Tongue weight, revisted

BurbMan wrote:
What's the rating on the Ram's hitch receiver? I have never seen a hitch rated to handle 3180 TW. Glad you had a nice trip!

Thanks, yes had a great trip and great last dune rides of the season.Was 95° out there in the middle of the day.

Good question, not sure, maybe its similar to my Ford's..?
Seems newer class 5, 2.5" receivers are in the 2500-2800lb rating on Curt's site...

I've talked to my service manager at Ford a few times about the receiver weight rating. He is an old timer that started work on the Ford assembly line, has been service manager at one of the biggest dealers here in Fl for decades now. He has never seen a 2.5" receiver bent or damaged yet. Out of all the possible max load ratings, the 2.5" receiver is probably one of the most underrated he said. He went on to explain how panic braking can put multiple times the pressure of the normal weight limit on the receiver so they have to be able to take a lot of pressure way above and beyond the rating. Maybe swaying and bouncing down the road puts more pressure on the receiver then the actual weight is what he said.

I feel much safer towing with no sway and good handling, even being over the receiver limit, then being under the receiver limit with UN-steady handling, swaying and bouncing from to low a TW but being in receiver load limits.

My personal Truck, an F350 6.7 with the 2.5" receiver has towed my WW many times for long distances and the receiver is not bent or cracked. I inspect it all the time for obvious reasons. Even had the dealer inspect it after towing my beast a long distance with 2000-3000lbs TW depending on loading. Full 160 gal of water in front of the axles makes a huge difference in my TW.

The 2018 Ram 2.5" receiver seemed very very beefy.
The pin/17,000lb hitch/and 2000lb bars all are not rated for 3000tw.
When I had the 2" hitch, pins and sleeve would get bent and stuck in the receiver. With the new 2.5" hitch that no longer happens.

Suppose its a compromise with no perfect solution other then a custom built hitch receiver. I've got many miles with the 2.5" oem Ford hitch. Have done panic stops and some anti terrorists maneuvers to avoid accidents and no bends or cracks or twisting at all on my Ford 2.5", yet. Have a riding buddy that had to replace his 2" oem Chevy receiver when it bent towing his 8000lb TH. so I do realize even a properly loaded receiver can be a problem.

Curious of your opinion, would you rather tow with sway/unsteady handling and be under the receiver published rating, or be over the rating and be towing comfortably in control.

Usually I tow at 62-65mph and with 2500 or less TW.
Just wanted to point out my personal anecdotal experience how TW effects towing drastically,and not to be scared of large TW, and like using my surline TW scale,,, lol.

My extreme TW is probably on the very extreme high end of TH TW and not something most members will be confronted with. Just trying to show that TW isn't necessarily a bad thing that should be set to minimum at all cost...