Opinions 1/2 ton gooseneck ability

Devin1349 · Aug 17, 2017

Hey guys what are your guys thoughts, experience, concerns, grips, complaints on getting a goose neck set up in my 2011 Ram 1500 5.7 Hemi 5 speed 4x4 3.55 gear ratio, lately I've been involved in Rodeo and being a Ranch hand and I'm always having to find that rare person that has a hitch pulled horse trailer and everyone else I know has Goosenecks. so I was thinking if my truck can handle it i'd like to get a gooseneck set up so I can use my friends goosenecks now looking at my trucks stats based on Ramtrucks.com towing chart my towing capacity on the hitch is 8600 with a payload of 1464. from what I've seen with 2500's is that the gooseneck towing capacity is much larger than the hitch would this be applied to 1/2 tons as well????

crash68 · Aug 17, 2017

Towing capacity and payload/tongue weight are the same for a truck no matter what type of hitch used*
bumper pull, you need to add a WDH depending on the amount of trailer tongue weight.
Depending on the trailer/cargo weight, you probably will be able to pull a two horse gooseneck.

14RAM4X4 · Aug 17, 2017

The answer is, it depends...

How much does the trailer weigh?
How many horses do you want to pull 1 or 2?
Estimated weight of the horse(s)?

Lets say you have a light 1 or 2 horse trailer, about 3000# empty. Add 1100# for the horse. The pin weight should be around 25% of the total trailer weight. So around 1000# pin weight.

That leaves you about 500# of payload left to play with. Even with 2 horses you should be okay. It depends on the total weight of the trailer loaded with gear & horses.

Just remember, you are part of the payload. Also, not including tackle, hay, etc. But realistically, 1/2 trucks are kinda derated for safety. You can probably carry more than 1400# payload.

Burla · Aug 17, 2017

Swap gears with that maybe 4.56, it will raise your towabilty like 2k pounds or better. If I was gonna put a gooseneck, I wouldn't have bought a truck with 3.55's. Check your tow guide.

Devin1349 · Aug 17, 2017

It's days like this where I wish I could get a Cummins when I got my truck I wasnt a Ranch hand, I'm just looking for a quick solution till I can upgrade but thanks for the answers guys I'll have to look at the trailer weight but yeah our horses are out 1100# 16 hand horses and I only pull two at with a two horse trailer and I know my truck screams uphill, if i had to guestimate id say my gcvwr is 5,300 that 3 guys who eat well, two horses, a guestimated 2000 pound bumper pull trailer (i dont know how much small gooseneck trailer weigh) if i could post pictures on here (thanks photobucket) id show you guys how much squat I have with all of that which is just about level with the wheel wells

Opinions 1/2 ton gooseneck ability

Devin1349

Senior Member

crash68

ACME product engineer

14RAM4X4

Senior Member

Burla

Senior Member

Devin1349

Senior Member

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