Ram 1500 payload/hauling thread

So I've always been keen on knowing the capabilities and limits of the vehicles I drive and try as best I can to sprinkle in some common sense from time to time. (For the record I hold a class A CDL but don't regularly operate a commercial vehicle anymore).

I owned 2 2500 CTD's and awhile back "downgraded" to my current 1500. It has what should be all the great towing attributes available and should make a nice tow rig for a 1/2 ton truck, .............or so I thought! Started shopping around for a new TT as the littles ones are just about ready to really enjoy some camping. I finally took my truck across a scale today and I almost CHIAT myself, 6,420lbs with me and a full tank of fuel! WTF I ask myself, I don't even have my wife and 3 girls with me! The truck in my sig has a GVWR of 6,800 lbs so by the time I load up the rest of the family, and NOTHING else, I have 115 lbs of payload remaining!? Now I know it's no 3/4 ton but seriously? I am going to have to do some number crunching as I am still in disbelief the truck is THAT heavy. Guess the lift, bigger tires, 3 car seats, and a BakFlip are all the truck can carry...................

On the bright side, I have plenty of capacity as far as the axle ratings are concerned, no issues there at all.

see that's why we had no kids and drive the 2wd'er, not so much weight. Oh on a side note I have never towed and never will, good luck headed out in your direction.

yeah- we have no kids either and I married a 100# lean mean machine
that leaves room for my 50# lab (I doubt he stays this way- but now with 1 year and 4 month old- that's what he has) and my 10# poodle.
I honestly don't care about weight- I load my 6ft camping table, the tote, camping chairs, grill, crate and some small stuff on the bed and everything else is in the camper.
Other than that- today's campers are so impressive light weight- we already chose our next camper, which we will buy next year- and with 26ft box length, 1 big slide over the whole length except bath and bedroom, it has a dry weight of only 6500#. That leaves my wife enough room for all the other stuff - my flip flops, 2 swim pants, 4 shirts and 5 underwear I need does not really weight anything- and I never had a problem. people just think too much and are too concerned.
If you're not thinking about pulling a backhoe on a goose neck trailer around, I think you're good.
My current camper is 27ft box length and has ~6500# fully loaded. never experienced a lack somewhere.
don't worry- just be happy

It seems there's always 300-500# of "stuff" that just lives in the truck that you don't expect. I think the lightest I've ever seen my truck weigh is about 7300# (6.4 Hemi). According to the door sticker I'm supposed to have 3000# payload but it's really more like 2700#. I never knew floor mats and ipods weighed so much

chris1965 said:

yeah- we have no kids either and I married a 100# lean mean machine
that leaves room for my 50# lab (I doubt he stays this way- but now with 1 year and 4 month old- that's what he has) and my 10# poodle.
I honestly don't care about weight- I load my 6ft camping table, the tote, camping chairs, grill, crate and some small stuff on the bed and everything else is in the camper.
Other than that- today's campers are so impressive light weight- we already chose our next camper, which we will buy next year- and with 26ft box length, 1 big slide over the whole length except bath and bedroom, it has a dry weight of only 6500#. That leaves my wife enough room for all the other stuff - my flip flops, 2 swim pants, 4 shirts and 5 underwear I need does not really weight anything- and I never had a problem. people just think too much and are too concerned.
If you're not thinking about pulling a backhoe on a goose neck trailer around, I think you're good.
My current camper is 27ft box length and has ~6500# fully loaded. never experienced a lack somewhere.
don't worry- just be happy

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As far as weight goes, I have no doubt the truck would handle what I'm looking at just fine, I'll just be over my GVWR but WELL under my GCWR, axle, tire and rim ratings. With my current setup, I only "have" 115 lbs remaining for hitch weight per the sticker...... most TT I am looking at are around 500-600 lb hitch weight with trailer weights that will be less than 6500lbs loaded.

6.7CumminsDrvr said:

As far as weight goes, I have no doubt the truck would handle what I'm looking at just fine, I'll just be over my GVWR but WELL under my GCWR, axle, tire and rim ratings. With my current setup, I only "have" 115 lbs remaining for hitch weight per the sticker...... most TT I am looking at are around 500-600 lb hitch weight with trailer weights that will be less than 6500lbs loaded.

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If you would see it this way, 95% of all camping friends are illegal on the road. don't worry- you're fine.

oh- I am a emergency-tools-ocd kinda guy. I have everything I would need to build the truck back up under my rear seat- ok- except a welder- that would go too far...
if the hitch weight is 600# you're absolutely in green. all you need is a good weight distribution hitch- I have a curver - but I don't know if it's good or not- was too expensive for changing the hitches out all the time- but for me it works.
it's a try and error kinda thing. I don't think that any cop would pull you out and say: hey- you're 50# over the limit- we revoke your driver's license.

