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pspc271's avatar
pspc271
Explorer
Sep 01, 2014

2012 Ram 1500 / Shasta Oasis 310K

Sorry if this question has been asked 10K times however I cant seem to find a conclusive answer.

I currently have a 2012 Ram 1500 with the Hemi and 3.92 gears. According to the vehicle's specs it can tow a max of 9850 lbs and has a payload capacity of 1322 lbs.

The trailer I'm looking at is the Shasta Oasis 310K which has a dry weight of 5700 lbs and a hitch weight of 630lbs.

Its my understanding that in calculating actual payload weight you add the weight of the passengers, cargo, and hitch weight. With that said I came up with 600 lbs for 4 people, another 200 pounds for the dog and various supplies, and the 630 lbs hitch weight. That puts me at 1430 lbs with a completely dry trailer so realistically I'd still need to add another 130+ lbs or so to the hitch weight after adding a hitch, various food, gear, and supplies to the inside of the camper.

My question is, 1# Am I doing the math right? It seems weird that a 5700 lbs trailer is to heavy for a truck with a almost 10K rating. #2 if I am doing my math right, is it still safe to be 500 lbs over the payload capacity if I’m 3 or 4000 lbs under the towing capacity? Any suggestions or ideas would be great!

Thanks in advanced for the help and sorry for the newbie question!
  • You'd be overloading your truck by a significant margin.

    Especially with half-tons, the trailer towing rating is a misleading and usually moot number. Other ratings, like axle weight ratings or your gross vehicle weight rating will likely be your limiting numbers. Your payload is the biggest concern. You state a payload capacity of 1322 lbs. Add in people, dog and supplies, and you're at 800 lbs, leaving 522 lbs.

    What you're calling hitch weight is actually called tongue weight - the weight that the tongue of the trailer will put on your truck when it's connected. You actually do have to take into account the hitch weight - the weight of the ball you're going to insert into your receiver that will connect the truck to the trailer. This is usually at least 40-50 lbs. So that takes you down to 482 lbs that's available for the weight of the trailer tongue.

    A properly loaded and balanced trailer should have a tongue weight of about 13% of trailer weight. So a camper with a dry weight of 5700 lbs should have a tongue weight of ~741 lbs. Once you add supplies, food and other gear in the trailer, you're probably adding another 100-200 lbs of tongue weight. That would put the tongue weight closer to 900 lbs.

    So, you're ending up with under 500 lbs of available payload for an almost 900-lb tongue weight. You'll be exceeding your GVWR by several hundred pounds, and probably one or both of your axle ratings.

    I know some people dismiss the ratings on the door tags and say, "tow what you're comfortable with." My personal experience showed that once I started flirting with the max ratings on my half-ton truck, stuff started breaking while we were on vacation. Forgetting about the inherent safety issues in doing that, you have the added fun of explaining to your family why they have to spend four days in Mitchell, SD instead of Yellowstone Park, waiting for the truck to be repaired.
  • I think you'll do ok.
    edit:
    You just need to make sure you get your hitch set up right. I also find it very beneficial to add air in the tires when towing, especially the rears. You will also need to keep the pan cargo to the barest minimum. All true for a lot of 1/2t trucks.