new to forum with a few questions -Ram 1500

[texas8324]

I have a 2014 Ram 1500 Laramie Hemi with 3.92 gears. Will be getting a Center Line WDH. By my calculations, before adding hitch, i would have around 515lbs for hitch weight (if driver counts toward payload) and 665 (if driver doesn't). Do you think I should be fine with either of these travel trailers:


Outback Terrain 210TRS
Shipping Weight 4710
Carrying Capacity 2290
Hitch 510

Passport Grand Touring 2400BH
Shipping Weight 4685
Carrying Capacity 1815
Hitch 555

Thanks so much for your time.
kevin

[BC_Explorer]

kaydeejay wrote:
first of all I see you are a new member - Welcome!

Now, to your questions:-
Max Payload rating does NOT include the driver.
Max Tow rating does.
Are you confused yet??

My 2012 RAM 1500 owners manual states:

Payload
The payload of a vehicle is defined as the allowable load weight a truck can carry, including the weight of the driver, all passengers, options and cargo.

Unless something has changed in the last 3 model years, the OP should check his owner manual on how payload is calculated for his RAM.

[icanon]

cbshoestring wrote:
Glad my 1500 RAM is a CONTRACTOR model....1700 lbs payload....ok, ok, 1682# (I think).


EDIT: 1668....I found the door sticker picture on my phone

Ok I'll forgive you from 1700 to 1682 to 1668, lol's
Still that's pretty good for Ram.

[cbshoestring]

Glad my 1500 RAM is a CONTRACTOR model....1700 lbs payload....ok, ok, 1682# (I think).


EDIT: 1668....I found the door sticker picture on my phone

[icanon]

texas8324 wrote:


How do you stay under the limits when the dry hitch weight of the trailer in your profile is 782#, that leaves you only 500# for hitch and the 4 passengers, plus gear?

Thanks for any insight you maybe able to give.
kevin

Not totally true my TT empty weights 5904lbs and TW was 649# , I load (depending on trip short or long) between 600# to 800# so at 11% it's around TW 742#. These were checked at local scales and confirms using my Sherline scale. Nothing in Truck bed and inside passenger area are GPS, wifes purse, ipads and a couple of water bottles. As I said I am very strict and check each time before I tow, I try to keep mine at 11%. Also, Some will argue, I use a propride hitch and I have no sway what so-ever at minimum %.

[texas8324]

icanon wrote:

Wishin wrote:

Fastfwd75 wrote:
How can you have only 500-600 for hitch weight? Are you carrying something heavy in the bed? You will see a lot of people overweight from pulling 5er on a 4 door 150/1500 truck. Usually you would think that most bumper pulls would be fine for a recent truck.

The payload on even a too well equipped(crew,4x4,etc.) F150 would be 1500lbs+; probably similar for Dodge.

Hitch is limited to 500lbs without WDH but a lot more than that with. Both trailers are 6500lbs max fully loaded with 10-15% going to the hitch so at worse ~1000lbs. You will want a weight distributing hitch but it should be OK if there is nothing else in the trucks bed and not too many heavy people in it.

You would be surprised at how little payload a Ram 1500 can have if well optioned. 1500 lbs might be the upper limit if you're lucky while I've seen as little as around 850 lbs on Hemi and diesel models that were loaded with all the goodies.

Your correct mine (Ram) has a max payload of 1281 lbs (that's with cargo and passengers), so with everything calculated I keep my TW within limits, I'm usually around 80-100lbs under my max. I am very strict about my TW I check with my Sherline scale each time before I venture out, o/w I relocate stuff in TT to respect my limits.

How do you stay under the limits when the dry hitch weight of the trailer in your profile is 782#, that leaves you only 500# for hitch and the 4 passengers, plus gear?

Thanks for any insight you maybe able to give.
kevin

[icanon]

Wishin wrote:

Fastfwd75 wrote:
How can you have only 500-600 for hitch weight? Are you carrying something heavy in the bed? You will see a lot of people overweight from pulling 5er on a 4 door 150/1500 truck. Usually you would think that most bumper pulls would be fine for a recent truck.

The payload on even a too well equipped(crew,4x4,etc.) F150 would be 1500lbs+; probably similar for Dodge.

Hitch is limited to 500lbs without WDH but a lot more than that with. Both trailers are 6500lbs max fully loaded with 10-15% going to the hitch so at worse ~1000lbs. You will want a weight distributing hitch but it should be OK if there is nothing else in the trucks bed and not too many heavy people in it.

You would be surprised at how little payload a Ram 1500 can have if well optioned. 1500 lbs might be the upper limit if you're lucky while I've seen as little as around 850 lbs on Hemi and diesel models that were loaded with all the goodies.

