Yet another tow/weight question...

[SlothHorn]

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

[djsamuel]

SlothHorn wrote:
Thanks so much for all the info.
1. The two we're looking at have dry weights of 4,883 and 5,120.
2. I'm sure most newbies say this, but, we don't anticipate having too much added weight to the calculations above. Family is less than 500 total. We're not planning on taking anything more than the usual cooler, food, clothes, dishes, etc... We may take our bicycles as well.

Looks as if the math is ok according to the info supplied in all your posts. I look forward to adding to this forum on the help-side in the future.

Based on my experience with the identical truck, it looks like you'll be fine if you stick with that weight range.

[TomG2]

Fun has been mentioned a couple of times and I totally agree. The first weekend you waste worrying and dreading the trip back home is not fun. Neither is that big puddle of transmission fluid flowing out from under your pickup. That is something the Rear Axle Rating folks fail to understand. It is the total vehicle that you are relying on.

[Boomerweps]

SlothHorn wrote:
Thanks so much for all the info.
1. The two we're looking at have dry weights of 4,883 and 5,120.
2. I'm sure most newbies say this, but, we don't anticipate having too much added weight to the calculations above. Family is less than 500 total. We're not planning on taking anything more than the usual cooler, food, clothes, dishes, etc... We may take our bicycles as well.

Yup, that is everyone’s plan till momma starts loading it up with a lot of just in case and we might need it items 😉
Forget dry weights. Use the trailer GVWR for weight factoring. My guesstimate is that a TT with around 6K# GVWR is what you should look for and less if it has a suitable layout. The less weight you are hauling, the easier & more comfortable the tow with better truck performance.

[SlothHorn]

Thx again for all the info. I'm trying to avoid the mistake my brother made a couple of years ago. Bought an RV, picked it up, got 10 miles and the truck overheated. He's a truck driver, so he prob should have known better.

As far as the length if trips... we should be ok. 90% of our trips will be within 250 miles of home. Long trips will be broken down into extremely small increments of miles due to the fact that we're teachers and have plenty of (summer) time to travel.

[RollTideCamp]

Sounds like you are doing the right thing doing your homework first. My thoughts are you should be fine with the trailers you are looking at, it might not tow as well as a smaller TT but you will enjoy more room when you are camping (which is the whole point).

FWIW, our first rig besides our popup was very similar size truck & trailer (chevy 4.8L 3.42gears, 4500ish dry).

The good:
The numbers were good, they were barely good but good. It felt safe pulling, stopping and avoiding and it always got us where we were going except for the last time when it didn't.

The bad:
The towing was not fun. We would get sucked into every semi that passed. Like APT stated, we spent a lot of time in 2nd gear.

The ugly:
The towing made going on longer distance trips exhausting, to the point we didn't really want to go too far.

[APT]

I recommend somewhere around 5000 pounds dry. you won't notive much difference between 4880 and 5120 dry weights, so pick the model you otherwise like better. That engine/trans/gear combo will spend a lot of time in 2nd and 3rd gears. Flush all your fluids, get a proportional brake controller, and a WDH with integrated sway control.

[Mickeyfan0805]

valhalla360 wrote:


Yes, lots of newbies say that...very rare for them to come back and say they got it right. You would be amazed how much stuff winds up stuffed in various places and you don't realize it because it went in one piece at a time.

Also keep in mind, if you travel with water in the tank, that counts against the payload. 50 gallons can be 400lbs...most people don't travel full but even 20gal so you can use the toilet at rest stops adds 160lbs.

Very true that people frequently underestimate the total amount of weight that goes in a trailer (especially when going off the brochure weight). Our trailer had a brochure weight of 6,700, a yellow sticker dry weight of 7,100, and is 8,000 loaded (without fluids).

That said, the impact of water and fluids can actually vary greatly from trailer to trailer. A 50 gallon fresh tank, filled, will add that 400 pounds to the trailer weight, but the effect on tongue weight depends on where the tank is located. Our tank is behind the rear axle, which means a loaded tank actually reduces my tongue weight. A tank over the axle will probably run closer to that 10-15% ratio. A tank in front of the axles will increase the percentage that rests on the tongue. From experimentation, I know that I can readily adjust the weight of my tongue by over 100 pounds depending on how I load gear and fluid in the trailer.

