New Camper! Long trip planned, thoughts?

muzupan said:

According to the weight of your truck with the Tongue weight of the trailer you almost are at your GVWR of 6800lbs and almost out of payload. Your weight on the front axle rear axle and rear axle weight with the tounge weight with the trailer attached your at 6620 pounds which is 180 pounds less than your GVRW of 6800 pounds. Your truck weight without the trailer attached according to the scale was 5860 pounds can you subtract that from GVWR of 6800 pounds your payload is only 940 pounds even though the sticker says 1389 pounds of payload. Yes, you are below axle weight and GCVWR That is one of the shortcomings of the 1500. You can definitely pull your trailer with the truck but if you’re worried about all the numbers you’re at the Max right now with payload an GVWR..I had to fight this with my trailer and my 1500 until I bumped it up to a three-quarter ton truck. That little box that had the silver cord pulled out that was the emergency brake box to lock activate the brakes on the trailer in case the trailer ever breaks from the truck.

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Mitag3 said:

depending on my rear axle gear ratio of either 3.55 or 3.92. I scoured the axle looking for this info to no avail, anyone know where to get this??

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Mitag3 said:

Yep after looking at it again you are correct, I was looking at it wrong. After putting my wife in the vehicle my numbers will be topped out. Maybe a smidge over after adding some more stuff to the camper. I'm not particularly worried about the numbers, my thought process is that the vehicle is underated as is and I've done some pretty effective things to increase its ability even though the ratings might not agree. I liked the idea of being able to make it under the limits anyway, which as I've read all over the forum is dang hard for a 1500. Seems you have to pick and choose which ratings to abide by, get a small camper, or get an expensive one made from thin crap to weigh hardly anything. I'm pretty good on everything other than going to be a smidge over on payload, I can live with that.

Ahh yes that grey wire makes perfect sense now. That probably means I shouldn't have secured it the way I did then.... I'm guessing the force of it getting ripped from the truck will likely rip through the zip ties anyway but might want to look into it. That wire was just attached to the safety chain before by previous owner anyway so it wasn't doing much I can't imagine. Looks like I have my next little project.

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crash68 said:

To find out your axle ratio, look your build sheet up using your VIN here(click on Equipment Listing):
https://www.ramtrucks.com/webselfservice/ram/index.html

Your numbers are fine and you have some room to add some weight if the wife decides to "pack the kitchen sink" ..lol You may have to tweak the WDH bars, but if it tows smooth, they are fine.
Remember the weight ratings are not the "line in the sand" when it come to safety, it's the person driving.

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