Help with possible trailer purchase. Can I haul it? Wife wants to buy ASAP

[Qcman]

And I didn't say it would help the weight distribution did I I disagree my brother has a2020 ford 150 that pulls a 25' 5th wheel. and I pulled a ton of 5th wheels that are half ton towable. Keystone and forest river and Jayco all make 5th wheels that are half ton towable. But what do I know I have only pulled them for 5 years and about 100 campers a year from the factory.

I think the F150 has a payload about 800 lbs higher than a 1500 Ram iirc. So the half ton specs vary widely by truck manufacturer.

If I still had my F150 from work I wouldn’t be asking about what it can handle the problem is the coil spring Ram in particular.

 

[Qcman]

Just an update looking at this now in part due to its low tongue weight but also liked it when we saw it.

https://www.rvusa.com/rv-guide/2019-keystone-outback-ultra-lite-260uml-travel-trailer-specs-tr38097

 

[Black1500Ram]

I have the stock Good Year Wranglers on it which is what I assume you are referring to with a P rating?

Yes, stock our 1500 trucks come with passenger rated GoodForAYear SR-As (which absolutely suck IMO).

p275/60/20. They have very soft sidewalls and when weighed down, especially considering you’ll be close to max weight, will give a very washy / squirmy, swaying feel.

If you keep the truck for long term towing duty I would HIGHLY recommend getting at least C Load LT tires for the stiffer sidewalls.

 

[Dean2]

And I didn't say it would help the weight distribution did I I disagree my brother has a2020 ford 150 that pulls a 25' 5th wheel. and I pulled a ton of 5th wheels that are half ton towable. Keystone and forest river and Jayco all make 5th wheels that are half ton towable. But what do I know I have only pulled them for 5 years and about 100 campers a year from the factory.

I gave up arguing with people on the net. I say my piece, tell the truth, if they don't believe it or dont get it, tough nuggies. Like I have always said, never try to teach a pig to dance, it wastes your time and annoys the pig. You also can't convince a Heinz pickle that it is still just a cucumber.

 

[Tambay]

I tow a similar size trailer without any issue. You will definitely be close to your payload limit, perhaps slightly over on occasion, but that does not necessarily translate into a noticeable difference when towing. In addition to a properly set up weight distribution hitch, I have installed Bilstein 5100 shocks on my Ram 1500. It significantly improved the overall towing experience. The truck feels much more connected to the roadway and there is no porpoising whatsoever.

 

[turkeybird56]

I’m not trying to make it be the right or wrong answer. I get that you are using “safe” numbers. But I think they may be too safe perhaps . You have the hitch weight on a 600 lb tongue dry weight trailer increasing to 1140 if I were to go to the limit of 7600 lbs. That’s a 540 lb increase on the trailer hitch if I put the full 2000 lbs in the trailer. That’s a big increase for not much weight added to the trailer.

The truck doesn’t have a trailer hitch it seems the previous owner pulled it off oddly enough. So I need to buy whatever class hitch is needed of course. The trucks build list said it was built with a class III.

I have always said I would use a WDH at a minimum.

PUT on a Class IV Hitch, not (3),.

 

[Panduh]

Hi thx for this it is a pretty good comparison to where I’m looking into. I am learning through looking at trailers that I’m better to stay away from the stick and tin models since the fibreglass can be a fair bit lighter especially on the hitch to the truck. My axle is also rated at 3900. Does your 3.92 have the 8 or 6 speed trans?

8 speed.

 

[09SilverRam]

I think the F150 has a payload about 800 lbs higher than a 1500 Ram iirc. So the half ton specs vary widely by truck manufacturer.

If I still had my F150 from work I wouldn’t be asking about what it can handle the problem is the coil spring Ram in particular.

Ford has highly variable payload. You can get a very high payload with the HDPP package on an XL or a pre-2022 XLT. Like 2500 pounds on a super crew.

But a lariat or a platinum with power steps and a glass roof could be 1200 pounds.

 

[Qcman]

PUT on a Class IV Hitch, not (3),.

Yes that is the plan I was just noting on what the truck was delivered with.

 

[Dan Topp]

I see a few people talking about timbren or other springs or lt tires... my opinion is if you really need those things the load is too heavy. With a decent and properly adjusted weight distribution hitch sag should not be an issue and the std tires are rated to well over the rear axle rating.

That depends on how much you care about blinding drivers when your aim depends on the sag.I have LED.and the spring upgrade hasn’t affected the ride

 

[GTyankee]

From what i think that i understand ..

When any Pickup leaves the assembly line, the headlights are aimed before driving off of the assembly line.