[TomG2]

Unfortunately we don't tow on paper. Getting right up against the ratings is easy with a calculator and a pencil When you have your foot to the floor headed uphill into a wind just to maintain minimum speed might be the time you forgot to take "Frontal area" into the equation. My point is that ratings are often achieved under ideal conditions. I tow a lot, so I want to be comfortable all the time.

Instead of thinking, "What is the maximum that I can tow?" Also consider "How small and light can I go and not give up the fun of RVing?"

[Jebby14]

remember dry weight is not accurate iven if you dont put a single thing in the camper. not uncommong to be ~500 lbs over dry weight when it leaves the dealer.

[Jebby14]

1681
-500 (family ~ are the kids still growing, they get biggert)
-250 (stuff ~ coolers and bikes already mentioned, fire wood? water?)
-100 (hitch)
=831

831/.15 =5540

dry weight means nothing, use the gvwr.
a gvwr around 5500 means advertised dry weights will likely be around 4k. look in the 24 foot range

[valhalla360]

SlothHorn wrote:
Thanks so much for all the info.
1. The two we're looking at have dry weights of 4,883 and 5,120.
2. I'm sure most newbies say this, but, we don't anticipate having too much added weight to the calculations above. Family is less than 500 total. We're not planning on taking anything more than the usual cooler, food, clothes, dishes, etc... We may take our bicycles as well.

Yes, lots of newbies say that...very rare for them to come back and say they got it right. You would be amazed how much stuff winds up stuffed in various places and you don't realize it because it went in one piece at a time.

Also keep in mind, if you travel with water in the tank, that counts against the payload. 50 gallons can be 400lbs...most people don't travel full but even 20gal so you can use the toilet at rest stops adds 160lbs.

One word of caution: be careful how you load the trailer. Generally 12-15% tongue weight is considered ideal and how you load can affect that.
- Above 15% and you will run out of truck payload faster.
- Below 10% and trailers become subject to sway and control issues.

[afidel]

kellem wrote:

SlothHorn wrote:
Thanks so much for all the info.
1. The two we're looking at have dry weights of 4,883 and 5,120.
2. I'm sure most newbies say this, but, we don't anticipate having too much added weight to the calculations above.

Perhaps your not quite understanding dry weight. This weight does not include optional equipment added, propane tanks, batteries, any fluids......it's just a striped weight off the end of the conveyor belt.

EXAMPLE:
Our current trailer has a dry weight of 6120lbs and a GVWR OF 7740LBS......OUR trailer weighed in at 7492 ready to camp.

Hope this helps.

It depends, if it's a brochure weight it might be the lightest unit they could make, if it's a yellow sticker dry weight then by law it's supposed to be the weight as assembled including full propane tanks of the capacity shipped. If the dealership adds any equipment in excess of a certain weight (50 pounds?) they're supposed to affix a modified yellow sticker. I found that KZ's dry weight almost exactly matched my initial cat scale ticket, others have unfortunately found variances of hundreds of pounds, the worst I've read about was a difference of 250 pounds of dry tongue weight!

[SlothHorn]

kellem wrote:

SlothHorn wrote:
Thanks so much for all the info.
1. The two we're looking at have dry weights of 4,883 and 5,120.
2. I'm sure most newbies say this, but, we don't anticipate having too much added weight to the calculations above.

Perhaps your not quite understanding dry weight. This weight does not include optional equipment added, propane tanks, batteries, any fluids......it's just a striped weight off the end of the conveyor belt.

EXAMPLE:
Our current trailer has a dry weight of 6120lbs and a GVWR OF 7740LBS......OUR trailer weighed in at 7492 ready to camp.

Hope this helps.

I get that and think I've got it. That's why y'all have helped me realize that my truck should be able to handle the ~5,000 lbs (dry) that I'm set on. I get that dry weight is just the starting point. I'll account for added things to the trailer + whatever we bring along.
Thanks for the help.

[TomG2]

Like one person hinted at, actual weights beat guesses all to heck. For starters, you can weigh your tow vehicle as close as you can get it ready for camping. You will likely be disappointed but a lot smarter. Then use gross vehicle weights for the trailers you are looking at. You will be disappointed but a lot smarter.

One thing that nobody else has pointed out is the fact that towing is a lot more fun under the ratings than over them. Visit the scales.