Max towing, for real...

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RAMblin_Man

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Hey guys, I've seen in the specs that my 2012 1500 ST 3.7L V6 2WD (recently bought, used) has a towing capacity of about 3800lbs. I've only towed a light 15' pontoon boat with it so far, but I have a 5th wheel travel trailer, and a guy at the local hitch shop told me my truck could tow the 5th wheel. I'd love for that to be true, but I'm skeptical. The 5th wheel camper weighs about 10,400lbs. Has anyone here tried towing that much weight with a vehicle like mine? How much is the max you have towed with it? Thanks.
 

Fake-Account27

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1. What does the payload sticker inside the driver door jam say?

Subtract your weight and the weight of any passengers from that number. Divide by 0.15 to get the max travel trailer you can tow and 0.2 for the max 5th wheel.

A 2500 gaser can tow a 10k 5th wheel railer, and some Diesels can, but not all. A 1500 does not have the payload for a 5th wheel, and the v6 does not have the power anyway.
 

dhay13

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^ agreed. That would be a tough task with any 1500 just due to payload but you are almost 3x your rated tow capacity.
Your payload is listed on the black/yellow sticker inside your drivers front door jamb. If the 5th wheel weighs 10,000 then you are probably looking at around 2000lbs pin weight, which will likely exceed or at least take up a large chunk of your payload. This will also most certainly put you over your max GRAWR (can be found on the black/white door jamb sticker). Also, be mindful of GCWR. From my quick search it looks like GCWR is 8500lbs-ish. That means truck and trailer combined can't exceed 8500. The trailer alone is over that. Realistically you need a 2500 to tow that big of a 5th wheel but many do it with a 1500 5.7 but likely are over many different weight capacities.
 

Travelin Ram

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Can it? Sure, just watch some YouTube videos of grossly overloaded trucks in third world countries. Or pulling fivers with VW Beetles.

Should you? Absolutely not. Don’t take any advice from that hitch guy. He’s dangerous.

Frankly this sounds like a troll post; it’s hard to imagine that anyone who already owns a fifth wheel could be so uninformed about what it takes to tow it.
 

Zoe Saldana

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Hey guys, I've seen in the specs that my 2012 1500 ST 3.7L V6 2WD (recently bought, used) has a towing capacity of about 3800lbs. I've only towed a light 15' pontoon boat with it so far, but I have a 5th wheel travel trailer, and a guy at the local hitch shop told me my truck could tow the 5th wheel. I'd love for that to be true, but I'm skeptical. The 5th wheel camper weighs about 10,400lbs. Has anyone here tried towing that much weight with a vehicle like mine? How much is the max you have towed with it? Thanks.

The fact is the 1500 and 2500 disels are really only good for grocery shopping.
 

crash68

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The fact is the 1500 and 2500 disels are really only good for grocery shopping.
Wrong thread if you thought this was the Humor section. Contrary to what a lot of the parrots on this forum like to spout, either one of those trucks are capable of a lot more than getting groceries.
 

nlambert182

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There are RARE circumstances where any 1500 should be towing a fifth wheel. Very rare.

Heck, a 2500 can quickly max out payload towing a fifth wheel if you aren't careful.

A 10,400 GVWR fifth wheel will carry a wet pin weight of somewhere in the 2,000 - 2,100 lb range. The payload capacity of the OPs truck will be somewhere between the 1,300-1,500 lb range if the stars align just right. Add in people and the weight of the hitch itself and it's far exceeded. I would tell the guy at the hitch shop to kick rocks. He clearly doesn't know what he's talking about.
 

Zoe Saldana

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There are RARE circumstances where any 1500 should be towing a fifth wheel. Very rare.

Heck, a 2500 can quickly max out payload towing a fifth wheel if you aren't careful.

A 10,400 GVWR fifth wheel will carry a wet pin weight of somewhere in the 2,000 - 2,100 lb range. The payload capacity of the OPs truck will be somewhere between the 1,300-1,500 lb range if the stars align just right. Add in people and the weight of the hitch itself and it's far exceeded. I would tell the guy at the hitch shop to kick rocks. He clearly doesn't know what he's talking about.

The hitch guy is a salesman - you can't trust salesmen - especially RV salesmen.
 

Zoe Saldana

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Hey guys, I've seen in the specs that my 2012 1500 ST 3.7L V6 2WD (recently bought, used) has a towing capacity of about 3800lbs. I've only towed a light 15' pontoon boat with it so far, but I have a 5th wheel travel trailer, and a guy at the local hitch shop told me my truck could tow the 5th wheel. I'd love for that to be true, but I'm skeptical. The 5th wheel camper weighs about 10,400lbs. Has anyone here tried towing that much weight with a vehicle like mine? How much is the max you have towed with it? Thanks.

+1500 your payload
-????? 5th wheel prep
-????? 5th wheel hitch
-????? people
-????? misc
-------------------
5th wheel pin weigh you can handle.

I found you a 5th wheel you can handle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Random_Walk

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I did see a 1500-towable 5th-wheel once... it was insanely tiny. I should note that I saw it rolled over on its side on Hwy OR-47 N alongside a tight-ish curve, after the old 5th-wheel hitch pranged one of its swivel pins...
 

ramffml

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Hey guys, I've seen in the specs that my 2012 1500 ST 3.7L V6 2WD (recently bought, used) has a towing capacity of about 3800lbs. I've only towed a light 15' pontoon boat with it so far, but I have a 5th wheel travel trailer, and a guy at the local hitch shop told me my truck could tow the 5th wheel. I'd love for that to be true, but I'm skeptical. The 5th wheel camper weighs about 10,400lbs. Has anyone here tried towing that much weight with a vehicle like mine? How much is the max you have towed with it? Thanks.

