The 600 lbs question

This is going to be a touchy topic. I know I am going to get a wide range of answers from everybody. Here is the scenario:

With me, my wife and 3 kids in my Laramie- I am at or over GVWR. +/- 50lbs. I have a TT that has a loaded and ready weight of 5400-5600. I know the math, and it's my fault for assuming a truck with that huge hemi would have something along the average payload of 7200, you know... so they could actually be used as a truck. Needless to say I almost puked when I looked at the weights.
I am stuck now. I understand the math, and I understand I will be overloaded by 600lbs or so with my 1500. With a tongue scale I am pretty sure I can maintain a 600lbs TW. Keep in mind too, a 3/4 ton is not an option. I put on 30k a year as a daily driver. I tow twice or 3 times a year. I was ok at first, but the more time I spend on places like RV.net, the more and more concerned I am that I might pull the moon out of orbit or something. I have towed trailers for years and never worried about this- I knew my axle rating and I was good with that, but now it's driving me bonkers for some reason.

The options I have:
1. Bag it, hook and go and forget it. I am under axle ratings, only using about 60% tow cap, and under combination weight by more than a ton.
2. Take 2 vehicles camping which is ridiculous to me, and a little embarrassing.
3. Trade a 4 month old Ram back off on an F150 6.2L to stay within the nanny sticker. This thought makes me puke in my mouth a little.

I understand the numbers and don't need a towing lesson. It's my own damn fault for assuming it was actually running similar numbers and it didn't even cross my mind.

Any opinions are appreciated. I really do love this truck, but I am really torn right now considering I have two of those kids that will be moved out soon. Almost all the options are things we, as a family, decided were important for us as a daily driver. I got to choose the engine, transmission and gear ratio

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smurfs_of_war said:

This is going to be a touchy topic. I know I am going to get a wide range of answers from everybody. Here is the scenario:

With me, my wife and 3 kids in my Laramie- I am at or over GVWR. +/- 50lbs. I have a TT that has a loaded and ready weight of 5400-5600. I know the math, and it's my fault for assuming a truck with that huge hemi would have something along the average payload of 7200, you know... so they could actually be used as a truck. Needless to say I almost puked when I looked at the weights.
I am stuck now. I understand the math, and I understand I will be overloaded with my 1500. With a tongue scale I am pretty sure I can maintain a 600lbs TW. Keep in mind too, a 3/4 ton is not an option. I put on 30k a year as a daily driver. I tow twice or 3 times a year. I was ok at first, but the more time I spend on places like RV.net, the more and more concerned I am that I might pull the moon out of orbit or something. I have towed trailers for years and never worried about this- I knew my axle rating and I was good with that, but now it's driving me bonkers for some reason.

The options I have:
1. Bag it, hook and go and forget it. I am under axle ratings, only using about 60% tow cap, and under combination weight by more than a ton.
2. Take 2 vehicles camping which is ridiculous to me, and a little embarrassing.
3. Trade a 4 month old Ram back off on an F150 6.2L to stay within the nanny sticker. This thought makes me puke in my mouth a little.

I understand the numbers and don't need a towing lesson. It's my own damn fault for assuming it was actually running similar numbers and it didn't even cross my mind.

Any opinions are appreciated. I really do love this truck, but I am really torn right now considering I have two of those kids that will be moved out soon. Almost all the options are things we, as a family, decided were important for us as a daily driver. I got to choose the engine, transmission and gear ratio

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Click to expand...

Option 1 seems like a no brainer to me. Just drive it, it'll be fine.

Yup Drive it. And bag it. Think the bags are $80

If your payload is close but you have GCVW room left, throw the spare tire and jack in the trailer.

Only reason i would worry is insurance in case of an accident.

Screw a ford!

Maybe I wasn't clear. I will go over my gvwr for the truck by 600lbs when we hook our trailer. I am at my GVWR with just my family in there. But, if that is what you already understood- forgive me

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StPat said:

Yup Drive it. And bag it. Think the bags are $80

If your payload is close but you have GCVW room left, throw the spare tire and jack in the trailer.

Only reason i would worry is insurance in case of an accident.

Screw a ford!

Click to expand...

I have lots of gcvw room left. Almost 3000 lbs. Insurance- well, DW is a broker, so I am pretty sure if we had a zombie uprising, I would be covered

She has me tagged for 16000 lbs.

