Weigh in, for a long haul. What do you think?

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breal201999

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We are on the road from SW Missouri to Yellowstone and Jackson Hole. Going to make the best of current situation of flooding and see what we can see. I got weighed in. What do you think of these numbers? Towing a Rockwood MiniLite 2509s. This is with water storage tank empty. 2016 Ram 1500 crew cab, 5.7 with 3.21 gears, weight transfer hitch and air bags in the rear shocks.
 

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rmill

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Hi, I have a 2014 BH 1500 with the 3.21. Tow a TT thats 6500 lbs. My only concern would be you seem heavy on the rear axle. Any chance of moving a few hundred lbs to the front with a WDH adjustment? Total weight looks good though.
 
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breal201999

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Hi, I have a 2014 BH 1500 with the 3.21. Tow a TT thats 6500 lbs. My only concern would be you seem heavy on the rear axle. Any chance of moving a few hundred lbs to the front with a WDH adjustment? Total weight looks good though.
Not sure, what adjustments would I make here? I see bolts at the hitch and the bolts where the transfer bars mount. Would you move the bolts at the transfer bar?
 

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rmill

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I have the same Hitch. Too funny. I spent all day going to cat scale to get it right and i did have to move the bar mount up (one hole) otherwise it wouldn't transfer enough weight to the front axle. I also ended up adding a few more washers at the ball to get a slight angle down. I know E2 says the bars should be parallel with the ground but they also say it is ok if not, if needed. I really have to lift truck up quite a bit to get bars on, that's how i know i'm getting the most weight moved though. Hope this helps. Do you have the 1000lb bars?
 

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breal201999

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I believe 1000 lbs bar, yes? So in my case, would I have to add washers or take away?
I just know as it sits now, when I mount and attach those transfer bars, I have to raise the jack up a lot to take the weight off the tongue to use the tool to install the bars. So making this adjustment, will it be even harder to install the bars?
 

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rmill

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You may be good then. Yes 1000 lb bar. Is your truck bed loaded and do you have the tongue weight of the TT. Also do you know the weights of your axles without the trailer? What are your GAWRs mine are 3900 ea. But yes, it would be harder to load bars with that adjustment.
 

Irishthreeper

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As mentioned above, you’re probably a little heavy in your rear axle but I don’t know if I’d lose sleep over it. We are currently in Billings, MT enroute Glacier Natl Park. The Yellowstone River here has subsided and should be close to normal soon. I read that the southern loop of Yellowstone will be open very soon but the northern part might be closed for a long time. The southern loop is very nice and allows access to Old Faithful. If you have time try to see the Custer/Rushmore area, even more beautiful than Yellowstone, IMO. Be safe and enjoy our stunning country!
 
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breal201999

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You may be good then. Yes 1000 lb bar. Is your truck bed loaded and do you have the tongue weight of the TT. Also do you know the weights of your axles without the trailer? What are your GAWRs mine are 3900 ea. But yes, it would be harder to load bars with that adjustment.
I do have the bed loaded, mostly with tools, cooler, pancake compressor and Blackstone grill. Honestly don’t know weights without trailer.
So maybe leave it as is? Because I don’t know that I could mount the bars if any tighter without using floor jacks on the tongue to load it.
 
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breal201999

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As mentioned above, you’re probably a little heavy in your rear axle but I don’t know if I’d lose sleep over it. We are currently in Billings, MT enroute Glacier Natl Park. The Yellowstone River here has subsided and should be close to normal soon. I read that the southern loop of Yellowstone will be open very soon but the northern part might be closed for a long time. The southern loop is very nice and allows access to Old Faithful. If you have time try to see the Custer/Rushmore area, even more beautiful than Yellowstone, IMO. Be safe and enjoy our stunning country!
Awesome! We are in Sioux Falls tonight, Rapid City tomorrow after badlands, Rushmore and Wall Drug… then Yellowstone west gate for 5 nights, then Jackson 4 nights boondocking… then head home to Missouri. Considered Glacier with flooding events, but with the exodus from vacationers and last minute changes couldn’t find anything available in Glacier. Hopefully Yellowstone west opens on 19th, but we’ll be there 5 nights so surely if lower loop is deemed okay we can get in to see old faithful and sights. It’s my family’s first time, and mine! Such a hard call to chance it, but didn’t want to sit at home for two weeks!!! Thanks for the help guys!
 

rmill

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what a great trip you got planned. Safe Travels!
 

dhay13

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Definitely rear heavy and possibly high % on tongue weight. I wouldn't think with that size trailer with 12-15% tongue weight you would be over GRAWR. 2 different trucks and trailers but that is about the same rear axle weight my step-son had with his 9300lb TT and his Tundra with 12% tongue weight.
Dry weight looks to be about 5500lbs so guessing your TT is around 6500lbs loaded up. Typically they are about 300-500lbs heavier than listed dry weight. So at 6500lbs that would be about 1200lbs tongue weight (18%). You need to get a weight on just the truck too to verify though. But looks like you are over GRAWR by about 300lbs. Getting more weight back to the front axle should help the handling
This was the Tundra with the 2021 Grand Design Imagine 3250BH that we weighed that day at 9300lbs and it needed adjusted also but he sold the TT now
Tundra_with_3250BH.jpg
 

pacofortacos

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Yeah, you are over the rear axle capacity by quite a bit. (2016 1500 should be 3800-3900 lbs. capacity)
You are also over on payload by several hundred.
Is it possible to move some weight from the truck, especially the bed, to the rear of the TT.

