How much weight on Ram 1500?

[BOOZE TRAVEL]

We have friends with a 2108 Ram 1500 4x4 crew cab, 5.7 Hemi short bed.
Suposedly it has a 10.5k tow capacity.
How much weight of 5th wheel do you suppose will be comfortable on the back of this truck?

[Skip426]

To give any idea of what his truck is capable of we'd need a lot more info .

GVRW, FAWR , RAWR, payload ( should be a yellow sticker on the door frame) and his current loaded for travel full tank of fuel weights for both axles , from the Cat scales .

If he has a family of four or five , pets, tool boxes etc. in the truck , could be he can't handle any kind of pin weight for a 5er and it's hitch.

[bertschb]

Originally Posted by BOOZE TRAVEL

How much weight of 5th wheel do you suppose will be comfortable on the back of this truck?

A 5th wheel with a 1/2 ton??? VERY few 1/2 ton trucks (.01%) have enough payload capacity to haul even a light 5th wheel without exceeding the payload capacity of the truck.

For starters though, you need to get the payload rating of your friend's truck from the door sticker (not published material from Ram). I would then get the GVWR of the 5th wheel and take about 22% of that as an estimated pin weight.

Add the weight of everything in the bed and cab of the truck (tools, pets, passengers, hitch, firewood, etc) to the estimated pin weight of the 5th wheel and if that number is greater than the payload rating of the truck, you will be exceeding the payload rating.

[Nwcid]

Payload and tow capacity are not the same.

A 10k 5th wheel will put 2000-2500lbs of weight on the truck (20-25%)
A 10K bumper pull will put 1000-1500lbs of weight on the truck (10-15%)

As others have said payload is the total weight of everything in/on the truck. People, hitch, camping gear, tool box, etc and the trailer weight.

[Kid Gloves]

Your buddy probably glanced at a brochure that said “up to” 10,xxx lbs.

Every truck will have different payload and towing capacities. Long bed, 4x4, gear ratio, cab size, every option that adds weight will have an impact. A half ton might have about 2000lbs of payload. So a 6,000ld 5er, if you can find one that light, will have a ~1200lb pin weight and a ~150lb hitch. That leaves you about 650lbs for a couple of people and some stuff.

Your buddy needs to go shopping for a 3/4-ton or 1-ton.

[Cumminsfan]

I wouldn't put any more than 1200 lbs in the back of a Ram 1500.

[BOOZE TRAVEL]

Towing capacity appears to be 10,050#. Payload is 1460#.
I would think a 5th wheel, fully loaded, under 9000# would be a good set up, if it exists.
A 5th wheel sould be a much better driving experience than a bumper pull. Am I right?
I don't hear so much about wind affecting the 5th wheels, and I know from pulling goose necks that backing into tight quarters is much better.
Forgive my questions. We never had a pull behind camper. We went strait to a pusher and luckily got one that is a dream to drive

[BOOZE TRAVEL]

Next. So, with a hitch you are looking for 10% of trailer weight on the ball. What % of weight is optimal on a pin?
I find it hard to believe that you could comfortably pull 8k on a ball but not on a pin. I must be missing something.

[Nwcid]

Originally Posted by BOOZE TRAVEL

Towing capacity appears to be 10,050#. Payload is 1460#.
I would think a 5th wheel, fully loaded, under 9000# would be a good set up, if it exists.
A 5th wheel sould be a much better driving experience than a bumper pull. Am I right?
I don't hear so much about wind affecting the 5th wheels, and I know from pulling goose necks that backing into tight quarters is much better.
Forgive my questions. We never had a pull behind camper. We went strait to a pusher and luckily got one that is a dream to drive

I am a huge fan of goose/5th trailers for a wide variety of reasons.

For goose/5th trailers you ~20% is the optimal pin weight. So you would have at least 1800lb pin weight on a 9k trailer.

For example my RV has a GVW of 17,000 but only has 2 - 7000lb axles for a total of 14,000lb. The other 3000lb is on the pin which is 18%. It has been a while since I weighed, but I am typically around 3200 on my pin.

[Kid Gloves]

Originally Posted by BOOZE TRAVEL

Next. So, with a hitch you are looking for 10% of trailer weight on the ball. What % of weight is optimal on a pin?
I find it hard to believe that you could comfortably pull 8k on a ball but not on a pin. I must be missing something.

An 8,000lb tag trailer will have ~800lb tongue weight.
Your proposed 9000lb 5er will have a pin weight of 1800-2000lbs. It will crush a half ton.

The 8000lbs of a TT is a lateral load, it moves fore and aft. With appropriate braking the truck and trailer will stop as a cohesive unit. An 8K lb trailer behind a half ton is possible, it won’t be much fun, despite the claims of 10-12K towing capacities.

Buy your friend a beer and have a chat with him about buying a bigger truck or getting a smaller trailer. You owe him at least that much.

[wagne223]

Need more truck for even the smallest 5er RV.

For that truck, you should stick with a Travel Trailer under 6500# and under 26 feet length.

[Kid Gloves]

Here’s a chart that shows payload and towing capacities for your friends truck. With a payload of ~1500lbs, your friends 9K 5er will exceed payload by 300-500lbs before he and the lovely wife jump in the front seats.

[happy2rv]

I have to agree with the assessment that the 1500 is NOT suitable for a 5th wheel RV. As already stated, there is a tremendous difference between the typical pin weight of a 5th wheel and the tongue weight of a travel trailer.



I have a 1500 Laramie that I tow a 35', ~6800 lb dry weight, ~9500 lb GVWR TT with. I've been very satisfied with this combination, but all 1500's are not created equal. The specs on the 1500 make a huge difference. I have a Laramie with the 3.92 rear axle ratio and 4 corner air suspension. I believe the air suspension makes a HUGE difference in keeping the truck level and improving handling.



I'm not going to say there isn't a 5th wheel in existence that would fit within the specs, but if there is, it would be very small.



If I were looking to move to a 5er, I wouldn't consider it with a 1500. A 2500 may not cut it for a significant percentage of the 5ers available. Examine the specs on the specific 1500 intended for towing and evaluate what fits. Without air suspension and the 3.92 rear end, I'd say small TT. With those options, a medium to larger TT would be an option. Of course, the engine and transmission make a difference too, but I'm assuming if you're talking about towing it's a HEMI V-8 or diesel.



Here's a link to the towing capacities for the 2021 1500's: https://www.ramtrucks.com/content/da...rt_MY21_R1.pdf


There's a vast difference between the max trailer capacity of the v-6 with a 3.21 rear axle ratio and the 5.7 liter v-8 with 3.92 rear axle. As others have suggested, the payload is usually the limiting factor for 5'ers and the payload for most of the lineup is around 1800 lbs. Subtract the weight of a tank of fuel and 2-4 passengers and I don't think you'll find a 5th wheel RV with suitable pin weight.


Also for reference, looking at the Salem lineup of TT vs 5th wheel, a 28' TT (283RK) has a tongue weight of 720lbs and unloaded vehicle weight of 7023 lbs vs a 28' 5er (286RL) pin weight of 1870 lbs with UVW of 9229 lbs. So, in this lineup the 286RL is the smallest 5th wheel with a pin weight exceeding the max payload capacity of any 1500 without any passengers, fuel, or personal effects.

[BOOZE TRAVEL]

Thanks to all. It does have 3.92 and 8 speed tranny.
They will not be able to do a 5th wheel with that truck. So now we know that, they can start looking for a suitable TT!
Thanks for the education!