Having sold my 2012 1500 Limited because I couldn't tow anything without the wife and kids running along side the truck, here's my 2 cents:
The 5000 lbs. tow number is based on a max 500 lb tongue weight.
Anything over that, they want you to use a weight distributing hitch.
It's in the manual. That's how you get to the 9850 lb. number.
And to get to that number, you better be at half a tank of gas and take a dump before you drive alone down the road.
As for the max you can legally tow (not talkin redneck if it moves, I can tow it Ye Haw!), there's only one way to know. Take it to the scales.
1.Load up your truck with everything you are going to take that's not going into the trailer, filler up with gas, and weight it at the scales with you in it. (no need to drag the family along)
2.Add the weight of your passengers to that number.
3.Subtract that from the 7000 GVWR of the Ram 1500
That number is the max tongue weight you have left before you max out your payload. It's 10% of the weight you can safely tow at max payload.
Don't be surprised when that scale comes back at 6700 lbs.
