Ram 3500 towing capacity

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Ramit90

Junior Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2015
Posts
2
Reaction score
0
Ram Year
2000
Engine
5.9 cummings
Hey guys I'm new here on this forum. Let me start out by saying I'm about to go to basic training for the air force and I have 2 cars at the moment and would like to to get a 3rd in a couple years. My wife does not like to drive so that me an excuse to start looking for trucks. Since the air force doesn't pay to ship my vehicles I want to get a 2nd gen 3500. I always loved how these trucks looked. I will also like get a 3 car hauler. My question is is there any way to beef up the towing of this truck. I looked up the towing capacity of this truck and it is only 10 to 12k. I'm estimating that I will be towing more like 20k. I'm new to towing so I would be appriaciste any advice. Thanks guys.
 

Merc225hp

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2013
Posts
5,145
Reaction score
3,130
Location
NA
Ram Year
truck
Engine
gas
Simple, get a truck that's rated for that weight.
 

Magnum5.9

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2014
Posts
541
Reaction score
66
Ram Year
01 ram 1500 4x4
Engine
Magnum 5.9
Simple, get a truck that's rated for that weight.

Ya what he said.. these 2nd gens just were not made to tow/haul alot... for example my 5.9 1500 can only handle max trailer of about 7000 lbs tho I would never do more than 4000/5000
 

MADDOG

Not RamForum Staff
Supporting Member
Military
Joined
Dec 26, 2011
Posts
14,443
Reaction score
9,877
Location
Arizona
Yeah, you are gonna have to go up a bit on a truck to do that.
 
OP
OP
R

Ramit90

Junior Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2015
Posts
2
Reaction score
0
Ram Year
2000
Engine
5.9 cummings
Thanks guys that's what I was afraid of.
 

mitchbowers

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2014
Posts
910
Reaction score
349
Location
Ohio
Ram Year
1996 2500 5-speed, soon to be leveled on 33's
Engine
5.9 Magnum
that's not the rating for a CTD is it? My 3/4 gas is rated for 12-ish I think
 

cptwing

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2014
Posts
1,446
Reaction score
494
Location
The Soviet State of Connecticut
Ram Year
2014 3500 ST DRW REG CAB
Engine
6.4l Hemi
It all depends a lot on the axle ratio. 4:10 rear is gonna tow a lot more than a 3:55 rear etc. As you said the max towing
capacity for the second gen with the 5.9 CTD and 4:10 gearing is 13,000 lbs and a GVWR of 20,000 lbs. So even if you
could beef up the drive train by swapping to say 4:56 or lower gears and increase oil and cooling capacity, as well as
transmission cooling capacity to handle pulling 20,000lbs you would still have two other problems.

Assuming you would be pulling a gooseneck trailer which have approximately a 25% tongue weight in the bed, you would
be loading your truck with about 5,000lbs of payload, not counting driver passenger etc which would likely put you somewhere
around 5,500 lbs or better. The max payload for a second gen 5.9 that I found was 4,510 lbs so you would be way over this as
well, you could maybe beef up the suspension, add air bags etc.

The bottom line is even if you beefed up all items stated above, which would be expensive, you still have the most important consideration, the crappy second generation tyranny's that have a very high failure rate even when used conservatively, try
towing 20K with it and I would bet the tranny will certainly fail or be badly wounded from the endeavor.

And lets not forget that you would be exceeding all the trucks specifications by huge margins in the event you were pulled over
by law enforcement or DOT. Heck you would be at least 6,000 lbs over your rated GVWR, 2,000 lbs plus over your payload capacity
and 7,000 lbs over your factory rated towing capacity. The fines for exceeding these vary from state to state but can be quite steep
and are usually assessed by the pound.

Your too far off the mark with that truck, you need a new plan.
 
Last edited:
Top