Need help choosing fulltime toy hauler

aza2010 wrote:
ok gents so I went ahead and used a calculator online to find out my max hitch weight rating for a fifth wheel hitch for my truck. Not sure if its correct so maybe someone can throw in their experience.

The answer I got was 3,825 or 3,060 with a 20 percent safety margin.

Here are the stats of the truck. I know the Gross weight may not be Actual weight.
Max trailer weight rating- 17,210
GCWR 25,300
GVWR- 10,000
Rear GAWR 6,500

Am I in the ball park here or is that calculator not right?

You're a little off. Your hitch weight capacity can be calculated by taking the trucks GVWR (10,000lbs) and subtracting the weight of the truck ready to camp, fuel, people, hitch, firewood, dogs etc. (Diesel Rams usually sit around 7800lbs empty).

That gives you 2200lbs of payload before you add the above things. I would say 8500lbs ready to camp is a safe bet. That gives you 1500 lbs left for pin weight.

The same truck in the 3500 SRW version would have about 3800lbs left.

Sure, you can enhance the suspension to carry more weight (lots of people do). But by the law you are overloaded. If you were in an at-fault accident your insurance could refuse to pay due to negligence and you could face legal trouble. It is not hard for a money hungry attorney to look up the published pin weight of a toyhauler and the rated payload of your truck and due the quick math.

That being said I am not the weight police. I have overloaded many trucks in my day to "get the job done" and lived to tell about it. However, hauling something across town overweight one time vs. being overweight everyday is different. Can your Ram 2500 haul more than it is rated for? Sure. But trucks have ratings for a reason and the risk and liability is not worth the $500 savings.

Just curious, why did you buy a 2500 vs a 3500 SRW knowing you would be buying a fifth wheel for full timing?