Is Fifth Wheel Towing possible with '21 RAM 2500 w/ Diesel

[Duece21]

Hi All, Hoping you guys and shed light on the current frustrating circumstance I find myself in in regards to the 2500 and payload.
Looking to upgrade our TT to a Fifth Wheel RV and the more research I do, the more I realize that my '21 RAM Laramie Diesel will not have to payload capacity to tow even these lower weight "Half-ton Towable" Fifth Wheels. The numbers on my truck show a payload of 2,190 lbs and a GVWR of 10,000 lbs. So I rolled a CAT scale today and now I have a 8,300 gross weight with adding 35's, Tool Box, Side Steps, car seats, full tank and myself (185 lbs). This leaves me with 1,700 lbs of payload.

The Fifth Wheels I am looking at are ~1,350 lb dry hitch weight. Doesn't leave much room for family (~210 lbs), Hitch (Anderson ~45 lbs) and the weight distributed to the pin once I add cargo to the trailer (1000lb cargo x 20% = 200 lbs).

I have looked at adding more weight behind the axels of the trailer to lighten my pin weight but that will be a moving target.

Do any of you have any suggestions on how to make this work with my current truck? Is payload as important as understanding your rear axel capacity? (Mine 6,040 lbs)

Any suggestions or experiences would be appreciated!!

 

[rule18]

Welcome to RamForum. There are members here that pull those "1/2 ton" 5ers, I'm sure they'll weigh in (sorry, couldn't resist).

 

[JerryETX]

Welcome! I don't think it's the end of the world if you're over payload a little with that truck. Main thing is to not exceed the axle weight rating. Check Texas laws but I'm not aware of any payload laws we have. You should be fine with those numbers. I would roll with em..

 

[Duece21]

Welcome to RamForum. There are members here that pull those "1/2 ton" 5ers, I'm sure they'll weigh in (sorry, couldn't resist).

Hahaha….good stuff. Yea hope they do!

 

[Duece21]

Welcome! I don't think it's the end of the world if you're over payload a little with that truck. Main thing is to not exceed the axle weight rating. Check Texas laws but I'm not aware of any payload laws we have. You should be fine with those numbers. I would roll with em..

Appreciate that. Will look into them. From what I have been reading, there are two very different thought processes on this.
Doing more reading just on this forum alone seems that there are a lot of folks in this same boat.
Appreciate the feedback.

 

[Dinky]

If your worried about weight. Drop the 5th wheel hitch convert to a goose neck hitch. You will shave lots of weight.

 

[tron67j]

Hi All, Hoping you guys and shed light on the current frustrating circumstance I find myself in in regards to the 2500 and payload.
Looking to upgrade our TT to a Fifth Wheel RV and the more research I do, the more I realize that my '21 RAM Laramie Diesel will not have to payload capacity to tow even these lower weight "Half-ton Towable" Fifth Wheels. The numbers on my truck show a payload of 2,190 lbs and a GVWR of 10,000 lbs. So I rolled a CAT scale today and now I have a 8,300 gross weight with adding 35's, Tool Box, Side Steps, car seats, full tank and myself (185 lbs). This leaves me with 1,700 lbs of payload.

The Fifth Wheels I am looking at are ~1,350 lb dry hitch weight. Doesn't leave much room for family (~210 lbs), Hitch (Anderson ~45 lbs) and the weight distributed to the pin once I add cargo to the trailer (1000lb cargo x 20% = 200 lbs).

I have looked at adding more weight behind the axels of the trailer to lighten my pin weight but that will be a moving target.

Do any of you have any suggestions on how to make this work with my current truck? Is payload as important as understanding your rear axel capacity? (Mine 6,040 lbs)

Any suggestions or experiences would be appreciated!!

Don't try to fix an overweight problem by adding weight behind trailer axles. Also, actually weigh dry pin weight of any trailer, never trust the specs because dealer added options aren't included in tag number. That will get your trailer swaying. Diesels certainly suck some of the capacity from a 2500 and you end up with all kinds of towing force that can't be used. Like the idea of going to a different hitch system to save weight. Maybe lose the tool box when towing to help. Good luck.

 

[Irishthreeper]

Great suggestion from Dinky about going with a goose. One other consideration with a 5W that isn’t mentioned much is overall height of your hitch. HD’s already sit pretty high and I assume your 35’s add to it. The result is you’ll see many 5W’s being pulled nose high, rather than being level. The box on my 5W allowed me to raise it 2 inches which helped a lot but I’m still a little high at the front. Frankly, your truck could handle that 5W easily, it’s just a matter of that dang 10K lb GVWR and I’m not smart enough to know how that was determined. But good luck and welcome to the forum!

 

[OC455]

Short of going back to factory size tires again, and removing the toolbox for towing, that might help. Not ideal for what you are looking to do probably.

 

[swapwap]

What’s your box size?

https://fifthwheelst.com/documents/ram/2021_RAM_2500_3500_HD_TowingChart.pdf

 

[Dinky]

I found this today when I was looking up my payload and towing on my new truck. Type your vin it and it gives you what your rated for.

Ram Towing | Find the Best Truck for Your Towing Needs

Find everything you need to know about Ram towing capacity, payload & more here. Discover the best Ram truck or van that fits your towing needs today.

www.ramtrucks.com

 

[Duece21]

If your worried about weight. Drop the 5th wheel hitch convert to a goose neck hitch. You will shave lots of weight.

