2019 Ram 1500 Classic; 5.7 Hemi; 3.21 gears, 6900# GVWR Towing Question

[ErnieD]

Ok, I need some real world results. Please don’t post specs as I’ve researched the numbers over and over on what the RAM engineers have stated this trucks ratings are. Also I am a master certified truck tech, so I don’t need a lesson in horsepower or gear ratios. Below is my question :

Specific to the 3.21 gear trucks, what are some real world towing results you’ve had?

Max towing? Capabilities? MPG? Performance?

I really want to upgrade to the new Jayco 267BHSW with a GVWR of 7500#, which is 700 pounds below my max tow cap, anyone tow at limit? Even slightly above? I know you’re out there, please chime in!

 

[runamuck]

my own view is that you will be kinda close to the max for it to be a good experience but it would work. my ram with 3.92 and carefully packed works kinda hard pulling my 6000# travel trailer. they are big wind sails so a strong crosswind can get interesting. I tow at 69-70 and get 8.5-10 depending on how flat the terrain is. tranny and engine temps. never get high at that speed and I am able to use cruise. the 8 speed is great and will compensate for the high gearing. the brakes are great on these trucks and first gear is very low so they get up to speed easily. I run more air in my tires when towing and I have added the Helwig sway bar and use a WDH. my truck only has 1324# cargo cap and I may be only a few hundred # below that when towing. cargo cap. is more of a limiting factor than towing capacity on these trucks.

 

[ErnieD]

my own view is that you will be kinda close to the max for it to be a good experience but it would work. my ram with 3.92 and carefully packed works kinda hard pulling my 6000# travel trailer. they are big wind sails so a strong crosswind can get interesting. I tow at 69-70 and get 8.5-10 depending on how flat the terrain is. tranny and engine temps. never get high at that speed and I am able to use cruise. the 8 speed is great and will compensate for the high gearing. the brakes are great on these trucks and first gear is very low so they get up to speed easily. I run more air in my tires when towing and I have added the Helwig sway bar and use a WDH. my truck only has 1324# cargo cap and I may be only a few hundred # below that when towing. cargo cap. is more of a limiting factor than towing capacity on these trucks.

Awesome thanks for the reply. The wind sail part is not my highest concern. Both our truck weigh nearly the same and the upgraded gear won’t make a difference in how the vehicle is being swayed or pushed, but I really appreciate your voice on the transmission gears with the higher end gear. I don’t plan on going as fast as you only because most of my camping will be going up hill to near 7000-9000 feet. So slow and easy it will be for me.

 

[Duluth Diesel]

Ok, I need some real world results. Please don’t post specs as I’ve researched the numbers over and over on what the RAM engineers have stated this trucks ratings are. Also I am a master certified truck tech, so I don’t need a lesson in horsepower or gear ratios. Below is my question :

Specific to the 3.21 gear trucks, what are some real world towing results you’ve had?

Max towing? Capabilities? MPG? Performance?

I really want to upgrade to the new Jayco 267BHSW with a GVWR of 7500#, which is 700 pounds below my max tow cap, anyone tow at limit? Even slightly above? I know you’re out there, please chime in!

Until recently, I had a 2017 Ram 1500 5.7 crew cab 4x4 with 2.92 gears. We then bought a fairly lightweight travel trailer (Grey Wolf 19sm). Max GVWR for that trailer is 7,000. I’ve owned many 2500 and 3500 trucks, and towed much longer and heavier things, so I feel like I’m very aware of the limitations of a 1500 truck. I wanted to set this 1500 up to handle it safely since we load the camper up pretty well and haul a bunch of gear in the bed under the topper.

Right off the bat, before even going to pick up the new camper, I upgraded the tires to a D old rating. I went with BFG All Terrain KO2 tires. The truck actually handled much better empty and loaded. The OE tires are a joke IMO.

Next I knew I’d need some serious load leveling to handle anything over 500 pounds tongue weight. I got an E2 hitch and am very impressed with it. I bought it online and set it up myself. It’s not hard and online instructions and videos are very good.

Hauling that load, 3 kids, gear, etc cross country I got about 10 mpg. The truck has the power to do it unless you’re in the mountains or at altitude. Then she struggled a bit. You don’t really use 7th or 8th. I ran tow/haul mode and limited it to 6th (1:1). It did ok. It just always felt like the 19sm trailer kinda kicked the truck around in windy conditions and I really had to ask a lot from the E2 hitch. Oh I bought the 10,000 E2 by the way.

I loved the truck. I’ve never had a 1500 that was such a good vehicle. It was my fourth Ram. I’ve now moved on to something that will handle my travel trailer much better. So much better that it’s not even funny. I picked up a 2019 Ram 2500 Mega Cab 6.4 with 3.73 gears and it runs circles around that 1500. So my final opinion for you is that your 1500 can do it with D range tires and a load leveling hitch. But a 26’ trailer is longer than I am towing, so you’ll likely have a lot of “tail wagging the dog” going on. It won’t be the most fun hauling that load. And you’ll have to load level the heck out of it to get it to sit flat. Airbags would also help but you still really need to distribute the weight. A 26’ trailer is a lot for a 1500 truck. Personally, I like all the unfair advantage I can get. Your 1500 can do it if you spend the money to set it up right, but even then it will never be a 2500 truck.

 

[ErnieD]

Until recently, I had a 2017 Ram 1500 5.7 crew cab 4x4 with 2.92 gears. We then bought a fairly lightweight travel trailer (Grey Wolf 19sm). Max GVWR for that trailer is 7,000. I’ve owned many 2500 and 3500 trucks, and towed much longer and heavier things, so I feel like I’m very aware of the limitations of a 1500 truck. I wanted to set this 1500 up to handle it safely since we load the camper up pretty well and haul a bunch of gear in the bed under the topper.

