JIMNLIN wrote:
We got a nice 2001 Ram 2500 CTD 5 speed manual with 3.55's, this was in 2010. Dodge/Ram only gave this truck a 8,800# GVWR,...
and
Well bought a 2016 Ram CTD, Aisin, 3.73's DRW the difference is night and day! No issues getting going, stopping. I thought the 2001 Ram was solid towing, .....
yeah I'm sure moving from a 2001 3/4 ton truck up to the new gen 2016 3500 DRW would be a huge improvement.
However a better comparo would be a 2016 3500 SRW truck vs 2016 3500 DRW.
I could have gotten a SRW 3500 with a 12,300# GVWR, BUT I might have been close to to GVWR once done with it also!
So no Yellow Payload sticker on the 2001, but loaded with DW, dog me and ready to hit the road we scaled 7,800# leaving only 1,000# of "Payload". Well add a 2,700# pin and we are 1,700# over GVWR.
So I looked at a Tradesman a while back that had right at 4,000# of Payload pretty good.
While I also felt that the main difference between a 2500 and 3500 SRW was the numbers on the VIN and Payload sticker, and maybe base tires. Looking at that I figured that getting a newer 3500 SRW was a lateral move for handling, so felt the logical choice was a DRW 3500.
Now the 3500 DRW we got is a Laramie with a Yellow sticker payload of 5,411#.
Well guess what once I had the hitch, in bed tool box and stuff loaded in the truck and hit the scales we weighed in at 9,950# on a GVWR of 14,000# so only 4,050# left, and we had sucked up 1,361# of payload before adding the 5er pin!! Well if I had that Tradesman with 4,000# of payload, 4,000# - 1,361# = 2,639#!! Well I would have been over GVWR with our 2,700# pin. Our 5er doesn't have a huge basement and is only 32' so even easy to max a 3500 SRW.
This is something overlooked so many times when newbies start looking at MAX tow and Payload (if they look). Just because you have a Payload of say 3,000# doesn't mean you can carry a 5er with a pin of 3,000#.
If involved in an accident at fault OR NOT, there is ALWAYS the chance of a lawsuit. There are a lot of hungry lawyers out there. It is much easier to defend a package within all "The Numbers" than one that exceeds any of them.
Like I stated before, I agree there is little difference between a 2500 and 3500 SRW, if the poster had the TV already would state what worked for me, but would never recommend others doing it.
Many of the regulars have stated watching weights and common sense should be your guide. That statement is great, but with manufacture ratings for 2500's with a MAX tow rating of 17,000#, that becomes the ONLY number they look at so lets put a 17,000# 5er on a Option Loaded TV, with much less available payload than the MAX rating of the stripper model with a 3,000# pin, and now not only are you exceeding the TV GVWR, but also likely rear axle GAWR, and possibly the tire rating.
