Ram 1500 owners

[Dfair622]

Hey guys, I own a 2012 ram 1500 hemi quad cab with 4x4. We currently own a small TT with dry weight of just under 4000 pounds wanting to go bigger, what's a good comfortable dry weight for the hemi. I know my truck with it's bells and whistles can tow 9000 max, but I don't want to go all the way to max. Any help or advice from ram owners would be great. Thanks.

[shoeing dude]

So if your current trailer is 4000lbs you are already. with all the, food,beer/pop propane, firewood gear,chairs, grill, passengers etc.. I would think you are darn close to the number you feel is safe. Just my opinion of course. Safe travels

[keymastr]

Payload is the number that will limit you. Sure, you can PULL 9000 pounds but the tongue weight of a 9000 pound trailer will be well over 1000 pounds, plus 100 for the hitch itself. You could do that but will have no capacity left for passengers, tools, generator, firewood or anything else you might carry in the bed. And if you have a canopy on the truck it's weight reduces what you can carry even further.

Most Ram 1500s have pretty low payload to begin with. going over 6500 pounds GROSS trailer weight gets difficult to manage payload wise.

[plasma800]

open the drivers door and look for a yellow sticker, it says "Cargo + Passengers should never exceed xxxxlbs"

Whatever that number says, that's the amount of weight you should stay under with regards to Tongue weight, passengers, cargo in the truck, and the hitch.

Tongue weight of trailers are at a min 10%, more like 12%. So 7000 lb trailer should put minimum 700lbs of payload on your truck. 700-850 ish.. Subtract that from the yellow sticker, then subtract passenger weight, then subtract the hitch weight, then subtract other cargo in the truck.

The "towing" capacity deals with straight line pulling power and describes the ability of the drive train and frame to pull weight in a straight line.

[Papa_Jim]

Our Ram 1500 handles our 28', 7000 GVW trailer well. We use a 1200 lb Equalizer WD.

Having said that, I consider that this trailer is the absolute maximum that this truck can comfortably handle.

You are correct that the Ram 1500 is rated to tow approximately 9000 lb. It certainly has more than enough power to pull the load. This truck's limitation is the hitch weight that the truck can handle.

With our trailer at maximum GVW, the hitch weight is probably about 1000 lb. Considering that the truck's rear axle GVW is 1390 lb., that doesn't leave much room for any additional weight in the truck.

Another serious concern with this truck is the soft rear coil springs. 1000 lb hitch weight makes the rear of the truck drop several inches, which does not enhance the handling characteristics of the truck. We tried different approaches to solve this, and eventually found the solution was to fit the truck with a rear air bag system.

Jim

[Dfair622]

Originally Posted by Papa_Jim

Our Ram 1500 handles our 28', 7000 GVW trailer well. We use a 1200 lb Equalizer WD.

Having said that, I consider that this trailer is the absolute maximum that this truck can comfortably handle.

You are correct that the Ram 1500 is rated to tow approximately 9000 lb. It certainly has more than enough power to pull the load. This truck's limitation is the hitch weight that the truck can handle.

With our trailer at maximum GVW, the hitch weight is probably about 1000 lb. Considering that the truck's rear axle GVW is 1390 lb., that doesn't leave much room for any additional weight in the truck.

Another serious concern with this truck is the soft rear coil springs. 1000 lb hitch weight makes the rear of the truck drop several inches, which does not enhance the handling characteristics of the truck. We tried different approaches to solve this, and eventually found the solution was to fit the truck with a rear air bag system.

Jim

Thank you all I appreciate it!

[60sumtin]

The eq hitch I have came with the trailer. The previous owner pulled it with a F150. I was able to solve the squat by increasing the downward tilt of the head a few degrees from how it came. The bars are 1K pounders. The GVWR of our trailer is 6200 lbs. Just under 4700 dry. The truck has 3.55 gears and pulls the trailer easily.

[Dropthejacks]

I had a 2014 Bighorn 1500. We originally were pulling a 4500 lb TT which it towed great. We upgraded to a 6500 lb TT and, while we could tow it, it was not an enjoyable experience. Trying to maintain speed going up hills had that 5.7 Hemi screaming most of the time, and I could see the life expediency dwindling (along with gas mileage). We camp a lot, with long pulls being the norm, so we upgraded to a 2500. If you only camp a few weekends a year and don't head into the mountains often, you might be OK as long as you have the WDH dialed in and are cautious about not overloading the payload. But the difference in those couple thousand pounds will be noticeable when you hook up and take off believe me.

