towing near max weight. advice?

I always laugh when people say, "How you gonna stop that trailer?" A couple of months ago, I hauled 1/2 a yard of coarse sand 20 miles with my 08 Hemi 1500. The loader gave a pretty generous 1/2 yard. I drove the right lane of the highway running at 62 mph. The truck just cruised along in MDS the entire time. Traffic came to a dead stop because work crews were closing off 2 lanes in the middle of the day. I slowed down in a hurry just fine like everyone else. No white knuckling, no panicking, no freaking out, no calling on Jesus. Just a good hard stop. There was no burning, scorching, or warping of the pads or rotors. I stopped by a CAT scale on the way just to find out how heavy I actually was running because of the loader generosity. I knew I would be heavy because it was sand after all. I was exactly 1,020lbs over GVWR! Yes, I definitely exceed my RAWR and the front axle lost 140lbs. That's the heaviest I've ever been in that truck and yet the truck perform just as I expected in a quick stop.

Now I don't condone this or even suggest anyone try it. Just sharing my experience with my truck. Of course a 2500 or 3500 would stop the same load quicker. But 1/2 tons are perfectly capable of stopping their rated loads. Manufacturers would be in some pretty hot water if they stated you could safely tow a load, but couldn't come close to stopping it. In towing,/hauling common sense goes a very long way. Keeping an appropriate distance, speed, paying attention to what you're doing, what's ahead, and what's behind can prevent the vast majority of butt puckering moments and accidents. An 8000lbs TT with no brakes could push just about any pickup into an intersection. Setting up your trailer brakes is imperative with any trailer regardless of TV. The combination of truck and trailer brakes is what stops the unit effectively.