Yet another tow/weight question...

SlothHorn wrote:
First time poster. I anticipate become a full-fledged member of this site/community as I get started.

Like many, I am confused about my truck's towing capacity. I've read every word of this thread twice. I figure, the best thing might be to put on my own truck's specs and lean on the experts on here for help.

2009 Dodge Ram SLT Quad Cab 2WD 4.7 V8
Gear Ratio 3.55
GVWR 6,700
3,700 front; 3,900 rear
Payload 1,681 - I'm assuming this is my payload as it's on the sticker inside my door.

95% of our travel will be somewhat local and on flat roads; however, we do want to take the occasional cross-country trip. We'll never be in a hurry as we're teachers and anticipate these rare trips to be over a good length of time.

What would be a comfortable dry weight "max" for a travel trailer? Thanks in advance. Ty

I have the identical truck; same engine, gear ratio, model and quad cab as well (2WD). We tow a 24' trailer all over the country with that truck and it's been great; very stable, reliable, and not a white knuckle experience at all. However, if I was towing a much larger trailer, I would be looking at a bigger truck.

What size trailer do you plan to be towing? Figure 12% tongue weight and subtract that from the payload. That would be how much you can put in the truck (including people). Don't use the dry weight for your calculations. You want to use the GVWR so you can assume worst case.