Also if you have standard load P metric tires in the rear, I would have them within 2 psi of max cold inflation pressure that is on the sidewall of the tire - cold is actually 68 deg. F. You are within a hundred pounds or so on the max rear tire capacity per Ram (4368 lbs. per axle) using a P metric 20" tire, it is higher if using a 17".

If XL load tires, take them up to 48-50 psi cold.

E-load tires probably 50-60 psi.

All IMO of course.
 

tron67j

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Yeah, you are over the rear axle capacity by quite a bit. (2016 1500 should be 3800-3900 lbs. capacity)
You are also over on payload by several hundred.
Is it possible to move some weight from the truck, especially the bed, to the rear of the TT.

Also if you have standard load P metric tires in the rear, I would have them within 2 psi of max cold inflation pressure that is on the sidewall of the tire - cold is actually 68 deg. F. You are within a hundred pounds or so on the max rear tire capacity per Ram (4368 lbs. per axle) using a P metric 20" tire, it is higher if using a 17".

If XL load tires, take them up to 48-50 psi cold.

E-load tires probably 50-60 psi.

All IMO of course.
Just one thing on moving weight to trailer, get it over, or just closely behind the trailer axle. Throwing too much weight at the back of the trailer could get you fishtailing down the road.
 

csuder99

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Yeah, you are over the rear axle capacity by quite a bit. (2016 1500 should be 3800-3900 lbs. capacity)
You are also over on payload by several hundred.
Sorry to pile on but the truck is at over 7600 lbs GVW. Don't know about 2016 but my 2014 was rated for 6800 lbs GVWR. 800 lbs over is outside of the discretion range of a State Trooper/Highway Patrol if he/she decides to weigh the rig.

Playing with the WDH isn't going to help because the truck is still going to be overloaded (technically). Step 1 would be to figure out what the truck weighs loaded up and with the WDH in the receiver but not hitched. See how much payload is left, that sort of limits the tongue weight. Try moving things from the truck into the trailer (not in the front of course), travel with an (almost) empty water tank. The trailer takes 54 gallons of water which is over 400 lbs and depending on where the tank sits can add substantially to the tongue weight.

Trailer manufacturers love to call their products "half-ton towable" even though only few trucks meet the requirements. My 2014 was a lowly Tradesman which gave it 1500 lbs of payload and I travel alone so the weights worked out with a 7000 lbs trailer.
 

670hoth

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I have the same Hitch. Too funny. I spent all day going to cat scale to get it right and i did have to move the bar mount up (one hole) otherwise it wouldn't transfer enough weight to the front axle. I also ended up adding a few more washers at the ball to get a slight angle down. I know E2 says the bars should be parallel with the ground but they also say it is ok if not, if needed. I really have to lift truck up quite a bit to get bars on, that's how i know i'm getting the most weight moved though. Hope this helps. Do you have the 1000lb bars?
I also have the same hitch but have not used it yet. I have a 2017 Ram 1500 5.7, 8 speed, 3.92. The camper is supposed to be 4700 lb dry but I don't yet know the weight ready to go. I did buy the hitch slightly used and have printed out the manual I found on line but have not read it yet. When you say lift the truck up, I assume you are using the trailer jack, correct? Also, I did not get a tool with mine. Is this tool needed? Sorry, I am new to WDHs Thanks
 

rmill

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Yes, you have to raise the truck/trailer with trailer jack to get the bars on or close enough to use the tool. You may or may not need the tool depending on your set up. I would definitely try to find one though. Maybe etrailer or amazon. Good luck!
 

pacofortacos

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Just one thing on moving weight to trailer, get it over, or just closely behind the trailer axle. Throwing too much weight at the back of the trailer could get you fishtailing down the road.
So true and what I should have said.
 

pacofortacos

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Awesome! We are in Sioux Falls tonight, Rapid City tomorrow after badlands, Rushmore and Wall Drug… then Yellowstone west gate for 5 nights, then Jackson 4 nights boondocking… then head home to Missouri. Considered Glacier with flooding events, but with the exodus from vacationers and last minute changes couldn’t find anything available in Glacier. Hopefully Yellowstone west opens on 19th, but we’ll be there 5 nights so surely if lower loop is deemed okay we can get in to see old faithful and sights. It’s my family’s first time, and mine! Such a hard call to chance it, but didn’t want to sit at home for two weeks!!! Thanks for the help guys!
Sounds like a good trip, if it wasn't for the flooding and Yellowstone being closed.
I really like western North and South Dakota, I've been there and Yellowstone dozens of times.
You always have Colorado just to the south if Yellowstone doesn't open.
Currently, I think Jackson is pretty crowded.

How are you going to West Yellowstone, the northern route or from the south?
 

HEMIMANN

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Lookout - gonna be hotter'n hell out there.
 

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