Thanks for the replies. Sorry for my misunderstanding of "safety", I figured the "max trailer weight" specification was about what is safe to tow depending on the gear ratio. I guess it's more about capability(?) than safety.
OK, so couple questions answered -- glad to hear that as a RV'er, not commercial trucker, that I don't have to pull into weigh stations. I thought I read somewhere about someone with a trailer whose weight exceeded the truck spec, so they were not allowed to tow the trailer and had to unhitch and have a tow truck move their trailer for them or have it impounded.
I don't have the truck and trailer yet. My strict budget limit for the truck is $20K and I want the Cummins diesel motor, which puts me in the 1998-2007 range of used Dodge Ram 3500 trucks. The trailer I'm planning to get is a Mountaineer 347THT 5'er toy hauler. Dry weight is 10,700 and GVWR is 14,200
I'm going to look at a 2007.5 Dodge Ram 3500 on Tuesday (2 hours away). It's a Crew Cab, Dually, 4X4, Long Bed with only 82,000 miles and it has the 6.7L Cummins motor (has the diesel exhaust brake). It's being sold by an individual so the price doesn't have the dealer markup putting it within striking distance of my budget. He said he used it tow his boat in and out of the lake a couple of times a year and as a grocery-getter, never used as a plow. It's a Pennsylvania truck so rust may be an issue.
My main concern was that it's a 3.73 axle gear ratio and if I load the 347THT 5'er toy hauler to the max GVWR, then I'd be over the max trailer weight specification for the truck by +900 lbs over.
