Ram 1500 v6 towing weight

[Charles Nails]

I am looking at purchasing a travel trailer. I have a Ram 1500 (2015) v6 4x4. I pull a 17ft skiff to fish out of and also a Polaris Ranger UTV to hunt with. From your experience, how heavy or long of a travel trailer would be fine for the Ram to pull and not overwork it? Any ideas and tips would be greatly appreciated

 

[Charles Nails]

I am looking at purchasing a travel trailer. I have a Ram 1500 (2015) v6 4x4. I pull a 17ft skiff to fish out of and also a Polaris Ranger UTV to hunt with. From your experience, how heavy or long of a travel trailer would be fine for the Ram to pull and not overwork it? Any ideas and tips would be greatly appreciated

 

[HDGoose]

Start with your drivers door frame stickers for the payload available on your truck. Different trailers tow differently. A 9000 boat is different than a 9000 camper. Do you have a tranny cooler?

On the travel trailer, plan on 10% of the trailer gross max for tongue weight.

Sale staff are there to sell, campers and vehicles. You need to determine what your truck is capable of, and stick to those weights.

There are many different configurations available for your truck, that no one here can tell you what your truck is capable of.

 

[crash68]

I am looking at purchasing a travel trailer. I have a Ram 1500 (2015) v6 4x4. I pull a 17ft skiff to fish out of and also a Polaris Ranger UTV to hunt with. From your experience, how heavy or long of a travel trailer would be fine for the Ram to pull and not overwork it? Any ideas and tips would be greatly appreciated

Which V6 gas or diesel? and what axle ratio do you have?
If you have the gas V6 with 3.21 gearing, your pretty much limited to a pop-up camper, about 4K gross. With the 3.55 gearing you up to about 7K gross.
If it is the EcoDiesel under the hood, your looking at 8K gross easily, I won't say to go over that as the Payload Police on this forum will whine like 2 yr olds. If your not familiar with towing, try not go much longer than the mid 20's, keep in mind that a 24' trailer is usually longer as the hitch is not included, it closer to 27' tip to tail.
Any trailer you buy that has > 5K GVWR, have the dealer include a Weight Distribution Hitch and learn how to set it up properly. The truck and trailer needs to be fully loaded for camping in order to properly set up a WDH.

 

[OC455]

Look at your payload/cargo capacity on your door jamb sticker (has yellow border) and then look up your VIN on the Ram Trucks website to find you towing capacity. Should give you a good idea what you would be able to tow.

The tongue weight of the trailer will get added on to cargo capacity. Then that will limit how much you carry plus who ever is going to ride with you.

Towing calculators help you figuring what is doable for towing.

TowCalculator.com

There are better RV towing calculators out there, but this one is decent. I can't find the link to the one that had the other variables optioned in. It was posted up here, but can't find it anymore.

 

[engineering]

Take a stroll through this thread.....

https://www.ramforum.com/threads/2015-pentastar-v6-towing-supercharger-success.171807/

Start with your drivers door frame stickers for the payload available on your truck. Different trailers tow differently. A 9000 boat is different than a 9000 camper. Do you have a tranny cooler?

On the travel trailer, plan on 10% of the trailer gross max for tongue weight.

Sale staff are there to sell, campers and vehicles. You need to determine what your truck is capable of, and stick to those weights.

There are many different configurations available for your truck, that no one here can tell you what your truck is capable of.

The stickers/specs tell you what is legal - not what the truck is capable of in my practical experience.


I have the same model in 2WD with a ~5000lb Micro Minnie. On flat ground....no problem. On any grade at all starts to reveal the serious torque limitations. Even seemingly modest hills put you at a fairly high-rpm and low gears. Slightly steeper than that and you end up going slow enough to be in the right lane with hazard lights on. All of this being under any maximum weight specifications. Essentially - the weight ratings are useless in the real world where you have wind and hills.

Some people are ok with continuous driving at 4500 rpm. I am not one of those people. If you are periodically pulling a trailer short distances at modest speeds - there is not much to talk about. With a travel trailer, that generally implies longer distances and a huge aerodynamic penalty. Longer distances can mean more difficult geography (hills/mountains) where the V6 is a terrible performer.

As you can see - I put a supercharger on my truck that added roughly 100ft/lbs of torque putting it in a place where a 5000lb trailer is rather comfortable even on fairly steep hills. Obviously, a supercharger is the nuclear option. Honestly, my experience with the installation keeps me from recommending Sprintex or Diablosport to anyone - but at least it is a far more capable truck in the end.

 

[HDGoose]

The stickers/specs tell you what is legal - not what the truck is capable of in my practical experience.

True. But isn't that a good starting point? What reference would you use?

