I'm late to this party, but I thought I would throw in my $.02 since I am in the EXACT same position as the OP, and really spun on it for a while before buying my Ram. It's a '13 Laramie as well, with almost identical payload rating- however I have the 3.92 and 8 speed with the Hemi. My payload was crushed by the options I wanted to make it a daily driver and travel vehicle.
My thoughts- any of us towing TT's with a half ton are going to have to compromise on many, many things. I had to decide what I wanted to compromise on, and at the end of it all, I tow that TT about 4-5 times a year to destinations within 150KM of us. Other factors I took into account- it's my DD and my family's primary travel vehicle. While my payload and trailer combo state I should have a 2500 or 3500 (or should have a base model 1500 with a higher payload), I can't justify the up front expense, nor the ongoing expense of owning such a massive animal that isn't working for what it eats or having to trade one base model vehicle for another, or the additional expense of trying to find a TT that is slightly lighter and having to purchase that as well even though our existing ultralight is paid for. Add to that- I wasn't interested in going to Ford again. The EcoBoost is awesome I am sure, but I am just not interested in a FI 6 powering my pickup unless it's a diesel, and the unloaded mileage in the 6.2L is horrifying.
I came from an F150- a '10 with the 5.4. For what that engine is- a sluggish brick- it was an amazing tow vehicle in the half ton segment, but it was also an XLT- pretty much the base model- the fanciest thing in it was the intermittent wipers. Payload of 1497lbs, 9600lbs towing. However after adding heavier rubber, large skid plates, and some internal goodies- I fully suspect I was sitting with a similar payload as my Laramie. When I came to the Ram, I promised myself I was going to get what I wanted. I didn't want to be stuck in the base model for 49 weeks of the year so that I could meet some paper tiger specs for the other 3. Plain and simple. I came from an era that people used to gauge their tow capacity by the engine block size and the bump stops. I see, time and time again, half tons with 1/4 the capability of the Ram towing trailers that make mine look like an outhouse. I have a 26' 5900lbs (wet) JayFeather. The F150 would manhandle that trailer- and I expect very similar or better experiences with the Ram but...
There are little things that you need to do in order to lessen the impact for yourself. From a legal standpoint, these mean nothing because you can't change what your sticker says. But from a purely functional standpoint it makes a huge difference because you can actually upgrade some of the components that go into the equation to calculate your payload. For me- tires (moved to E load duratracs) and airbags (haven't installed yet) but your biggest upgrade is your way of thinking. You have a lot of weight moving around, take your time. It's no race. i don't care if the 3500's will move it at 70mph. I am happy at 60 and feel safer. They can go around. I go in knowing my "sticker" says I shouldn't be this heavy, and I drive accordingly.
I firmly believe that the engineering team for Ram didn't design a truck that will automatically grenade when you exceed payload capacity. I sincerely hope that they designed a half ton to compete in the truck market for backwoods bush runners like me that use a truck as a truck to do truck things. For me, I will be about 200-300 over when we pull our trailer. Only when we pull our trailer. In the grand scheme of things, I am not exceeding my GCWR, my max tow capacity, nor my GAWR. Just my GVWR, and that is marginal. Will it explode? Doubt it considering the things I put my old 90 GMs through. Will it wear certain things out faster? Probably- but we do so many things that already do this (levels, larger rubber, tuners) what's the difference? Is it safe? Anything is only as safe as the operator and their mindset.
In short- the limits on the sticker should be adhered to as best you can, but I firmly believe that if you exceed one such as GVWR a bit, you should be OK, as long as you go in with the proper mindset and have done everything you can to make you and those around you safe- this may even include planning alternate routes to take yourself out of high traffic areas. However, exceeding the GCWR or GAWR is a recipe for disaster- and should never be done. Period. A rule of thumb I try to follow- 60-75% of rated tow capacity is comfortable. Payload, while important, is so tough to police when you haul a family- that I just try to keep it as close as I can. Sometimes you're over, sometimes you aren't but a couple hundred pounds won't be the end all. Personally, I feel safer in and around a slightly overloaded half ton with a responsible driver, than in or around a 3500 that is doing 75mph with a 29' trailer hanging off it because they can tow it that fast with ease and feel a false sense of security in owning a 3500. Quite often I think the drivers limits are truly tested in the half tons before the trucks limits are.
FWIW- my family of 5 has a combined weight of 826lbs. That is 826lbs of flesh and bone- forget extra cargo. Me and my son account for 500 of that. So, with that in mind- for a week long trip out of town without a trailer, knowing what my wife and teenage daughter need for makeup and shoes and clothes, we would exceed our payload just for that. Pretty ridiculous, huh?
Sorry for the long read, but I wanted to just toss this out there
