Buying RV, towing/weight question

[brushtrooper]

Is this a fifth wheel trailer or bumper pull? A fifth wheel, the wind drag will kill the truck. I think you can pull it fine if a bumper pull and you have a 4 door truck,right? You are not trying to pull with a regular cab short bed? A short wheel base truck with a long trailer is not a good combo.
I agree with trailer brake controller and do not cheap out on this option, when you are running to near max or over, brakes are your best friend. I agree with the load leveling hitch, but be careful with this. You want tongue weight. You want the truck to squat 4-6" with trailer hooked up. I have never understood why people want to hook a trailer up to a truck and then make it level?
Have you ever seen truck/trailers going down the road and they are swaying bad? That is not enough tongue weight. You need tongue weight for the trailer to follow the truck, otherwise the tail will wag the dog.
Since you are asking this I am guessing you have not pulled a trailer of this size much, no offense meant. Once you buy a trailer and before you take the family out, go practice out of town somewhere. Practice some scenarios like panic stops etc.
Once you buy the trailer, make sure you have good tranny cooler for the truck, this is now your best friend. If the truck has a factory cooler, plumb in a second cooler inline. A cool tranny is a happy tranny.
After you buy the trailer, the biggest mistake I see is lack of service for the tires,bearings and suspension. I replace tires every 3 years regardless of tread depth and I inspect the suspension on my birthday(my reminder) or very close to that each year...thats on all my trailers.
As far as weight ratings go, the last I read it was stated in the regs that they go by the MFG. weight rating or licensed weight rating, whichever is greater. So that means you can uprate a trucks rating. Thats the way I use to do it when I had hotshot trucks. I am not positive how its done now

[Todd-ty729]

That's what the required brakes are for.

Trailer brakes help with slowing everything down but they mainly keep the trailer behind you, so you don't fishtail or jacknife as easily.

The tow vehicle needs enough braking power to do the bulk of the work.

[rferg84]

That is the max weight recommended by dodge. If you put a scale under each truck wheel, they can only total 8500lbs truck, gear, fuel, passengers etc. That's what a trooper would do if they wanted to. Your truck is registered to be at a certain weight for tax purposes as well - you can change this. With the trailer, the max weight is 10000, that is contents, trailer, water etc as it sits on the 4 wheels. I don't know what the empty trailer weight is but I bet its 8000-8500. You are at your max there already. I would suggest buying a smaller trailer or a bigger truck for safety sake. Maybe for 1-3 times a year you would be ok. But regular towing, I wouldn't recommend. Then you need to make sure your tires can handle that load...as well as the trailer tires....

Agreed. I know it's not always an option but they make 3/4 tons for a reason. Good luck stopping it! Towing probably isn't the issue.

[bbridges]

I just went through the same process and had the same Dodge 1500. I can tell you it will pull it but it gets nerve wrecking in a cross wind or above 60 mph. That was with an EZ Lift hitch and sway control. I ended up buying a new truck and it was much better.

[Tower43]

I just went through the same process and had the same Dodge 1500. I can tell you it will pull it but it gets nerve wrecking in a cross wind or above 60 mph. That was with an EZ Lift hitch and sway control. I ended up buying a new truck and it was much better.

Pretty much same for me, had a 6500 lb toy hauler empty weight on an f150 5.4 liter with tow package. It would tow it but it wasn't pretty, and was probably doing damage. Having water in the rv tanks is several hundred pounds. A gallon of water is six or eight pounds. I sold the trailer, it was not fun to tow, it threw my truck all over the road and got about 6 mpg.

Trailer brakes helped. I got the tekonsha brake controller and it is awesome

[bboswell]

Trailer brakes help with slowing everything down but they mainly keep the trailer behind you, so you don't fishtail or jacknife as easily.

The tow vehicle needs enough braking power to do the bulk of the work.

If brakes and controller are set up correctly this is hog wash

[Todd-ty729]

If brakes and controller are set up correctly this is hog wash

Okay pull everything with a tacoma.

[bboswell]

Your trailer weighs 6460# completely empty. Once you load it with linens, dishes, propane etc you will probably be around 7500#. The maximum combined weight including all holding tanks full is 10,000#, so you can stick up to 3540# of "stuff" in it.

I would take your truck by a set of scales and you will better know if you are within the limits of your truck. If Ram said it's rated at 8500# you should be ok but until you weigh it you won't know for sure.

You need to weigh it with a full tank of fuel and all passengers that you will normally have in the truck.

Once you get the camper stocked, take it back across the scales and you will have a combined weight.

If you don't have the factory brake controller in your truck spend the $$ to get a good one. I like the Tekonsha Prodigy controller.

Definitely make sure you have a load distributing hitch, sway control only if needed IMO.

The numbers on your door sticker mean GAWR = max load capacity of each axle.

GVWR = maximum weight your truck can carry (cargo) with full fluids, passengers and cargo combined.

You can look in your owner's manual and find the CGVWR rating which will tell you the maximum combined weight of your truck and trailer.

Based on my experience it will pull it but it won't necessarily be fun.


"An honest government has no fear of an armed population".

I agree here, especially on the brake controller.

To me one of the biggest concern on towing a camper is sway control, especially in a strong cross wind and nothing will help here more than a heavier stronger truck

[rferg84]

I agree here, especially on the brake controller.

To me one of the biggest concern on towing a camper is sway control, especially in a strong cross wind and nothing will help here more than a heavier stronger truck

I saw a claim on one of those featherlite trailers being pulled with a 3/4 ton get picked up by the wind, slammed down and shattered while driving. Sway control is very important.

[wildaggie]

I had a Ram 1500 hemi 4x4. Camper is a 32' bumper pull, about the same weight as yours. I have a weight distribution hitch with sway-control, and trailer brakes. The truck will pull the trailer, but after pulling in the hill country one trip, truck had rear-end problems. Also, it was just hard on the engine/transmission, especially going up those hills. Fixed the rear end, and it was okay to pull with, but not great. Pulling much was just going to wear the truck out. And it got about 6 mpg pulling the trailer. I now have a 2006 Ram 2500 4X4 with the 5.9 Diesel engine. It pulls my trailer like it's not even there. MPG is around 11 pulling the trailer. Just the difference in mpg means that trip time is shorter, since I'm not stopping for fuel every 100 miles or so. Love the 3/4 ton diesel.

[bboswell]

Okay pull everything with a tacoma.

That was not my point at all

[Curtis32]

Got a pic of the new camper? Had to ask. Bored and deer season ain't here yet.

[Sackett]

Short Answer - Too Much Trailer For Your Truck

Your truck "could" pull a freight train engine.....or a Challenger Space Ship......but that doesn't mean squat.

[huntnfish]

I was in the same shoes as you two years ago. About the same weight trailer with a F150. of course the dealer said it would pull it fine. After adding two sway bars and the hitch I still had to buy an F250 to eliminate the walking in the freeway. Good luck

[Hoyt Man]

This is what happened to my aunt and her husband. Towing a 6300lb trailer with a half ton truck without sway bars or a weight distributing hitch


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