The rear of the body is slightly lifted, so that when you toss 1,000 pounds of anything in the bed, the headlights are still within legal height tolerance.

Loaded the bed rails should be close to LEVEL.

If you hook up a trailer, using a WDH, ( Weight Distribution Hitch )
If you are connecting the Trailer using a WDH, shouldn't the bed rails be close to Level ?
That way, you should have enough weight on your Front Tires to properly Steer ?

chances are, that i just confused a bunch of people

 

[dhay13]

I mentioned my sons TT earlier. It was a 2018 Grand Design Imagine 2670MK. Advertised dry weight was 6700 and 690 tongue weight. All loaded up he was at 8100lbs with a GVWR on the trailer of about 8600lbs. His TW was 960lbs loaded. I would not want to try to tow anything bigger or heavier with a 1500. In fact for longer trips I would want a 2500 for this one. I towed it with both the 1500 and 2500. Also towed my step-sons 2020 GD Imagine 3250BH with my 2018 2500. Never tried it with a 1500 and wouldn't want to with that much TW. The water tank was partially full but TT was brand new and empty other than that. It weighed 9300lbs with 1200lbs TW. Both trailers were at about 12.5% TW and towed great. My son towed his over 9000lbs in 2 years with his 2500 and had no complaints or issues at all.

 

[Qcman]

I mentioned my son’s TT earlier. It was a 2018 Grand Design Imagine 2670MK. Advertised dry weight was 6700 and 690 tongue weight. All loaded up he was at 8100lbs with a GVWR on the trailer of about 8600lbs. His TW was 960lbs loaded. I would not want to try to tow anything bigger or heavier with a 1500. In fact for longer trips I would want a 2500 for this one. I towed it with both the 1500 and 2500. Also towed my step-sons 2020 GD Imagine 3250BH with my 2018 2500. Never tried it with a 1500 and wouldn't want to with that much TW. The water tank was partially full but TT was brand new and empty other than that. It weighed 9300lbs with 1200lbs TW. Both trailers were at about 12.5% TW and towed great. My son towed his over 9000lbs in 2 years with his 2500 and had no complaints or issues at all.

/S Those aren’t quite the right numbers for his tongue weight. You have to use 8600 x 0.15=1290 so a lot more than 960. /S

Joking aside that is about 1000 lbs more gross at least than I’m looking ( when I load the trailer) at and the 960 is about 130 more on the hitch. It’s encouraging that his 1500 was able to do that and gives me hope.

 

[CamperMike]

That depends on how much you care about blinding drivers when your aim depends on the sag.I have LED.and the spring upgrade hasn’t affected the ride

Air bags won't fix unloading the front. My headlights are aimed just fine when towing. And bags do not put weight back on the front axle either.

 

[lAWROSA]

My 2 cents. I towed all my life. I have same truck as you. Unfortunately I towed with chevys with leaf springs and they were stable as can be. Always had sumo springs. Now I bought the ram.. I towed two trailers one 30 ft and one 24 ft. Florida disney long haul 10 hours and gatlinburg.

What I can say is youll be in 5th gear or 6th. Which is fine. leave in TH mode is all so TQ converter locks in. Truck ran a little hot in the mountains pulling hills. 260F oil temps....

Nex is the squirrly rear end on the ram. I put sumo springs yellow and a hellawig sway bar first link.. That tightened the rear up.

WD hitch is a must. Put as many washers in there as you can to tilt the head back and find the right link until the bars are close to level. Thats the best your going to do.

any TW you see advertised and 200-300 lbs to it. I have been through scales on all my trailers . Ya want 10% or better.

Any camper with a slide will be heavy period. especially what your looking at..

I have had all coachmans or pumas as they were the lightest. No sides.

You may pull it if ya go heavy but why white knuckle it.. Trust me on this. I towed a 30 ft up in the maggie valley with 4 people bed fully loaded with a 2004 - 4 speed 5.3L silverado long bed. 3rd gear or second pulling hills. 1st gear up the mountains doing 20 mph almost floored... Ugg I shouldn't tell any of yall.. Also lost brakes coming down. They faded out on me.. well enough of that story

Get a 2500 would be my best advice. Or look for a lighter TW trailer.. 7500 max GVW loaded or lighter

These are good options.. Not sure your family size though..

This is the best towing trailer I ever owned. I ordered with the complete wall to isolate the master with a door. My family toursed the whole east coast for 3 months in that thing... Lots of fun.

