2011 Ram 3500 Mega SRW 5th Wheel Towing 17K?

Redsky wrote:
Actually the 2013 Ram 1-ton has a brand new frame and this was used only in the 1-ton trucks in 2013 and now is used for both 2500 and 3500 trucks.

This is from Ford but applies to all pickup trucks

"Gross Axle Weight Rating is determined by the minimum component of the axle system (axles, computer-selected springs, wheels, tires) of a specific vehicle. Front and rear GAWR's wiill, in all cases, sum to a number equal to or greater than the GVWR for the particular vehicle. Maximum loaded vehicle (including passengers, equipment and payload) cannot exceed the GVW rating or GAWR (front or rear)."

The minimum component is almost always the rims and tires which is why a DRW that doubles the number adds to the rated load capacity at the rear axle.

Towing capacity depends in part the payload capacity of the truck but more important is the engine type and gears provided. With GM the gas engine equipped trucks with the 4.10 gears have a 25% higher tow rating than the same trucks with 3.73 gears.

You can upgrade your wheels and tires to 19.5 ones for around $3500 and increase the rear axle load capacity by 37% (4400 versus 3200). The other option is to get a lighter trailer.

Friends drove a 2500 SRW diesel powered pickup towing a 28' 5th wheel trailer for years and then decided to buy a larger one which they used for two years and regretted the entire time having the longer and heavier trailer. The diesel pickup had no difficult with the 13,5000 lbs of trailer load.

The majority of people towing 5th wheel trailers are using SRW trucks with fewer than a fourth using a DRW pickup. They have made it work by choosing something that is not the largest and longest and heaviest.

Shorter trailers are going to make getting into campground spaces easier and more will be available in public campgrounds the shorter the trailer.

What I do know, "for fact" is that the rear axle weight rating for a 2013 Ram 3500 SRW is 7,000#. The rear axle weight rating for the 2013 Ram 3500 DRW is 9750#...more than just tires make that kind of different. Also, payload, (GVWR), doesn't have that much to do with the gearing, but the GCWR does....ie, a 3:42 gearing equipped 1 ton has less GCWR than a similarly equipped 1 ton with 3:73 or 4:10 gearing.

As far as longer 5er's, my 5er is almost 40' long and the dually is around 22' long....I still camp everywhere I camped before when I had a Jeep towing a pop-up....Don't doubt that longer units may limit where one tows, but if one WANTS a longer, larger 5er, then that's one of the things one gives up to have "all that room).



To the OP, most will tell you that you won't be over your trucks RAWR, so you're good to go...most ignore a trucks GVWR...I don't...you WILL be over your 2011 3500 SRW trucks GVWR, and possibly close to your trucks GCWR, but your truck, your choice.....

Just because others tow heavy 5er 's with 2500's, or even 3500 SRW trucks, if they're over the trucks GCWR and cutting well into the trucks RAWR, it certainly doesn't make it right, nor does it help keep things safe while towing, but I'm not very smart, so I try to stay within my trucks recommended limits, ie GVWR, GCWR...that way I KNOW I'm WELL within my trucks RAWR.....

A 2500 comes ONLY as a SRW truck