Short Distance Towing

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Jerigorn

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To start, my apologies if this question has been asked before, but I could not find anything on it. This summer I'm moving to Tampa (military). I am keeping my wife and son in North Carolina in our house, and the plan is for me to live in a travel trailer for at least a year, until they move down with me.

I'm going to buy the travel trailer local to the Tampa area since their have a much larger market, and so I don't have to drag it 10 hours. Digging into what I can tow, there are a few trailers I'm interested in that might slightly exceed my trucks limitations. Specs below:

2009 1500 4x4 5.7 3.55
Has Bilstein 5100 set at 2.5", which eliminates factory rake
Trailor brake controller and factory size tires

**Pulled these specs from 2010 as there's no change to hardware**
Max towing - 8400 lbs
Max payload - 1380 lbs
GCWR - 14,000 lbs

I bought bags of gravel for a landscaping project once, and didn't think they weighed as much as they did. Just the gravel was 2300lbs (after calculating), plus the weight of my wife, son, and me in the truck set the total to 2700 lbs, almost double the capacity. Thankfully I only had a 3 mile drive home.

I plan on adding the AirLift 1000 kit to help with the sag and counter the front lift. I'll also purchase a weight distribution hitch.

Digging into travel trailers there's obviously two different weights - Dry vs GVWR. As I'm looking at the used market, then it's anyone's guess on the actual weight since they've made modifications and swapped out furniture / appliances.

To sum up this long rant, do you think I would be fine pulling a trailer say 9000-9500 given these specs and future modifications? I'm looking at pulling 50 miles max and parking the thing for months. From there I would either sell the trailer or get a bigger truck.

Some say writing is therapeutic and promotes thought. I just had a though now that I typed all of this out, lol. Local truck rental (i.e. F-250s from Home Depot or moving company, either should be cheap). I guess if I go that route, then a hurricane would require me to move it with my ram.
 

lpennock

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You should be ok but check tire capacity. GAWR rear is usually your limiting factor and determined by tire ratings.

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JayLeonard

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Florida is flat. You won't have any problem IMO. There are also lots of people with big trucks that move trailers often (their business) and costs are cheap in Florida.
 

Ohio5pt7

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Florida is flat shouldn't be a issue but is there a reason you want a 9000 lb trailer? I have a 2017 forest river wildwood bunk house x-lite. Sleeps 10 ppl has a huge slide out dry is 5807 loaded is in the 7500 range. The weight isnt a issue but I can tell you imo being 30ft long and a sail I wouldnt want it to have anymore weight or length to throw the truck around in the wind. And I'm guessing a 9000 lb trailer is over 30ft. If you go with something that size here is my recommendation. E rated tires( will keep sidewall from swing side to side). I would do the airlift 5k bags because a 9k lb trailer is likely close to your max payload to start then I assume you'll be load up the bed. A weight distribution hitch with double sway bars. Another thing to note is if it's a 9k lb trailer try to find one that all of the storage is in the back to offset some of that tongue weight. @ 9k I'd bet your tongue weight is close 10 1k lbs. May want to see if your hitch can handle that my guess on a 09 likely not. My dad has a 09 silverado hd and I'm pretty sure his stock hitch is rated at like 900 tongue. All in all I think you would be better off buying a more expensive lighter trailer than a CHEAPER heavier one then trying to get your truck to handle it. JMHO.


Well **** just reread your post. If it's only 50 miles then parking disregard everything I said your fine just go slow lol. I would make sure your hitch is rated for it though hit a big bump and it's not and your new home may pass you.

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Jerigorn

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Ok, thanks for all the input. I'm running Falken AT3W's with a load rating of 2679, which should be fine. Does that mean my rear axle as a whole can support 5358 (doubled)? If so, that's well above the GAWR for that axle (3900lbs).

Even a 900 lb hitch weight is well below my payload capacity of 1380 lbs (minus myself and a few items in the cab).

Rear axle weight 2298 + hitch 900 = 3198. Again under the 3900 limit.

Sorry, this thread has turned into my brain calculating all the numbers, but it might help others as well.
 

Ohio5pt7

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Ok, thanks for all the input. I'm running Falken AT3W's with a load rating of 2679, which should be fine. Does that mean my rear axle as a whole can support 5358 (doubled)? If so, that's well above the GAWR for that axle (3900lbs).

Even a 900 lb hitch weight is well below my payload capacity of 1380 lbs (minus myself and a few items in the cab).

Rear axle weight 2298 + hitch 900 = 3198. Again under the 3900 limit.

