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 V8Gear Ratio 3.55GVWR 6,7003,700 front; 3,900 rearPayload 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

A wet/loaded 7000 pound TT with WDH hitch will subtract at least 1000 pounds from your payload. If you carry only a few items in the truck that would be your max IMO.

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 V8Gear Ratio 3.55GVWR 6,7003,700 front; 3,900 rearPayload 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. TyI 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.

Check out this calculator, it is pretty good. You will want to factor that length and height will play a big part in how comfortable it tows as well, but its a great start.https://www.keepyourdaydream.com/payload/

It's really hard to judge - as there are a lot of factors still at play. Many will try to give rules of thumb (such as the 'use GVWR' note above), but those only go so far in some cases (if a trailer has 3k of cargo capacity, going by GVWR is probably overkill). So, here's the best quick overview I could suggest.First, your payload is probably less than 1,681 - as that was the payload when the truck left the assembly line. Anything else added (bedliner, cover, mud flaps, bumper steps, etc.) all come off of that number. You can judge for yourself, or go to a scale to know for sure. I'll use 1,650 to start. So...1,650:-subtract driver and passenger weight (we'll say 400 for this example, you adjust).-Subtract weight of the WD hitch (app. 100 pounds)-Subtract weight of all gear, snacks, games, beverages in the cab (we'll say 50 pounds)-Subtract tools, bikes, wood, grills, etc. in the bed (we'll say 100 pounds).This would leave you with 1,000 pounds available for tongue weight. Assuming your hitch is rated to handle that tongue weight, you could handle somewhere around 7,500 pounds LOADED. I would suggest, based on that, you'd need to be looking at something under 6,500 pounds dry, if not closer to 6,000 even.Obviously, you need to adjust the math based on your own family and configuration. We have 1,850 pounds of true payload available in our F150 (200 more than you), I keep the bed completely empty, and I still run right up against our GVWR with a trailer that is 8,000 pounds wet!

Payload is the limiting factor. You have 1681 available. Deduct 100 lbs for weight dist hitch. Deduct _________ pounds for passengersDeduct ________pounds for truck cargo (generator, tools, etc)How much available cargo cap do you have left?Multiply that number times 9 and you will be ballpark to your max trailer weight. 1681-100-???-???=----------- x 9 = Trailer max weight

Yet another tow/weight question... | Good Sam Community

RollTideCamp
Explorer
Jul 20, 2020
Check out this calculator, it is pretty good. You will want to factor that length and height will play a big part in how comfortable it tows as well, but its a great start.

https://www.keepyourdaydream.com/payload/
djsamuel
Nomad
Jul 20, 2020
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.
Lwiddis
Explorer II
Jul 20, 2020
A wet/loaded 7000 pound TT with WDH hitch will subtract at least 1000 pounds from your payload. If you carry only a few items in the truck that would be your max IMO.

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