How well will my truck tow?

[jljbtm]

According to the chart I Harrell 79 posted It should be able to handle 9700 pounds. My door jamb sticker says GVWR 6800?

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[MANual_puller]

According to the chart I Harrell 79 posted It should be able to handle 9700 pounds. My door jamb sticker says GVWR 6800?

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Gvwr of the power unit is weight of truck, occupants, gear and "tongue weight" of the trailer on the truck axles. You can tow more than the gvwr because some of the weight is on the trailer axles.

 

[15ramrt]

According to the chart I Harrell 79 posted It should be able to handle 9700 pounds. My door jamb sticker says GVWR 6800?

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please dont take offense to this but by your posts and questions, it sounds like towing and trailers are somewhat new to you.

9700lbs is A LOT of weight for our 1500's. properly set up (weight distribution hitch, air bags, good brake controller) equipped with an experienced driver, the truck could pull the weight but youre getting extremely close to your limits.

you also need to keep in mind how you load your gear in the vehicle and trailer. duffle bags, groceries, camping gear all has weight to it and depending how you throw your stuff into the bed of the truck or in your trailer can affect how it tows.

have you put any thought into where the water tanks are placed on the trailer? not all trailers are built the same and believe it or not there are trailers out there built with their tanks in the front of the trailer instead of over the axles. if your tanks are upfront, thats more tongue weight than a 1500's capacity.

a lot of food for thought. if you have any doubts, go with a smaller trailer. it'll be much easier to use and tow.

 

[RubberFrog]

^its too much weight for a 1500

That trailer will push the truck all over the road. One panic stop and people die.

 

[15ramrt]

^if in fact OP's truck has a tow rating of 9750 (according to the chart posted previously) and youre comparing numbers, technically no, its not too much weight. as dramatic as your post is, i dont disagree with you though.

the facts are this. by his questions, jljbtm does not understand the difference between GVWR and towing capacity. considering this, he would not be able to tell us accurately what his tow rating is. hence why i said, "if you have any doubts, buy a smaller trailer." how much smaller of a trailer is a whole other conversation.

 

[14hemiexpress]

To simplify this I would tell you to much trailer. Your truck is a larmie with 6800lb gross vehicle weight witch means your truck can't weigh more than 6800 lbs. A 2wd larmie would weigh is around 5500lbs giving you about 12-1300lbs of payload. There is a sticker on your door that gives you exact payload, it is where the tire pressure is. So if you have a 9000lb trailer you want 10-15% on the hitch that's 900-1350lbs now you have to add everything in your cab. Yourself the family the dogs any wood for fires tools ect. That easily puts you over your gvw the trailer alone may do that plus empty toyhaulers are tounge heavy until they are loaded, they are hard to find thats actually reasonable for a 1/2 to pull. Back to the actual size of the trailer. 27ft 9000lbs is going to be a hand full on standard load tires and such soft suspension. Personally I'm not sure how many 4 wheelers you plan on pulling or the size of group that will be camping with you I would go down to a 24-25 ft with gross closer to 7k if you can make all of your toys fit in there.

 

[RubberFrog]

^if in fact OP's truck has a tow rating of 9750 (according to the chart posted previously) and youre comparing numbers, technically no, its not too much weight. as dramatic as your post is, i dont disagree with you though.

the facts are this. by his questions, jljbtm does not understand the difference between GVWR and towing capacity. considering this, he would not be able to tell us accurately what his tow rating is. hence why i said, "if you have any doubts, buy a smaller trailer." how much smaller of a trailer is a whole other conversation.

It's too much trailer. Period. It's. It's not about how much weight you can pull in a straight line on level ground. It's about how much weight you can stop in an emergency while going down hill. The trailer will push that little half ton all over the road.

 

[15ramrt]

It's too much trailer. Period. It's. It's not about how much weight you can pull in a straight line on level ground. It's about how much weight you can stop in an emergency while going down hill. The trailer will push that little half ton all over the road.

i think youre missing the point of what i was saying. im fully aware of all the components involved with towing. my point was simply if the tow rating of the truck is rated at 9750 and the trailer is 9700 then by the numbers, youre not exceeding capacity. when the engineers designed our trucks they didnt design the truck to pull 9750lbs but only have the capabilities to stop 6500lbs. if your trucks tow rating is 9750lbs then your truck can also stop it.

 

[14hemiexpress]

i think youre missing the point of what i was saying. im fully aware of all the components involved with towing. my point was simply if the truck is rated at 9750 and the trailer is 9700 then by the numbers, youre not exceeding capacity.

You can in fact overload payload without exceeding towing capacity. Easy to do on a 1500.

 

[15ramrt]

You can in fact overload payload without exceeding towing capacity. Easy to do on a 1500.

payload and tow rating are two separate things. at no point did i mention payload. the OP's question was regarding how much he could tow.

 

[14hemiexpress]

payload and tow rating are two separate things. at no point did i mention payload. the OP's question was regarding how much he could tow.

