Thinking of getting a fifth wheel..

Google: your truck

Of course you'll have to refine it a bit.

Here is a good place to get good, unbiased information clicky

Welcome to the forum.

Cargo carrying capacity is 2,858 pounds
Deduct the weight of both passengers
Deduct the weight of the bikes
Deduct the weight of the ice chest
Deduct 200 pounds for a hitch
Divide that number by .2 and .25 and you will get a range for potential trailer weight.

Better yet, fill up the truck, throw the bikes and ice chest in the bed, both of you get in and have the truck weighed. Deduct that weight from 9,900 and then do the math.

For instance, 2,200 pounds of remaining capacity translates into approximately a 9,000-11,000# fifth wheel. You could bump that up if you put the bikes and ice chest in the trailer and bought a light weight hitch. Some trailers are lighter on the pin than others. Your drive train won't have any problems towing a 5er but your cargo capacity is the limiter as to how large you can go.

Thanks ,looks like thats what we will do once weather improves in our area

Only the scales can tell you what is left for pin weight/hitch wt on the rear axle. You have 6,200 available. If the truck rear axle weighed 3,200, full fuel, passengers, ready to camp, you'd have 3,000 lbs left for hitch and pin wt. The hitch will be about 200#s, so 2,800 left for pin. You should be able to handle the size FW you are considering, keeping in mind a FW loaded to camp wt of about 12K.

Jerry

Dave_DianT wrote:
Confused about how much truck can carry.i got these off door jams,hoping they would help.we are looking a between 30 to 34 ft.
2006 dodge ram 3500,i6,srw,sb.deisel,5.9 4x4
Just 2 people an ice chest and two bikes for cargo.
Gvwr 09900
Gawr front 5200
Gawr rear 6200

Other says combined weight of cargo and occupants not to exceed 2858

Staying conservative and looking at only the payload (that 2858 number), you can get an idea from this:
http://towingplanner.com/Calculators/TowingPayloadEstimate

You have not given us your true, actual as scaled weights. So there is no way we can give any honest answers. But to partially answer your question, scaled rear axle weight subtracted from the listed GAWR. That is how much load you can drop on the read end. 150 pounds from that for a regular hitch. The remainder is the maximum you have before exceeding the mfg numbers.

Thank you everyone that really gives us a place to start.numbers on tags seem low for a 1 ton:h

As suggested, scale your truck with a full tank of fuel and the maximum amount of passengers you plan to carry. If you have a fifth wheel hitch make sure that is loaded in the bed. If not, add 200 pounds to the rear axle weight to compensate for the hitch. Once you have this data then you can calculate the remainder allowances the truck can handle.

Another important thing to factor in is the load carrying capacity of the rear tires on the truck. This is often overlooked. Basically, you need to find the "weakest link" in the system and not exceed the load rating of that item, whether it is the rear axle carrying capacity, rear tires, etc. Don't exceed the weakest link.

Here is my actual set up

2007 Dodge 3500 SRW Quad Cab Longbed 5.9L CTD 48re auto trans with 4:10 gearing
GVWR 10,100#
GCVWR 22,500#
FAWR 5200#
RAWR 6200#

2007 5th wheel...13,873# Scaled weight

3090# total 5vr pin weight (2940# on rear axle and 150# on front axle...hitch set 2" froward of rear axle center line)

Puts me right at RAWR of 6200#
Puts me under Rear Tire Max Load Ratings of 3195#/Each----6390# Total
Puts me under GCVWR of 22,500# (21,858# scaled weight)

Puts me over GVWR 10,100#
Puts me over payload

I am not concerned with being over GVWR or payload numbers
Reason......
Payload is based on GVWR and GVWR is a warranty/registration issue.....nothing more
I could register my truck for 12,000# if I wanted to pay higher registration fees

Your 2006 has same Axle Ratings.