Best I owned

2025 Catalina Summit Series 8 261BH Floorplan - Coachmen RV

Details, floorplan, specifications, and more about the 261BH floorplan Travel Trailers.

coachmenrv.com

I also had an old clipper model. Like this. This was one of my first models back in 2005 a little different floor plan though. I pulled it with an old 96 s10 ZR2 - 1996 with a 4.3. Those 4.3 motors made all their TQ @ 2800 rpm. So I was right in the TQ band when towing highway @65 mph.. No issues.

2025 Clipper Travel Trailers 26BH Floorplan - Coachmen RV

Details, floorplan, specifications, and more about the 26BH floorplan 5K Series.

coachmenrv.com

Hope this helps. sry for the typos. Im old..

edit... One last tid bit. I have the trans bypass installed. I never see trans temps over 160... ever. Got it from a guy on this site. Best 30 bucks and 15 min to install I ever spent

 

[Derwood]

I’ve been towing travel trailers for 30 years and my recommendation would be to get a 3/4 ton or larger truck or a smaller camper. Once your truck and camper that size is loaded for vacation the truck will struggle on hills and be very hard on the engine. My current 1500 crew cab with a Hemi only pulls a pop up camper, but I have owned campers that size and I towed them with a 1 ton truck.

 

[Forsakentalon]

Meh, go for it.

Had 2 1500's one with 4.7 and 3.55 rearend. Then a 5.7 with a 3.92 rearend.

Camper was 20ft. 3500 dry with 1250 cargo carrying capacity. Was advertised as 350 tongue weight. Wasn't until 3 years later did I finally weigh it and found with my gear I was at 1000 tongue weight.

My rams only had about 1250 hauling capacity. As they had ram boxes.

We went through plenty of hills getting to Yellowstone from the Midwest and the grand canyon.

We had a blast.

Stop thinking and worrying so much and go have some fun camping.

I recommend the recurve r3 or better weight distribution hitch.

But when the wind gets blowing hard pull over and wait it out. I've seen plenty of guys pass me only to be blown over with their F350s and 45ft travel trailers.

Being a professional means knowing when to get off the road.

Now hook up your camper and follow me!

 

[Dan Topp]

Air bags won't fix unloading the front. My headlights are aimed just fine when towing. And bags do not put weight back on the front axle either.

I missed the part about air bags I did +70%general coils because the original springs were weak and just a load of camping stuff in the 8’ bed would seriously affect the headlights.

 

[2003F350]

I just want to suggest something regarding the wdh. I’ve had a 12 sport, 18 sport and now a 24 Rebel gt. I was using a chain type wdh from Husky. Never could dial it in just right even with 1 then 2 sway controls on either side of it. Garbage. I have now towed twice up the Coquihalla hwy with a new Husky Centreline TS and it is solid as a rock. I went from white knuckling in higher winds to feeling nothing in winds or when being passed semi . There’s a number of wdh’s out there and you don’t need to spend ridiculous amounts of money on one, but dont get the cheap chain type ones that you install the sway control on to either side, like I did. Happy towing.

Odd, the chain style are actually my preference because your sway resistance isn't tied to how much weight you're adjusting, they're completely separate. I've been using them since I could drive, and before that helping my dad set one up on multiple vehicles. It takes a few seconds more to get it all hitched up, I think my record was 3 minutes from backing the ball under the coupler to having the ******** the ground and putting away the bar, but I was feeling spry that day and kept climbing over the hitch...walking around the truck takes a bit longer.

The key is to utilize all the features - the chain style typically have an adjustment for the head angle as well, which is where you 'fine tune' the distribution. I have ours set up so it is rock steady at 75 mph towing, not that I typically tow that fast (generally it's 65mph) but I want it steady if I need to use a bit more speed.

 

[nlambert182]

And I didn't say it would help the weight distribution did I I disagree my brother has a2020 ford 150 that pulls a 25' 5th wheel. and I pulled a ton of 5th wheels that are half ton towable. Keystone and forest river and Jayco all make 5th wheels that are half ton towable. But what do I know I have only pulled them for 5 years and about 100 campers a year from the factory.

You literally did. Scroll up.

"Air bags in the back to help control weight distribution"

Show me the numbers. It has been well proven that most half ton towable rigs aren't really half ton towable except in the rarest of cases with the rarest of trucks. Jayco nor Keystone make a true 1/2 ton towable fifth wheel that can be towed in the numbers with anything besides a base model, regular cab truck with the heavy duty tow package. I've had this discussion and proven it before. But... you're welcome to go run the numbers yourself.

I'm not going to get into an argument about it. Just because you've done it does not mean you've done it within the limits. You're hauling empty trailers, not loaded. If you want to post some real numbers then we can chat about it. Otherwise there's really no reason to continue the discussion.