2013 1500 towing?

hi folks. I have a 2013 Ram 1500 Express 4x4 QC Hemi I bought new. Has factory tow package (3.55 gears). I pull my boat a few times a year (about 7500-8000lbs with trailer). Yesterday I pulled it about 90 miles and when I got home noticed the paint on the rear bumper right next to the hitch was flaked off. No dents or anything. I also noticed the paint was cracked on the other side about a foot from center. Going out to look closer now but what is the towing capacity on this truck? I am thinking it is about 8200?
Has anyone else seen this? It wasn't like this before I hooked the trailer up yesterday. It wasn't from a jack-knife as I did not jack-knife it and even if I did the spot is too close to center for it to even make contact. Could the bumper have flexed causing the paint to crack? I would hope that hitch wasn't being held on by the bumper? Going to take a closer look now but thought I would get ideas from here first to see if anyone else may have seen this.

If you are using the ball mounted on the bumper I believe you are limited to 500 lbs tongue weight and 5000 lbs trailer weight.

To tow over that you need a receiver hitch. Get class IV


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It is a receiver hitch, not a ball on the bumper. I wouldn't pull a lawn mower with that...lol. I just thought that I saw some factory setups where the receiver what bolted to the bottom of the bumper (which I don't like either) but since mine has the factory tow package I 'assumed' it had the full blown receiver hitch but started thinking maybe it didn't. It was dark when I got home last night so hard to see.

Just looked closer. The hitch is attached to the frame as should be. I did notice a few spots of rust starting on my bumper. Can't really see the rust yet but you can see the discoloration in the paint and real small bubbles forming. Pretty sad for a 4 year old truck with 57,000 miles. My step-father had a 2011 that had the chrome bumpers replaced 3 times in less than 6 months when he first bought it due to rust. He now has a 2014 and his bumpers have been fine though.
The big paint flake section starts under the step pad on the flat part of the bumper so there may be rust under that pad that started the flaking? I don't see how pulling the trailer had anything to do with it other than me stepping on that area trying to get the trailer to release from the ball when I was unhooking it? I will go out to the trailer and see if I can find any of those paint flake. If they are there then I am pretty sure what is what happened.

Your truck has a max tow rating of 8850 lbs. Can you post some pictures of the damage?

Here are a couple. The first one is a tiny spot I just noticed. It is slightly to the right of the hitch. You can see the paint cracking and a little discoloration where it looks like it is rusting underneath. The second is just to the left of the hitch and is the paint flaking. The lower part of the first pic is the crack in the paint I mentioned.

Wow, you say you bought it new? Was it a dealer demo possibly?

That's crazy that the paint would just flake off like that. It almost looks like it was sprayed with no primer. There appears to be zero adhesion to the metal.

I bought it summer of 2013 with about 5000 miles on it. I said new cause I have had it since pretty close to then but the carfax was clean (not that that means much). But yes, unless they used black primer it doesn't look like there is any unless the primer flaked off too.

If I had to guess, I would say that is a replacement bumper that has been sprayed by a body shop. Maybe look underneath and see if there is any evidence of the nuts, bolts, and mounting brackets having been removed before. Do you notice any drips or bubbles anywhere on the bumper? Can you post a pick of your truck from the rear?

I've never seen a factory paint job do that. I have seen body shop paint do that though.

Get it to an auto body expert/inspector. Within minutes he'll be able tell you if it's been wrecked or on the bottom of a lake. A close friend of mine has been fixing cars pretty much his whole life and it's amazing what he can see that I'd never notice.

I have a friend that owns a body shop. I will have to stop out there and have him take a look