GCWR losing my mind!

[Nicol]

ok -

A weight distribution hitch overkill for a 7500lb trailer and could "damage the truck??" Wow, whoever said that is really full of it. Weight distribution hitches are the only tried and true addition that are actually proven to allow you to safely pull more weight, and there are a thousand tests to back that up. And you'd have to be trying pretty hard to set one up in a way that possibly do any amount of miniscule damage.

ok - well they didn't have one and didn't seem interested in selling me one. said uhaul might have one if i was interested. is that an acceptable place to get one?

 

[mrack]

ok -

ok - well they didn't have one and didn't seem interested in selling me one. said uhaul might have one if i was interested. is that an acceptable place to get one?

Find whatever brand uhaul has and look it up online to make sure they're decent, but I wouldn't worry too much about brand right now. Without a WDH of some sort that truck will likely be sitting on the bumpstops and make for a real white-knuckler of a trip through the mountains.

 

[dhay13]

I would not trust a dealer for any towing advice. Most of them have less towing knowledge than the average person. Secondly, I'd highly recommend a weight distribution hitch and a trip to the CAT scales fully loaded. You can download an app for your phone. First weigh is like $12 and each additional at the same scale within like 24 hours is like $3 so for maybe $20 you can get it set up properly. A dealer can install it if you aren't comfortable then you can fine tune it at the CAT scale.
Most importantly, be sure the truck has trailer brakes. Without trailer brakes I'd be nervous towing it across town and I have tons of towing experience.
Weight wise you should be ok. You may be a little over but not by much if at all. When you do CAT scale it pay attention to GRAWR. This is the weight on your rear axle. Your truck is probably around 3900lbs max. Going over that can cause excessive wear on axles and bearings. Ballpark number is going to be about 900-1100lbs of tongue weight to put you at the GRAWR limit. If you have stuff loaded up in the bed of the truck then that tongue weight number will be reduced.

 

[Jas34]

The dealer you went to unfortunately doesn't know anything about towing. You absolutely need a weight distribution hitch for that truck and that load. Uhaul probably could install one. So could an RV dealer if you could get in. Or do it yourself (not rocket science). A lot of good ones out there... Equalizer and it's less expensive cousin Fastway E2 are good ones for a decent price and available at etrailer.com.

You will need to have the truck and the trailer together when you have it installed. Some parts go on the truck and some on the trailer. Then the hitch has to be adjusted for that particular trailer load. It helps to learn about the weight distribution hitch you choose and how to properly set it up yourself, as even the RV dealers who should know how to set these things up notoriously set them up wrong. Good luck!

 

[Harley Harrold]

 

[Nicol]

thank you all for your advice. I learned a lot. In the end she didn't go through almost any mountains (avoided them on purpose), didn't get a WDH - but we agree would have been a good idea, especially if going through mountains or wind. I came to think my truck can handle about 8000-10000. and she drove it there with no issues, dropped it and got home safely. it is really shocking how hard Dodge makes it to get this info. I think that's ridiculous. and unsafe! but they're not asking me!
Thanks again for all of your help. I learned a lot and would do it differently with more time.

 

[nlambert182]

It isn't a Ram issue... deciphering towing data is the same across the board. You just have to learn how to do the math. Unfortunately it isn't as intuitive as it should be. You can thank all manufacturer marketing departments for that.

 

[Fake-Account27]

I see she already safely made the trip which is great. For the future the payload capacity is really the limiting factor for towing.

6800 GVWR - 5780 dry truck weight - 150 for your daughter = 870 lbs of cargo capacity.

870/0.15 for the trailer tongue weight = 5800 lbs. So that's your realistic max tow rating. Even then a safe all the time setup would be under 5k.

 

[nlambert182]

I see she already safely made the trip which is great. For the future the payload capacity is really the limiting factor for towing.

6800 GVWR - 5780 dry truck weight - 150 for your daughter = 870 lbs of cargo capacity.

870/0.15 for the trailer tongue weight = 5800 lbs. So that's your realistic max tow rating. Even then a safe all the time setup would be under 5k.

To build on this... anything that was added to the truck after it left the manufacturer must also be subtracted. If you've added steps, a bed cover, a tool box, have anything else in the bed, etc... those weights should be subtracted from your cargo capacity.

At the end of the day a 1500 just isn't rated to tow very much nowadays. Folks will argue that they will physically do it, and often times they will for a while, but depending on how much you exceed the capacity, it's a crap shoot as to how long.