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the only reason the towing rating is so low on these trucks is because the back end with the coils instead of the leaf springs they just squat so much.
Put bags on it i pull my 10k offshore boat and its does great and only squats a inch or two with the bags

smurfs_of_war said:

Maybe I wasn't clear. I will go over my gvwr for the truck by 600lbs when we hook our trailer. I am at my GVWR with just my family in there. But, if that is what you already understood- forgive me

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Nope. I read wrong.

StPat said:

Nope. I read wrong.

Click to expand...

Ok, I was wondering. That payload is a killer.

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Go with option 1 and take it easy when you tow.
If the sag bothers you, get the air bags and a Weight Distributing hitch for the trailer.
Also, put the family on a diet.

NYCruiser said:

Go with option 1 and take it easy when you tow.
If the sag bothers you, get the air bags and a Weight Distributing hitch for the trailer.
Also, put the family on a diet.

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LOL! I like the idea of a diet... but it's tough to keep that kid of mine under control. I tell ya though, his football coach in highschool was mine as well 20 years ago, and he said he hasn't worked with such a promising lineman at 6'2 240lbs... at 15. In all fairness, between him and I- just shy of 500lbs. I am about to pull the trigger on a new equalizer since my current blue ox doesn't have integrated sway control and is a little on the heavy side compared to most. I think I am going to order a set of airrides tonight.

I'm with the rest of them; bag it.
Lowriders.ca had them shipped to my door for $112Cdn- the cheapest I could find. Quickly, too.

audio1der said:

I'm with the rest of them; bag it.
Lowriders.ca had them shipped to my door for $112Cdn- the cheapest I could find. Quickly, too.

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Thanks man. I'll check them out too. Think I may have lucked out and found a brand new 1k/10k equalizer hitch from a member on another forum too.

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Nice score! That setup looks really easy to hook & get going; I've heard nothing but good things about it.
Is there not a sway control you can add on to a Blue Ox? (not a crappy friction sway control- a real one)
You'll LOVE having airbags. I didn't think I would, but I DO.

EDIT- just read the Blue Ox and EQ pages. I don't "get" how the EQ system figures the upward pressure of the bars and the downward pressure of the tongue creates sway control?? By only knowing both from reading, assuming both setups were equal and of adequate weight rating for your setup, the Blue Ox makes more sense to me. Maybe I'm missing something? The EQ setup really just looks like an improved WD system.

I am confused on how he is hitting his payload so quickly, and it's only 600 lbs?

Or did I read it wrong....

The "slider" tool on the Ram Trucks website, with 4 passengers, says Payload on mine could be up to 1000 lbs, after passengers.

Or, did I miss that tongue weight is considered payload?

jjump said:

I am confused on how he is hitting his payload so quickly, and it's only 600 lbs?

Or did I read it wrong....

The "slider" tool on the Ram Trucks website, with 4 passengers, says Payload on mine could be up to 1000 lbs, after passengers.

Or, did I miss that tongue weight is considered payload?

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Thats where I think I messed up. I used 5 passengers and it said the payload could be similar. So I figured we have it covered, right? Order the truck, nanny sticker is low, but I was assured this was the case- slider was right and each manufacturer has different methods of dictating payload. Weighed the truck vs GVWR- slider is wrong. REALLY wrong. Now, I'm stuck in it and it's my own damn fault.

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Ok, some stuff is new to me....what's a nannie sticker?

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audio1der said:

EDIT- just read the Blue Ox and EQ pages. I don't "get" how the EQ system figures the upward pressure of the bars and the downward pressure of the tongue creates sway control?? By only knowing both from reading, assuming both setups were equal and of adequate weight rating for your setup, the Blue Ox makes more sense to me. Maybe I'm missing something? The EQ setup really just looks like an improved WD system.

Click to expand...

The equalizer relies on the friction inside the torsion head and l brackets. Metal on metal. This is what I understand. I wanted a Reese or similar, but the bar ratings are either too low for my tongue weight or to high according to the placard on my trailer frame.


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jjump said:

Ok, some stuff is new to me....what's a nannie sticker?

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Yellow placard inside your door. "Total weight of occupants and cargo must not exceed"

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meh, option 1. maybe you can upgrade some suspension parts (like you said)

Back in the day I used to tow around a 4klb boat with a Slant 6 Dart. I had air shocks and a custom hitch welded onto it. It did fine, except I had to keep pulling the 4 wheel drum brakes apart each trip and sanding the glaze off of the shoes.

You'll be fine.