Can I tow it?

I know there has been alot written and asked about towing capacities. I'm asking to the people that have done it know more than I do.
I have a 2019 1500 5.7 Hemi(non-e-torque) with 3.92 gears.
I'm looking to purchase a Travel Trailer that has a dry weight of 7300#. It will have the normal "stuff", battery, 2 20# propane tanks, and then adding the average camping stuff. I know it will add 500# if the water tank is full.

Is it too much?

Thanks

You will be pushing it hard. Your actual weight will likely be closer to 7500-8000lbs without all of your personal stuff in it and without a full water tank. What is the GVWR on the trailer? Depending on payload you may still be legal. You will likely be at about 900-1000lbs tongue weight and probably higher if your fresh tank is in front of the trailer and it's full. Keep an eye on your GRAWR. You may be over on that and that is a definite no-no (or very close to it).
We never weighed my sons 8100lb TT with a 1500 but with his 2500 he had 1000lbs tongue weight. My step-on has a 9300lb TT and he had about 4200lbs on his rear axle of his 2020 Tundra and was over GRAWR by about 150lbs.
So not sure if you will be legal or not but the truck should tow it without much trouble but may not be an enjoyable experience. Trailer length will play a role in handling too. The longer the trailer the bigger the sail behind your truck.
You really need to get it on a CAT scale to get exact weights as you would be towing it. I know that may be difficult if you don't own the trailer yet but it's the only way to know for sure. Also depends on terrain and how far and often the trips are. Hilly areas or long distance trips and you may want to consider a smaller trailer.

Sure. You can tow it.

I can tell you from experience that your truck will pull that camper just fine. I can’t tell you if your payload and rear GAWR will be within the trucks limits. I would recommend air bags to stay level. I used AirLift’s with 100 lb capacity but only needed to use 30-40 lbs. Easy to install and only cost about $300.

I can tell you from experience that your significant other will be white knuckling it on every trip. Get a bigger truck!

My step-father doesn't tow alot. He has had several 1500 Rams and has towed a 9400lb 5th wheel with them. It was bad enough for him that they only used the camper a few times then sold it. Had he bought a smaller camper they may still be campers but they gave it up. If you were more experienced at towing then maybe you could accept it but he wasn't. And yes, he was way overloaded and illegal but the salesman told him it was 1/2 ton towable and that he would be fine.

Reading some camping sites
many of them don't fill their water tanks until they get close to their destinations

saves on weight

Getting the WDH set up correctly will be a must when towing on the heavy side, don't trust the RV dealer to set it up as it must be done with the truck and trailer fully loaded. It's best to use a CAT scale to make sure all the weight is returned to the front axle.
When someone complains that trailer will be a miserable experience towing, there was either something wrong with the trailer or the load distribution was not set up correctly.

you can probably tow it depending what kind of terrain you plan to travel over but I can tell you that I have a similarly equiped laramie 4x4 ccsb and it pulls our 6000# trailer pretty well but I wouldnt want to go up to one the size you are considering without upgrading trucks. you will be working that truck pretty hard unless not towing very far. pack light, get a good hitch, add airbags, go slow.

How often will you tow? Weekly, monthly, or once a year?
What type of terrain? Are you going to go high into the Rockies often?
How do you drive? Aggressive, or do you ease down the road?
How aerodynamic is the trailer? Lots of things factor in.

With that gearing I think your truck is up to it. Just don't "push it to the wall" trying to speed up to the summit of Pikes Peak, etc.

lets not forget tires.stock tires are not great for towing.

BD2109BigHorn said:

I know there has been alot written and asked about towing capacities. I'm asking to the people that have done it know more than I do.
I have a 2019 1500 5.7 Hemi(non-e-torque) with 3.92 gears.
I'm looking to purchase a Travel Trailer that has a dry weight of 7300#. It will have the normal "stuff", battery, 2 20# propane tanks, and then adding the average camping stuff. I know it will add 500# if the water tank is full.

Is it too much?

Thanks

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Not enough information for anyone to help you do the math and tell you if you can correctly tow that trailer. Need the information from the door jamb to calculate maximum you can tow with just you in truck with full tank of gas,, and other data to calculate remaining values needed to answer your question. Don't rely on stories of what others do as none have any relevance to your situation even though they may be within their limits for their situation.

First, you need to load trailer and take to scale for tongue and full trailer weight measurements. You also need exact weight of truck loaded for travel (all people, gear, and hitch system in bed) which you subtract from your GVWR to know what your remaining payload capacity is.

After ensuing fully loaded trailer plus fully loaded truck do not exceed your GCWR, take your fully loaded truck weight and add the measured fully loaded trailer tongue weight together, they must be less than your GVWR.

