Greenhorn Jitters
Gentlemen (and women), fire up your opinions. This brand spankin' newbie just bought the 2014 Ram Big Horn Crew Cab 6'4" bed 5.7 Hemi with 3.92 in the rear end and towing pkg with integrated brake controller. On Monday we're going to pick up (unless logic dictates otherwise) a 2014 Crossroads Zinger travel trailer model ZT32qb. Trailer specs are as follows: 6900# dry weight, 9500# GVWR, 33' 10" overall length. Got it? Good. Now the fun begins.
Yonder website ramtrucks.com says that my truck (after plugging in the VIN in their fancy calculator) is rated for 1600# cargo and 10250# towing. Now I understand that as you add cargo to the vehicle yer towing capabilities have to slide accordingly and that's fine with me. I've got no beef with physics. Here's the brown trout in the beer cooler. Sticker inside the door says do not exceed total 1404# passenger + cargo. Fine.
Enter trailer tongue weight. For those who've never had to deal with this realm of interpretive math I am envious. Tongue weight is variable (unless I'm mistaken) by yer trailer's weight when loaded with all you'll be taking. As long as you know how to load a trailer properly this number is ideally 10-15% of loaded trailer weight. By my estimation my trailer will come in right at 8400# cocked, locked, and ready to rock giving me an (ideal) tongue weight of 840#. But wait, there's more. Add 2 lp tanks @ 70# a pop, a 70# deep cycle battery and now yer up at a grand on yer class IV receiver. What's the weight limit of a class IV receiver? Depends. Some say 1000 tongue/10000 tow, some say 1200 tongue/12000 tow. Hmmm.
Well, now you know what I know. Here's my big question. Understanding that this rig is knocking fervently on the door of max duty ratings how nuts is it to take it on the highways and byways of 'Merica? Would you? I'm sitting on a fairly high sphincter/pucker ratio at the moment and I can't wait to hear what all you seasoned veterans have to say. Before I hit "post" I should include that the only things in the truck proper while towing will be me, the woman, the boy (15 months) and a couple of dogs. Grand total on that is 425#. Ya'll have a good weekend, I'll be here.
---Ray
Yonder website ramtrucks.com says that my truck (after plugging in the VIN in their fancy calculator) is rated for 1600# cargo and 10250# towing. Now I understand that as you add cargo to the vehicle yer towing capabilities have to slide accordingly and that's fine with me. I've got no beef with physics. Here's the brown trout in the beer cooler. Sticker inside the door says do not exceed total 1404# passenger + cargo. Fine.
Enter trailer tongue weight. For those who've never had to deal with this realm of interpretive math I am envious. Tongue weight is variable (unless I'm mistaken) by yer trailer's weight when loaded with all you'll be taking. As long as you know how to load a trailer properly this number is ideally 10-15% of loaded trailer weight. By my estimation my trailer will come in right at 8400# cocked, locked, and ready to rock giving me an (ideal) tongue weight of 840#. But wait, there's more. Add 2 lp tanks @ 70# a pop, a 70# deep cycle battery and now yer up at a grand on yer class IV receiver. What's the weight limit of a class IV receiver? Depends. Some say 1000 tongue/10000 tow, some say 1200 tongue/12000 tow. Hmmm.
Well, now you know what I know. Here's my big question. Understanding that this rig is knocking fervently on the door of max duty ratings how nuts is it to take it on the highways and byways of 'Merica? Would you? I'm sitting on a fairly high sphincter/pucker ratio at the moment and I can't wait to hear what all you seasoned veterans have to say. Before I hit "post" I should include that the only things in the truck proper while towing will be me, the woman, the boy (15 months) and a couple of dogs. Grand total on that is 425#. Ya'll have a good weekend, I'll be here.
---Ray