Your truck can pull: 3,800 lbs
Your trailer weighs: 10,400 lbs

Where exactly are you getting stuck with this question?
 

gofishn

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Hey guys, I've seen in the specs that my 2012 1500 ST 3.7L V6 2WD (recently bought, used) has a towing capacity of about 3800lbs. I've only towed a light 15' pontoon boat with it so far, but I have a 5th wheel travel trailer, and a guy at the local hitch shop told me my truck could tow the 5th wheel. I'd love for that to be true, but I'm skeptical. The 5th wheel camper weighs about 10,400lbs. Has anyone here tried towing that much weight with a vehicle like mine? How much is the max you have towed with it? Thanks.
No, youo truck cannot tow that 5th Wheel, nor any 5th Wheel, in Reality.

Additionally, the very fact you do not readily see this, for yourself, tells me, that you should be HIGHLY cautious, in whatever you tow, until you get both, more Knowledge AND, far more importantly, Experience.

Like a Dolly Parton asking if a size AAA Brass-iere, will fit.
Nope, Sorry, got too much, for that thing to handle, but please, do so try, we would all love to watch.
 

nlambert182

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All jokes aside.... I've actually been in rv parks multiple times where guys come in with a half ton truck and a fifth wheel. My curiosity got the best of me one time so I approached the neighbor to check out his setup.

2017-18ish F150, Crew Cab, 4wd Lariat. Pulling a Keystone Cougar "half-ton towable"fifth wheel. In the initial course of our conversation, he mentioned that my 3500 seemed a bit overkill for my fifth wheel. Mind you.... 2020 Coachmen Chaparral 392MBL. 43' long, 15,500 lbs loaded. Why not just use a 2500? Because it didn't have the payload. His answer.... just do what I did... Extra springs, airbags, etc... Make it tow more. I explained that adding all of those helpers doesn't make the truck tow more. It doesn't do anything to increase the weight the tires can handle, axles, brakes, cooling, etc... It's like getting a chihuahua on steroids where I could have just gotten a pit bull. He then asked if I ever had a problem with trans or engine cooling with my rig. Short answer... never. Not even towing up a 7% grade for miles. He was finding times where he would have to get out of the throttle because the truck was getting hot. Imagine that.

We sat around and chatted for quite the while and came back to the payload on his truck. "The RV salesman told me that I could tow this rig with ANY half ton pickup." I told him quite simply, salesmen lie. "But... the payload on my truck is 2,100 lbs. The hitch weight of my camper is 1,500 lbs, so I'm all good."


OP - take this example into serious consideration.

He thought he was within payload. So I took him to his door sticker. Actual payload on his door sticker was 1,684 lbs.
"But.... Ford says max payload is 2,100 lbs." MAX payload on a single cab, 2wd F150 XL was 2,100 lbs with the max tow package and one 150 lb passenger.

We proceeded to do some real math. He had his wife, his son, and their dog with them.
Dad - ~200 lbs (-150 lb for driver, so 50 lbs)
Mom - ~130 lbs
Son - ~130 lbs
Dog - ~30 lbs

Total passenger weight: 340 lbs
He was using a B&W slider hitch - 287 lbs (used to have the same one)
He had to get the B&W Gooseneck prep kit installed - 141 lbs

Remember that original payload number? 1684 lbs? Considering the weight of everything mentioned above, his available payload was 916 lbs BEFORE ever hooking to the rig. This rig was loaded to the hilt, so I would almost guarantee that he was overweight on the camper (but no way to tell in the park).

At a minimum he was almost 800 lbs overloaded. The truck just didn't have what he needed. But... the salesman told him he could do it so in his mind, there was no need to check for himself. In fairness, I learned this lesson the hard way myself once. It only took once.
 
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392DevilDog

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We seen a Nissan Titan one year sitting along the road. Not the HD one either. It was hooked to a 5th Wheel. I bet it towed like a dream until this day.

We saw the tires first, then around the turn the flashing lights of emergency crews.

Both rear wheels were sheared off at the lug nuts. The bed twisted and mangled, and I am sure if I could have heard...they said it would tow it just fine.

I avoid highways, I avoid popular weekends by traveling Thursday and Monday.

Why, because for the last 5 years I have been trying to spread common sense understanding of tow ratings.

And this type of gross overlook is why I stopped.

You can lead a horse to water. You can not make it drink.

This towing thing is not hard. It is simple math sprinkled with some common knowledge that is easy to obtain.

Yes, you can tow a very specific 5th wheel with a very specific 1500 truck.

The OPs setup is not it.
 

mtofell

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Ford (and maybe others) does/did make an "HD" version of the F150 that had a pretty impressive payload of well above 2500#. This is how many RV manufacturers can claim "1/2 Ton Towable" and whatnot. It's like everything with RV towing.... the truth is stretched to ridiculous levels. Sure, it's "possible" to tow a lot of things within spec. You just can't have any people in the truck or storage in the trailer. Basically, if you're an RV transporter.
 

392DevilDog

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Ford (and maybe others) does/did make an "HD" version of the F150 that had a pretty impressive payload of well above 2500#. This is how many RV manufacturers can claim "1/2 Ton Towable" and whatnot. It's like everything with RV towing.... the truth is stretched to ridiculous levels. Sure, it's "possible" to tow a lot of things within spec. You just can't have any people in the truck or storage in the trailer. Basically, if you're an RV transporter.
RAM's current "heavy" light duty tow machine is a 2wd quad cab with 5.7l Hemi eTorque and Dana Super 60 rear axle. I have been asking for 5 years to find someone who bought one...so far...crickets.

RAM also had this 1500HD truck.


But even these two would be hard pressed to do what the OP asked.
 
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