Just via example and not your real numbers, assume your maximum payload capacity is 1800 pounds and you add 500 pounds to truck when traveling, your maximum allowable tongue weight would be 1300 pounds. If your trailer loaded is 8500 pounds then at 15% tongue weight to wet weight ratio, you would be at your absolute maximum. 1300 pounds of remaining payload capacity - 1300 pounds (rounded)of tongue weight = 0 pounds of capacity remaining. Not the best way to try to have a fun getaway. And lastly, this assumes you have no aftermarket add-ons like lift kits that would change your towing capabilities in ways not able to measure. But, if you follow above weight measuring process for truck, it will account for any aftermarket accessories like running boards, bed cap, etc. not originally supplied by factory.

Good luck.

check the Gvwr ratings on your specific truck, upgrade tires, brakes, change & refresh fluids, looking into air bags or rear springs, wdh. Get your truck weighed and after hooking everything up, go on some test runs.

SniperDroid said:

I can tell you from experience that your significant other will be white knuckling it on every trip. Get a bigger truck!

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I can tell you from experience a bigger truck on a TT won't solve that problem. Only sleeping pills or a fiver will help.

You will be fine. Yes you can do the math as much as you want. I do agree with the air bags. And no bigger trucks alway aren’t the answer. It is your driving ability that is the most important it isn’t like a cop with stop you I see far worse on the road every day you hear more about accidents with 18 wheelers the people pulling tt

Lots of replies saying you can tow it without knowing important information like tongue weight, payload capacity and maybe most important length of trailer. You'll hear this a lot but payload is what you should be looking at not so much the towing weight. Also the length is huge. If it's a 34' trailer or longer IMO you're asking for trouble towing it with a 1/2 ton unless you have a Propride or Hensley hitch (which are about $3500) and have front and rear sway bars on the truck and even then it can be sketchy. In this lawyer heavy world if you're in an accident with an over limit load (your fault or not) you could be sued and held liable.

Always ask the right Question? And its not can I tow this. Its can I stop it, as towing something is the easy part. Stopping that same load, that's the killer.
Buddy of mine towed about the same trailer your talking about. His truck was around a 2000 model 1500. Pulled it ok, use the Equalizer hitch. Truck looked the part and did the pulling part. But stopping was an issue if you needed to stop fast.
And yes the trailer had great brakes. But just not enough on the truck to overcome that forward movement.

I had a very similar truck/trailer combo. The truck pulled the trailer fine. The problem came with cross wind. I put on Timbrens, added a second sway controller, put on new Michelins, adjusted WDH, tire pressure and load. Ended up trading for a 2500 with 6.4 with 4.10 gears. I loved the 1500, but safety and comfort while towing made the trade necessary.

Having towed a similar trailer with a 1500 and a 3500, I can tell you that while you CAN tow it with a 1500, you will be at the engineering limits of the vehicle (if not over).

The advice to figure out your wet tongue weight for the trailer is key. I would guess the number will be something like this:

1. Truck payload capacity of 1600 lbs.
a. three passengers = 600 lbs.
b. gear in the bed = 200 lbs.
c. tongue weight of trailer when wet = 1000 lbs.*
2. So you are a little over the payload capacity listed on your door jamb. (Don't use any other number. The Brochure or what the web site says about your model, or what the salesman promised don't matter in the real world.) You are probably also over weight on the rear axle, though a properly set up weight distribution hitch can solve that by moving some of the rear axle weight to the front axle. Note that air bags don't solve that and can mask the visual cues that the WD hitch needs adjustment.
3. You may or may not care that you are over the specific limit. Your insurance company may or may not care. The state in which you are traveling may or may not sometimes weigh recreational vehicles.
4. But regardless of #3, your setup will be much more susceptible to driver error, inclement weather, sway from passing vehicles, poorer handling, more difficulty in rough terrain/mtns, and in general more stress on driver and passengers. (Since you are asking this question, it is reasonable to assume you are not an experienced tower, so these susceptibilities will likely apply to you. This is NOT intended as an insult or attack on your capabilities. We ALL start from the same place.)

This doesn't mean the towing can't be done. This doesn't mean people don't do it every day. This simply means it may not be advisable, or worse.



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*Don't believe the tongue weight numbers the manufacturer gives you for your trailer. They often dont include having propane tanks, batteries, etc on the tongue, water in the tank, etc. A couple of propane tanks, plus a battery or two, and some stuff in the trailer, can add as much as 400 lbs to your tongue weight. Every one of those tongue weight pounds counts against your truck payload capacity.

Our TT is 6,800 lbs dry and loaded it’s at 8k.

Power is not a problem and and the air suspension levels it out nicely. Yes, the downside is I am pushing payload while still under GAWR and GCWR