6.7CumminsDrvr said:

I finally took my truck across a scale today and I almost CHIAT myself, 6,420lbs with me and a full tank of fuel! WTF I ask myself,

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That seems excessive, your base weight is listed at ~5400# with 5.7 and 8 speed. Are you by chance a grizzly bear or a horse?

https://www.ramtrucks.com/assets/towing_guide/pdf/2016_ram_1500_towing_charts.pdf

Not super proud of it, but I'm at or over my payload when towing. Haven't had any issues. I do have the stock air ride which makes a world of difference. I weigh 230, wife is 130, older boy is 85 and younger is 40. Dog 1 weighs 150 and will end up in the camper. Dog 2 (puppy) weighs 35 and will be in the truck.

Same experience here. DOT in the US worries about axle and tire ratings along with the gross combined.

Just hit the scales and concern yourself with GAWR's and GCVWR and tire ratings. Payload isn't that big of a deal. If you add up your axles gross rating, you'll discover another 1000lbs of margin there. Use a weight distribution hitch and get it dialed in properly.

I know, I upgraded from a 1500 to a 2500 - still have my cat scale slips. I was over payload, but never over the axle or tire ratings and within the combined rating for my truck.

Of interesting note is that vehicles in Florida are assigned a GVWR on the registration, and they pick from this grouping before you need a commercial plate 5999, 8999 and 10000. They stamped my registration for the 1500 as 8999 and the new 2500 is 10000 but the PW is not 10K GVWR.

I have. 2015 big horn quad cab with 6.4 bed and I'm right at my payload rating of 1596

I have 600 pounds of work stuff in the bed and when I'm away from home I stay in a travle trailer that weighs about 6200.

The truck handles it very well I usually drive interstate around 70 mph. I've hit some wind and slowed it down to 55 in the worst wind. I have a weight distribution with stabilizer bars and sway control. If a gust of wind hits me I certainly feel it but the sway control helps a lot.

Totesmygoats said:

That seems excessive, your base weight is listed at ~5400# with 5.7 and 8 speed. Are you by chance a grizzly bear or a horse?

https://www.ramtrucks.com/assets/towing_guide/pdf/2016_ram_1500_towing_charts.pdf

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It seemed excessive indeed, that was the reason for starting this thread. Based on my "stickers", I ASSUME (always a good time) my curb weight is 5,605 lbs. 6800 lbs GVWR - 1195 lbs (max playload on yellow sticker). I have been doing a bit of digging today and have accounted for about 411 lbs of the 815 lbs I'm carrying around. So here is what I've got so far:

Combined weight of 3 Birtax car seats= 60.41 lbs
BakFlip F-1= 55 lbs max
Added weight of larger tires= 81.2 lbs
Oh ya, myself= 215 lbs
Total so far = 411.61 lbs

Not sure if the limited rims weigh more than the chrome clads but still looking for that and still need to find out the weight of the 4" superlift Kit I had installed. Now some will be an estimate since some facorty parts were removed when the lift was done...............and just for ***** and grins I'm going to grab the "gear" in my truck and weigh that. Might find the other 400 lbs but it just dosent seem like that much.

I am in agreement with what everyone else has posted and as I stated in my original post, I have no doubt the truck will handle the trailers I am looking at as I am well below the GCVRW, axles, tire, and rim capacities. I am still stocked at what the truck weighed on the scale today!

If'n you got the cushy leather seats with the all power and heated extras that will eat into yer payload more than expected. Bear in mind what a stripped out shell these things start out as when original curb weight is assessed.

"Oh, sweet debt. Thy name is Truck."

I will say this, if you have a buddy with an F-150 compare on his door sticker his axle ratings and GVWR compared to the Ram. You'll notice something between the two and how they are rated.

BoldAdventure said:

I will say this, if you have a buddy with an F-150 compare on his door sticker his axle ratings and GVWR compared to the Ram. You'll notice something between the two and how they are rated.

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Don't know anyone close with a newer F-150 but I'm always down to swing by a dealership..............

On a side note, how's the PW doing towing the Airstream? How bad is the mileage? Love the truck, looks perfect. I have PW envy, should have bought the white '05 I brought home............

BoldAdventure said:

Just hit the scales and concern yourself with GAWR's and GCVWR and tire ratings. Payload isn't that big of a deal. If you add up your axles gross rating, you'll discover another 1000lbs of margin there.

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Yea IDK why GVWR isn't roughly GAWR I thought maybe they were figuring GVWR by assuming your payload was going to be unevenly distributed onto your rear.