Sorry, this thread has turned into my brain calculating all the numbers, but it might help others as well.
Even though you have better tires legally your rating is the same as stock. My point about hitch weight/ tongue weight is that your hitch likely isnt rated for something with that much tongue weight. If let's say the tongue weight of the trailer is 1k lbs then you ad the wdh hitch set up 70ish lbs then let's say they fill up 2 propane tanks for you 100lbs your now about 1200lb tongue. My worry wouldnt be the squat at that point. I've seen trailers rip the hitch off the truck and at 130% of the rating I'd say it may be pushing it. And if it would happen not saying it would no insurance would cover it. Honestly to be the safest and itll cost you less than 100 bucks rent a 2500 from turo or go to uhaul and rent one of their big trucks. Not saying anything would happen but I would hate to see anything happen to your truck or trailer over 50 miles and 100bucks because a trailer that size exceeds every limit of your truck so insurance wouldnt cover anything in a crappy situation.

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sandawilliams

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To start, my apologies if this question has been asked before, but I could not find anything on it. This summer I'm moving to Tampa (military). I am keeping my wife and son in North Carolina in our house, and the plan is for me to live in a travel trailer for at least a year, until they move down with me.

I'm going to buy the travel trailer local to the Tampa area since their have a much larger market, and so I don't have to drag it 10 hours. Digging into what I can tow, there are a few trailers I'm interested in that might slightly exceed my trucks limitations. Specs below:

2009 1500 4x4 5.7 3.55
Has Bilstein 5100 set at 2.5", which eliminates factory rake
Trailor brake controller and factory size tires

**Pulled these specs from 2010 as there's no change to hardware**
Max towing - 8400 lbs
Max payload - 1380 lbs
GCWR - 14,000 lbs

I bought bags of gravel for a landscaping project once, and didn't think they weighed as much as they did. Just the gravel was 2300lbs (after calculating), plus the weight of my wife, son, and me in the truck set the total to 2700 lbs, almost double the capacity. Thankfully I only had a 3 mile drive home.

I plan on adding the AirLift 1000 kit to help with the sag and counter the front lift. I'll also purchase a weight distribution hitch.

Digging into travel trailers there's obviously two different weights - Dry vs GVWR. As I'm looking at the used market, then it's anyone's guess on the actual weight since they've made modifications and swapped out furniture / appliances.

To sum up this long rant, do you think I would be fine pulling a trailer say 9000-9500 given these specs and future modifications? I'm looking at pulling 50 miles max and parking the thing for months. From there I would either sell the trailer or get a bigger truck.

Some say writing is therapeutic and promotes thought. I just had a though now that I typed all of this out, lol. Local truck rental (i.e. F-250s from Home Depot or moving company, either should be cheap). I guess if I go that route, then a hurricane would require me to move it with my ram.

Why not just have the seller tow your trailer to the site?
 

Ohio5pt7

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Why not just have the seller tow your trailer to the site?
Or this if it's an option I know where I bought mine it was a option.

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Jerigorn

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Couldn't agree with you more (last several posts). That's probably the route I'll go with, use another truck larger than mine to move it. Again, all of this is hypothetical, I might purchase a trailer much smaller in the long run. Can't thank you guys enough.
 

68PowerWagon

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You should be fine. Just take it slow & easy. Now if you were doing this 6-8 times a year in a different landscape then I would say you are pushing it.
 

dhay13

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My step-father used to tow his 9000lb 5th wheel with both his 2011 and 2014 1500 Rams with 3.92s. Said power wise it was fine but he was nervous about it. But then again he doesn't like towing anything.

I towed my son's 2018 Grand Design Imagine with my 2013 1500 Hemi 3.55s about 200 miles each way and it was fine. His camper has 2 slides and has a dry weight of 6500lbs. On the way back there was probably another 500-1000lbs of stuff in it but all tanks were empty. I was using his Husky Centerline TS WDH. Got a little sway when trucks went by but I just kept an eye on my mirrors and slowed a little when I saw them coming. Nothing that made me pucker but something to be aware of. But just as an FYI he towed that same camper 1500 miles and back with his 2018 2500 Ram and said it still swayed a little when trucks went by. For all the further you are going just take your time and be aware of your surroundings.
 

Mountaineer83

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Most RV dealers will deliver your unit to you. I was living in a campground in Georgia and traded up to a 5th wheel in Jacksonville.

One dealer was going to deliver the trailer to me if I wanted, so I would check that as an option. If you decide to get something bigger.

And trust me, think about the layout for yourself, PLUS the sleeping arrangements while your family or anyone comes to visit. My TT got small really quickly with more than just me in it. It wasnt the beat layout for sleeping more than two people.

I'd also consider something with comfortable seating for you, bit just a standard couch. They aren't comfortable for living. I did it for 9 months, so any questions let me know! Maybe my mistakes can help someone else out.
 
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