Right off the bat, before even going to pick up the new camper, I upgraded the tires to a D old rating. I went with BFG All Terrain KO2 tires. The truck actually handled much better empty and loaded. The OE tires are a joke IMO.

Next I knew I’d need some serious load leveling to handle anything over 500 pounds tongue weight. I got an E2 hitch and am very impressed with it. I bought it online and set it up myself. It’s not hard and online instructions and videos are very good.

Hauling that load, 3 kids, gear, etc cross country I got about 10 mpg. The truck has the power to do it unless you’re in the mountains or at altitude. Then she struggled a bit. You don’t really use 7th or 8th. I ran tow/haul mode and limited it to 6th (1:1). It did ok. It just always felt like the 19sm trailer kinda kicked the truck around in windy conditions and I really had to ask a lot from the E2 hitch. Oh I bought the 10,000 E2 by the way.

I loved the truck. I’ve never had a 1500 that was such a good vehicle. It was my fourth Ram. I’ve now moved on to something that will handle my travel trailer much better. So much better that it’s not even funny. I picked up a 2019 Ram 2500 Mega Cab 6.4 with 3.73 gears and it runs circles around that 1500. So my final opinion for you is that your 1500 can do it with D range tires and a load leveling hitch. But a 26’ trailer is longer than I am towing, so you’ll likely have a lot of “tail wagging the dog” going on. It won’t be the most fun hauling that load. And you’ll have to load level the heck out of it to get it to sit flat. Airbags would also help but you still really need to distribute the weight. A 26’ trailer is a lot for a 1500 truck. Personally, I like all the unfair advantage I can get. Your 1500 can do it if you spend the money to set it up right, but even then it will never be a 2500 truck.

Wow great info. I appreciate the reply. At the end of the day it isn’t the 7500 GVWR that concerns me so much as the giant wind sail it will create. I decided I’m going to keep my current PUP camper and not upgrade trailers until I upgrade my truck three years from now. I did add some things to my truck this month in preparation for maybe upgrading my trailer before I made this decision. I added 1000HD air bags, wireless one air compressor, Hellwig sway bar and already have the e2 fastway hitch. Only thing I haven’t done is tires since the Wrangler SR-A OEM tires are new. Only 8500 miles on them. When the west though I’ll go with a better set unless it’s time to upgrade the whole vehicle.

 

[Duluth Diesel]

Wow great info. I appreciate the reply. At the end of the day it isn’t the 7500 GVWR that concerns me so much as the giant wind sail it will create. I decided I’m going to keep my current PUP camper and not upgrade trailers until I upgrade my truck three years from now. I did add some things to my truck this month in preparation for maybe upgrading my trailer before I made this decision. I added 1000HD air bags, wireless one air compressor, Hellwig sway bar and already have the e2 fastway hitch. Only thing I haven’t done is tires since the Wrangler SR-A OEM tires are new. Only 8500 miles on them. When the west though I’ll go with a better set unless it’s time to upgrade the whole vehicle.

Good call! Bigger truck, then get what you really want.

 

[2019RamInSC]

I have used the same equal-i-zer brand hitch on 2 vehicle trailer combinations.
It is a 10,000/1,000 lbs unit.

When the hitch was set up PROPERLY! Properly being the operative word. I had no sway at all at my normal highway speed of 60 mph +. 18 wheelers had no effect. If I did not see them in my mirror or my permanently on rear view trailer camera, I would not know they were passing me.

The present trailer comes in at about 6900 lbs. The Ram tows it beautifully.
Stress free towing. Almost

Note: The RV dealer on our first rig screwed up the first installation. It was ******* terrible!

My point? A PROPERLY set up WDH with sway control works wonders!

 

[ErnieD]

I have used the same equal-i-zer brand hitch on 2 vehicle trailer combinations.
It is a 10,000/1,000 lbs unit.

When the hitch was set up PROPERLY! Properly being the operative word. I had no sway at all at my normal highway speed of 60 mph +. 18 wheelers had no effect. If I did not see them in my mirror or my permanently on rear view trailer camera, I would not know they were passing me.

The present trailer comes in at about 6900 lbs. The Ram tows it beautifully.
Stress free towing. Almost

Note: The RV dealer on our first rig screwed up the first installation. It was ******* terrible!

My point? A PROPERLY set up WDH with sway control works wonders!

Please tell me more. Is 6900 GVWR, or dry weight? Have you weighed it at a cat scale when you’re fully loaded and can you give me an idea of what that trailer and tongue weight was? Which trailer do you tow? Length?

 

[2019RamInSC]

Please tell me more. Is 6900 GVWR, or dry weight? Have you weighed it at a cat scale when you’re fully loaded and can you give me an idea of what that trailer and tongue weight was? Which trailer do you tow? Length?

6900 lbs (trailer) is based on the dry weight and what I know we carried in old trailer, which I weighed at scales. So very close. Tongue weight is 750 lbs. We tow a 2020 Surveyor 267RBS.
Hope this makes sense.

 

[ErnieD]

6900 lbs (trailer) is based on the dry weight and what I know we carried in old trailer, which I weighed at scales. So very close. Tongue weight is 750 lbs. We tow a 2020 Surveyor 267RBS.
Hope this makes sense.

Yea makes sense. After my upgrades to the 1/2 ton Ram, towing my 2020 Somerset pop up feels overkill. Lol. I added bags and a Hellwig bar. I didn’t even use my WDH hitch at was towing down the freeway at 75mph. Trucks and tractors passing me, zero sway.