Thanks Dinky...been looking into that and with that research there seems to be a concern with the gooseneck adaptors and putting excess strain on the frame. I did look at the Reese Goosebox but the 16K weighs in at 170lbs. Keeping the existing king pin and using the Anderson Hitch at only 35lbs will still be lighter by ~70lbs.

With that said, I am all ears if there is another alternative that won't affect a structural warranty.

 

[Duece21]

Great suggestion from Dinky about going with a goose. One other consideration with a 5W that isn’t mentioned much is overall height of your hitch. HD’s already sit pretty high and I assume your 35’s add to it. The result is you’ll see many 5W’s being pulled nose high, rather than being level. The box on my 5W allowed me to raise it 2 inches which helped a lot but I’m still a little high at the front. Frankly, your truck could handle that 5W easily, it’s just a matter of that dang 10K lb GVWR and I’m not smart enough to know how that was determined. But good luck and welcome to the forum!

Great insight Irishthereeper.......will keep that in mind when looking at these things!!

 

[Duece21]

Short of going back to factory size tires again, and removing the toolbox for towing, that might help. Not ideal for what you are looking to do probably.

Thanks OC455....I know the RidgeGrapplers weigh more but they also increase my capacity and are E rated. Did pull my tool box today and weighed it. If I did pull it, it would give me 100lbs of payload back. Not married to it so will probably pull her out to get every lb back I can.

 

[Duece21]

What’s your box size?

https://fifthwheelst.com/documents/ram/2021_RAM_2500_3500_HD_TowingChart.pdf

6' 4" Bed....Laramie.

 

[Duece21]

I found this today when I was looking up my payload and towing on my new truck. Type your vin it and it gives you what your rated for.

Ram Towing | Find the Best Truck for Your Towing Needs

Find everything you need to know about Ram towing capacity, payload & more here. Discover the best Ram truck or van that fits your towing needs today.

www.ramtrucks.com

Thanks Dinky.....Yes, started here and my output payload was 2,190lbs. When I went and weighed my truck full of diesel at that CAT scale, my truck was 8,300lbs. So apparently, I have added 490lbs of accessories on my truck. If I do pull my toolbox, I will get 100lbs back I found out today.

 

[Dinky]

@Duece21

Here is one way. You will still need a actual reciver to your frame but you won't need the big ass 5th wheel hitch on top of it. Just Google 5th wheel to goose neck all sorts of ideas.

https://www.etrailer.com/Gooseneck-and-Fifth-Wheel-Adapters/Convert-A-Ball/CAB-C5G.html?feed=npn&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Google%20%7C%20Shop%20-%20Gooseneck%20and%20Fifth%20Wheel%20Adapters&adgroupid=92297486800&campaignid=181934297&creative=411634353570&device=m&devicemodel=&feeditemid=&keyword=&loc_interest_ms=&loc_physical_ms=1024479&matchtype=&network=g&placement=&position=&gclid=Cj0KCQiAi9mPBhCJARIsAHchl1xj8yP1N39MVoj7HBgm81or-UjT5BTwVDChxRertwsmnphL-p-cC-waAgI2EALw_wcB

 

[OC455]

Thanks OC455....I know the RidgeGrapplers weigh more but they also increase my capacity and are E rated. Did pull my tool box today and weighed it. If I did pull it, it would give me 100lbs of payload back. Not married to it so will probably pull her out to get every lb back I can.

My only thing is, the truck isn't carrying the weight of those tires, so does it go against your payload? The OEM tires should be E-rated too, maybe the ones you put on have a higher load index.

 

[dhay13]

My only thing is, the truck isn't carrying the weight of those tires, so does it go against your payload? The OEM tires should be E-rated too, maybe the ones you put on have a higher load index.

Yes they still go against payload. Payload is GVWR minus actual weight so doesn't matter if it is sprung weight or unsprung weight

 

[Yukonbill]

Hi All, Hoping you guys and shed light on the current frustrating circumstance I find myself in in regards to the 2500 and payload.
Looking to upgrade our TT to a Fifth Wheel RV and the more research I do, the more I realize that my '21 RAM Laramie Diesel will not have to payload capacity to tow even these lower weight "Half-ton Towable" Fifth Wheels. The numbers on my truck show a payload of 2,190 lbs and a GVWR of 10,000 lbs. So I rolled a CAT scale today and now I have a 8,300 gross weight with adding 35's, Tool Box, Side Steps, car seats, full tank and myself (185 lbs). This leaves me with 1,700 lbs of payload.

The Fifth Wheels I am looking at are ~1,350 lb dry hitch weight. Doesn't leave much room for family (~210 lbs), Hitch (Anderson ~45 lbs) and the weight distributed to the pin once I add cargo to the trailer (1000lb cargo x 20% = 200 lbs).

I have looked at adding more weight behind the axels of the trailer to lighten my pin weight but that will be a moving target.

Do any of you have any suggestions on how to make this work with my current truck? Is payload as important as understanding your rear axel capacity? (Mine 6,040 lbs)

Any suggestions or experiences would be appreciated!!

Duece21,

I had a 2500 with diesel towing a 41’ Vengeance TH. Truck had 4:11‘s great when not pulling. If I had 3:42 i would of done better. Trailer dry weight 12500. We took both to weight. 850 overweight. Some would say its okay bc wt rating are overstated for product protection, but over weight is hard on the truck diffs and strain for engine. We upgraded to 3500 HO Diesel. Fully loaded (gas, H20, 2-bikes, everything beyond kitchen sink) we have plenty room to spare. Also, need to consider 2 or 3 axle. Keep us posted Yukonbill