Your correct mine (Ram) has a max payload of 1281 lbs (that's with cargo and passengers), so with everything calculated I keep my TW within limits, I'm usually around 80-100lbs under my max. I am very strict about my TW I check with my Sherline scale each time before I venture out, o/w I relocate stuff in TT to respect my limits.

[Wishin]

Fastfwd75 wrote:
How can you have only 500-600 for hitch weight? Are you carrying something heavy in the bed? You will see a lot of people overweight from pulling 5er on a 4 door 150/1500 truck. Usually you would think that most bumper pulls would be fine for a recent truck.

The payload on even a too well equipped(crew,4x4,etc.) F150 would be 1500lbs+; probably similar for Dodge.

Hitch is limited to 500lbs without WDH but a lot more than that with. Both trailers are 6500lbs max fully loaded with 10-15% going to the hitch so at worse ~1000lbs. You will want a weight distributing hitch but it should be OK if there is nothing else in the trucks bed and not too many heavy people in it.

You would be surprised at how little payload a Ram 1500 can have if well optioned. 1500 lbs might be the upper limit if you're lucky while I've seen as little as around 850 lbs on Hemi and diesel models that were loaded with all the goodies.

[icanon]

Take a look at the driver side post there is a yellow and white sticker with the specs load of your truck.
You will see the Payload limits and it states "The combine weight of occupants and cargo should never exceed XXXX lbs" So, you have to know the weight of occupants and cargo and subtract that from the XXXX lbs and that is what you have left for you TW.

[BenK]

Welcome !!! ...to the world of RV'ing

Simple math to figure, but complex because of the multiple components
and their weights/ratings

As a bare minimum, you need to gather the OEM ratings and the biggie
actual weights AFTER they are fully loaded ready to go RV'ing

Know you do not have the trailer yet, so you decide or guesstimate what
it will actually be. Otherwise, use their maximum ratings weight provided
by the OEM (GVWR)

Need to gather:

• TV GVWR
• TV front GAWR
• TV rear GAWR
• TV GCWR
• TV receiver ratings
• Trailer GVWR
• Trailer GAWR
• Trailer Percentage tongue or it's actual

Then plug those numbers into the generic formula for the TV's ratings:

GCWR => TV + trailer + everything else

Everything else will be people, pets, ice chest, fire wood, bicycles,
lawn chairs, etc, etc, etc and the WD Hitch system

Here is a visual of how the various weights stack up and the RATINGs
system looks like

howmuchcanitow howmuchshoulditow

[Fastfwd75]

How can you have only 500-600 for hitch weight? Are you carrying something heavy in the bed? You will see a lot of people overweight from pulling 5er on a 4 door 150/1500 truck. Usually you would think that most bumper pulls would be fine for a recent truck.

The payload on even a too well equipped(crew,4x4,etc.) F150 would be 1500lbs+; probably similar for Dodge.

Hitch is limited to 500lbs without WDH but a lot more than that with. Both trailers are 6500lbs max fully loaded with 10-15% going to the hitch so at worse ~1000lbs. You will want a weight distributing hitch but it should be OK if there is nothing else in the trucks bed and not too many heavy people in it.

[Wishin]

You need at least 10% hitch weight of the trailers total weight to have a stable pull, many find 13% to be better. 15% is considered to be the upper limit of what you would want.

Both of these are 11-12% from the factory with nothing in them. If you load them and try to keep the tongue weight at least 12% and load only 1000 lbs into them you would have the following.

Outback, 4710+1000=5710, 5710 x .12 = 685 lbs of tongue weight

Passport, 4685+1000=5685, 5685 x .12 = 682 lbs of tongue weight

I think at the bare minimum, you will be over your payload limit by a little. I don't think the driver counts on the payload sticker, I think they generally only count the driver for the trailer limits.

Honestly, both of my trailers ended up in the 15-17% tongue weight range due to trailer design and because we tend to load a lot in. Since these trailers start out dry with lower % of tongue weight, maybe they will stay at a lower % as you load them. Depends on where the water tanks are, and storage is relative to the trailer axle.

[kaydeejay]

first of all I see you are a new member - Welcome!

Now, to your questions:-
Max Payload rating does NOT include the driver.
Max Tow rating does.
Are you confused yet??

The bad news is that both those trailers will put you at or slightly over your 515# max when they are empty!!
Add battery, propane, water and personal stuff and you probably be at least 200 - 300# over I'm afraid.
Did you allow 100# for the Weight Distributing hitch (WDH)? I suspect your hitch will be rated for 500# dead-weight and requires WDH beyond that. If not, add another 100# to the above numbers.

Not the end of the world, but pushing your truck into any "cushion" RAM may have built in.