[Dfair622]

Originally Posted by Dropthejacks

I had a 2014 Bighorn 1500. We originally were pulling a 4500 lb TT which it towed great. We upgraded to a 6500 lb TT and, while we could tow it, it was not an enjoyable experience. Trying to maintain speed going up hills had that 5.7 Hemi screaming most of the time, and I could see the life expediency dwindling (along with gas mileage). We camp a lot, with long pulls being the norm, so we upgraded to a 2500. If you only camp a few weekends a year and don't head into the mountains often, you might be OK as long as you have the WDH dialed in and are cautious about not overloading the payload. But the difference in those couple thousand pounds will be noticeable when you hook up and take off believe me.

The TT my wife and I are looking at is 5700lb dry. You've probably had your rams longer than I have, would you have felt comfortable in your 1500 with the 5700lb? We don't want to go huge or anything, just that our daughter is getting older we wanted to get a bigger unit.

[Dfair622]

Originally Posted by Dfair622

The TT my wife and I are looking at is 5700lb dry. You've probably had your rams longer than I have, would you have felt comfortable in your 1500 with the 5700lb? We don't want to go huge or anything, just that our daughter is getting older we wanted to get a bigger unit.

Neither of us are retired so it would be travelled maybe 5-10 times a year. The 10 is pushing it

[60sumtin]

Originally Posted by Dfair622

The TT my wife and I are looking at is 5700lb dry.

5700 lbs dry is nothing to be concerned about but how many extra pounds of personal belongings (i.e. food, clothes, water, etc.) are you putting in your trailer and what's carried in the truck? Any idea of the weight you are typically carrying now and will it change much as your daughter gets older?

[Dfair622]

Originally Posted by 60sumtin

5700 lbs dry is nothing to be concerned about but how many pounds of personal belongings (i.e. cargo) are you putting in your trailer? Any idea of the weight you are typically carrying now and will it change much as your daughter gets older?

Cargo isn't much. We don't keep it loaded. Just load as we go. We get groceries when we get to where we go. I'd say we easily carry 700 in extra.

[keymastr]

If it was advertised as 5700 dry the actual shipping weight,(as it arrived at the dealer), will be over 6000 in most cases. Then the dealer adds a battery and propane bottles, maybe slide toppers or other add-ons and the "dry weight" is up to 6500 pounds.

Not always that big of a difference, depends on the manufacturer but it is always more than the brochure says. Just be aware and use the gross trailer weight to be sure you can tow it. It will be closer to that than the dry weight even if you pack lite.

[60sumtin]

Originally Posted by Dfair622

Cargo isn't much. We don't keep it loaded. Just load as we go. We get groceries when we get to where we go. I'd say we easily carry 700 in extra.

We don't carry much either, at least compared to some that seem to load to the max and then some.

Other than your truck is a quad cab whereas mine is a crew cab I'm going to guess your truck's carry capacity is around 1200 lbs? It'll say on the yellow sticker on door jamb. So depending on how that 700 lbs is distributed you should be fine.

If you haven't already take a look at the actual weight on the trailer you'll be buying. Similar to what's found on the truck the trailer too will have a sticker on the front left corner. Dry tongue weight will likely be found somewhere on an additional data sheet somewhere in the trailer. As mentioned previously both weights printed will be as it left the factory.

You likely know this but one thing to remember is when hooked up to the trailer with a weight distribution hitch, the weight on the rear axle is redistributed in variable amounts to ALL the axles on both the truck and trailer. The weight on the front axle increases, the rear axle decreases, and the trailer axles increase. With say a 650 lb tongue weight on a weight carrying hitch, the weight on the rear axle with a weight distribution hitch could very well be a couple hundred pounds or so lighter. The carry capacity of both the truck and trailer doesn't change but the weight on the axles will. The bars are used to increase/decrease the weight distribution to each axle.

Without knowing all the details I think you'll be fine.