Please forgive as I am a complete newbie to all of this. I have a 2018 Dodge Durango SRT with a towing capacity of 8700 lbs. We are looking at a camper that is 5,900 lbs dry weight.Obviously that falls within the 8,700 but I know there is a lot more involved than just that. My max weight for passengers and cargo is 1,200 lbs.Assuming my family takes up 500 lbs of that and the hitch weight of the camper is 682 lbs I am pushing the top end correct? (Did I calculate that correctly?)Looking for opinions from seasoned campers if this setup looks ok or am I over doing the capabilities of my Durango? Of course the sales guy says I will be fine but I take what he says with a grain of salt!

You going camping in a "dry" trailer?First thing to check, does YOUR Durango have the 8700 lb tow capacity? Or did you look at the paper, miss the "when properly equipped" To get max, you must have all the HD parts, but also can't have the heavy comfort parts. Look at the GVWR of the trailer. You are more likely to be closer to that than the dry weight. And your TW is likely to be 12-13% of GVWR, so likely to be over the GVWR of TV.

With a dry wt of 5,900, you will add at least another 1100 to trailer wt, ready to camp. So 7K will increase your hitch wt to near 850lbs at 12% needed for best towing. Another near 100 lbs for WDH, lets just say 900 total, plus your 500 family wt will put you over your payload.However, all people/drivers react differently! You might not be comfortable, when I might say it tows great.A 7K gross wt TT is generally considered a hefty load for most 1/2 ton trucks. Maybe another will chime in, with same Durango, and similar size trailer, to give a better review of his actual experience.Jerry

Loaded and wet that trailer will weigh 7100 pounds minimum. Tongue weight helps reduce sway. I run 14%. In your case 1,000 pounds. Your truck’s payload will be exceeded with the family on board. The salesman is wrong.

It seems very few run up against max tow weight before running out of payload. You are not alone there. BTW, don’t forget to add the weight of a full tank of fuel to the weight of passengers, etc. At 7.2-7.4 lbs per gallon, a 20 gallon tank is going to add around 150 lbs to the mix.

It is confusing how Dodge calculates the payload also. GVWR-Curb weigh (7100-5510) would give you 1590 lbs yet the sticker on the door says only 1200?

Towing Capacity Question | Good Sam Community

37 Replies

kbucky
Explorer
Feb 17, 2021
That is the weight listed in the SRT owners manual
rjstractor
Nomad
Feb 17, 2021
kbucky wrote:
It is confusing how Dodge calculates the payload also. GVWR-Curb weigh (7100-5510) would give you 1590 lbs yet the sticker on the door says only 1200?

Is the curb weight based on actual scale weight, a door sticker, or online info? If it's online info it may be for a different (lighter) model than yours.
kbucky
Explorer
Feb 17, 2021
It is confusing how Dodge calculates the payload also. GVWR-Curb weigh (7100-5510) would give you 1590 lbs yet the sticker on the door says only 1200?
naturist
Nomad
Feb 16, 2021
It seems very few run up against max tow weight before running out of payload. You are not alone there. BTW, don’t forget to add the weight of a full tank of fuel to the weight of passengers, etc. At 7.2-7.4 lbs per gallon, a 20 gallon tank is going to add around 150 lbs to the mix.
Lwiddis
Explorer II
Feb 16, 2021
Loaded and wet that trailer will weigh 7100 pounds minimum. Tongue weight helps reduce sway. I run 14%. In your case 1,000 pounds. Your truck’s payload will be exceeded with the family on board. The salesman is wrong.
MFL
Nomad II
Feb 16, 2021
With a dry wt of 5,900, you will add at least another 1100 to trailer wt, ready to camp. So 7K will increase your hitch wt to near 850lbs at 12% needed for best towing. Another near 100 lbs for WDH, lets just say 900 total, plus your 500 family wt will put you over your payload.

However, all people/drivers react differently! You might not be comfortable, when I might say it tows great.

A 7K gross wt TT is generally considered a hefty load for most 1/2 ton trucks.

Maybe another will chime in, with same Durango, and similar size trailer, to give a better review of his actual experience.

Jerry
JRscooby
Explorer II
Feb 16, 2021
You going camping in a "dry" trailer?
First thing to check, does YOUR Durango have the 8700 lb tow capacity? Or did you look at the paper, miss the "when properly equipped" To get max, you must have all the HD parts, but also can't have the heavy comfort parts.
Look at the GVWR of the trailer. You are more likely to be closer to that than the dry weight. And your TW is likely to be 12-13% of GVWR, so likely to be over the GVWR of TV.

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Towing Capacity Question

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