 

[dhay13]

With the V6 I'd think you would run out of tow capacity before payload. Guessing tow capacity might be around 5000-6000lbs max so likely the most tongue weight you would see is about 800lbs or so. With a V6 you probably have at least 1400lbs payload so you would have quite a bit left. Also, brakes, suspension, etc should be fine since they are the same as the Hemi's with the much higher tow ratings. Either way you still want to stay under your maximums on everything

I can't help with the V6 question as I have no experience with those.

 

[engineering]

True. But isn't that a good starting point? What reference would you use?

It is a good starting point for ideal conditions. If you have expectations of hills and headwinds - you can start subtracting. Through various trucks I have owned over the years from SUV's to commercial - I have found that going past 60-70% of the manufactures ratings starts to reveal limitations that I personally don't like. Others have different views on limitations. When I found just how often I was in 3rd gear at 4500 rpm with 18 wheelers blasting by 20mph faster - I decided the V6 was not dealing with the 5000# trailer very well. It has plenty of HP but very anemic on the torque.

You may be in a somewhat flatter area and be totally ok with it. Driving from CA to TX is pretty flat - but I still had long stretches at high rpm.

I also had a bit too much squat in the rear and added Air Lift 1000HD's - small air bags that give more stability and confidence especially on winding roads.

 

[gfh77665]

There are other factors to consider.

1) Hills, mountains, or lack thereof
2) Driving style, aggressive or easy cruising?
3) Frequency of towing
4) Passenger and personal gear weight.

You get the idea. Pretty much the rated capacity, less passengers and gear, is safe. Especially if the towing is sporadic. There will be some extra wear, but nothing overly significant. The RAM is designed with hard work and hard play in mind. No need to overthink it, just tow & drive easy, and enjoy your truck. It's RAM tough!

 

[Charles Nails]

Thank all of you very much for your help!

 

[Charles Nails]

OK guys, here's the bad news for me. My gvwr = 6800lbs. my payload capacity = 1,545 lbs. I do have the 3.21 gears. With that said, I would rather have a smaller travel trailer than a pop up. What would be your advice as far as looking for the total weight of the trailer? Thanks again for your help

 

[csuder99]

What gearing does the truck have ? The standard 3.21 does not lend itself to travel trailer towing. I had a 2014 with 3.55 which was rated at 7200 lbs IIRC. Towing a Nash 17k it would tow pretty relaxed in the flats but climbing mountain grades the engine ran 5k+ RPM trying to go the speed limit. The basic problem with the engine is that the maximum power is over 6k RPM so even at 5k RPM only 250ish HP are on tap.

 

[csuder99]

The gearing limits you to ~4500 lbs. There are some single axle travel trailers in that range. The typical trailer axle is 3500 lbs plus some weight on the tongue.

See also my response in the other thread under V6 specific.

Edit: Looks like the threads got merged. See response above.

 

[KMKKOZ]

I had a rockwood mini lite that I loved, it was model 2304. Had a queen size bed, full kitchen and bath. Weighed 3200 dry. 23 ft, double axle. Probably perfectly sized for that truck. Towed amazingly easy.

 

[crash68]

I do have the 3.21 gears. With that said, I would rather have a smaller travel trailer than a pop up. What would be your advice as far as looking for the total weight of the trailer?

The rated tow weight with your engine/gearing combo is about 4500 lbs. The issue
is not only the weight but what most overlook is the wind load. How much frontage area the trailer has really will put a load on the truck and suck the fuel economy down.
My fishing boat is about 3200 lbs on the trailer, I'm usually up around 20 mpg towing that. When I tow a 24' enclosed car hauler which empty is 3K lbs, the fuel economy drops to about 16 mpg
Something to keep in mind while trailer shopping.

 

[csuder99]

I had a rockwood mini lite that I loved, it was model 2304. Had a queen size bed, full kitchen and bath. Weighed 3200 dry. 23 ft, double axle. Probably perfectly sized for that truck. Towed amazingly easy.

A word of caution for the OP: Don't get fooled by sales people quoting the dry weight and assuring that the truck can tow it. Propane, water, batteries, tools, hitch, camp chairs etc add up before even talking about dinnerware, food, clothing. Look at the GVWR of the trailer, if it has double axles it's likely 5000+ lbs.

 

[KMKKOZ]

A word of caution for the OP: Don't get fooled by sales people quoting the dry weight and assuring that the truck can tow it. Propane, water, batteries, tools, hitch, camp chairs etc add up before even talking about dinnerware, food, clothing. Look at the GVWR of the trailer, if it has double axles it's likely 5000+ lbs.

I weighed mine, the weight I quoted was accurate. But good to be cautious

 

[crash68]

Look at the GVWR of the trailer,

^^^ this
trailer will have a certification(VIN tag showing the GVWR, GAWR, manufacturer, etc. The plate is usually located around the front driver's(left) side of the trailer.
GVWR is the most the trailer is supposed to weigh.
On heavier trailers it's not uncommon to see the GAWR rating is less than the GVWR, the overage weight is intended on being carried by the tow vehicle.

 

[HDGoose]

Nevermind....


OP got answers