Towing and payload may be separate things but they do go hand in hand. Technically speaking the truck will pull 9500 lbs if it's on a trailer that tounge light but it won't be a stable load. Untill you have pulled a trailer to big or heavy for your truck you won't understand. I did it along time ago and I had plenty of engine but not enough truck. That was a very stressful ride.

 

[RubberFrog]

i think youre missing the point of what i was saying. im fully aware of all the components involved with towing. my point was simply if the tow rating of the truck is rated at 9750 and the trailer is 9700 then by the numbers, youre not exceeding capacity. when the engineers designed our trucks they didnt design the truck to pull 9750lbs but only have the capabilities to stop 6500lbs. if your trucks tow rating is 9750lbs then your truck can also stop it.

I didn't miss the point.

I'm speaking from experience. I drove OTR for years, as well as having pulled plenty of trailers with both 1/2 and 3/4 ton. You're speaking hypothetically and not appreciating the correlation between tongue weight and trailer weight.

 

[15ramrt]

I didn't miss the point.

I'm speaking from experience. I drove OTR for years, as well as having pulled plenty of trailers with both 1/2 and 3/4 ton. You're speaking hypothetically and not appreciating the correlation between tongue weight and trailer weight.

im not speaking hypothetical, numbers are numbers. whats hypothetical were your previous posts about panic situations and people dying. i too am speaking from experince. i never mentioned the correlation between tongue weight and trailer weight because thats not what the OP was asking and i didnt want it to get confusing with the details.

 

[Farmer Fran]

It's too much trailer. Period. It's. It's not about how much weight you can pull in a straight line on level ground. It's about how much weight you can stop in an emergency while going down hill. The trailer will push that little half ton all over the road.

STRICTLY TALKING STOPPING

Every TT in that range, I have ever seen, will have its own brakes. Properly set up it will stop just fine. My TT can stop my truck if I crank up the gain. It is all about properly setting up the gain.

I am not saying if he should or should not tow that trailer as I am not standing there looking at his setup. But to blanket and say it will push his truck all over the place is just downright ignorant.

 

[RubberFrog]

You guys are right. I recommend he buy the biggest trailer and push it to the max.

 

[barr0208]

right on just like the 1 ton duallys pulling 43 foot fifth wheels that are 3.5 times the weight of the tv hell yeah

 

[develand]

You guys are right. I recommend he buy the biggest trailer and push it to the max.

Can't argue with some people. They just need to experience it for themselves. Amazing how many overloaded vehicles you see. But the truck is rated for more then this trailer so I am ok.......... joke.

When considering the trailer that side, stopping and starting isn't the only thing to think. A good sidewind can blow an 80,000 lb truck all over. So you get a huge trailer with a small truck, add in the fact the trailer weighs more then the tow vehicle, the truck WILL go where ever the trailer does.

 

[blrmkrl83]

I'm going to use my truck as an example and you can make your own decision on that trailer. I have an '11 QC 4x4 3.92 gear and LT275/70R17 tires. The GVWR is 6700, GCWR is 15,500. Payload is listed as 1610 and max trailer wight is listed as 10,050.

With 265lbs of me, 32 gallons of gas, and maybe a little over 100lbs of crap in the truck it weighs 6080(3420 front, 2660 rear). With my trailer hooked up my truck went up to 6760(3420 front, 3340 rear). The trailer was 6140 on the axles. It added up to 12,900 total weight.

So lets take a look at the numbers. The trailer(30' overall TT) at 6820 is well under the max trailer rating. However at 6760 I am over my GVWR. Legally probably a big deal. Ability wise it's not. The GAWR on the rear is 3900 so I'm still under that. With a trailer a couple thousand heavier you should have about another 200 on the truck.

On to my story of hooking up the camper. When I got my truck I moved my ball 1 hole higher(quit snickering) and hooked the weight distributing hitch the same as my last truck. That thing was all over the place when I pulled it. I adjusted things 2 or 3 more times until I got it set right. Now it pulls like a dream. I pulled it about 175 miles twice in the last 2 weeks and didn't use my sway control. It still pulled fine. I couldn't even tell it wasn't on.

Setting the brake controller is next thing. This is an incredibly important part of pulling a trailer that heavy. As far as braking the trailer will stop itself when set right. Go through the steps to do this. When it's been sitting a while check the settings again. You'll probably need to drag the brakes a bit to clean the drums and shoes.

I hope this helps you. I didn't want to just tell you that trailer will or won't be fine. I do think the truck is capable of pulling it if everything is set correctly. If you don't have much experience pulling trailers I would be a little hesitant though. Don't get in a hurry, look plenty far ahead, and pay attention to everything. The big issue would be a potential legal one if you're over your weight ratings. Good luck.

 

[novelmike]

Good review! I am looking at trailers that will be right around 7000-7500lbs loaded. I am always sooo confused when guys say thats too heavy for my truck. Even though my Ram is rated for 10,000lbs.
Either their truck is not setup properly, or ????

 

[mtofell]

I am always sooo confused

The part of the door sticker that says "payload" will clear things right up