker on the drivers door jam. The payload is the number that really counts. Add the estimated pin weight and all things added to the truck after leaving the factory; gas, people, tools, hitch, ect. The payload added needs to be below what is posted on the door jam sticker.

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