Towing question about weight

[Mike_Rut]

Would trying to tow a camper that weighs about 7500 lbs ok with the bighorn quad cab 4wd v8? I know it is rated around 11400 but, in practical terms, is 7500 a sensible weight to try to tow?

 

[Firebird]

Half ton I assume?
What is your payload on your door jamb?
Bumper pull?
Do you know loaded tongue weight?

 

[14hemiexpress]

Along with what firebird asked what’s the length also? And is 7500lbs loaded or empty? Either way 7500lbs on a camper is a lot for a 1500 it’s not the total weight it’s the hitch weight and the size of sail you are dragging. Empty my trailer is 7100, 8200 loaded, 1100 on the hitch and 35 ball to bumper and I feel like it’s outside 1500 territory.

 

[Mike_Rut]

I think I'm confused about the numbers. I see these in the door jam.

GAWR Front: 3900lbs
GVWR: 7100 lbs
GAWR REAR: 4100 lbs

Is this telling me tat 7100 lbs is the most I can tow? If so, where does the 11400 figure I read come into play?

These are the camper specifications:

SPECIFICATIONS
Hitch Weight:
694 lb.
GVWR:
7600 lb.
UVW
5314 lb.
CCC
2286 lb.
Exterior Length:
25' 9"
Exterior Height:
11' 1"
Exterior Width:
96"
Fresh Water:
50.00 gal.
Gray Water:
35.00 gal.
Black Water:
35.00 gal.
Awning Size:
18'




Based on GVWR, it appears this is too heavy for my 1500.

 

[crash68]

GAWR Front: 3900lbs
GVWR: 7100 lbs
GAWR REAR: 4100 lbs


Based on GVWR, it appears this is too heavy for my 1500.

NO!! Just NO!

A vehicle's GVWR is the most that it's supposed to weigh. It's not how much you can tow, the truck and trailer together are your GCVWR.

That 7600 GVWR trailer your looking at will be fine behind your 1500. Pay attention to how it's loaded, set up your WDH properly. Best to run the truck over CAT scales to determine tongue weight % and how much the hitch needs to be adjusted.

GAWR: Gross Axle Weight Rating
GVWR: Gross Vehicle Weight Rating

I tow on occasion a trailer that 32' tip to tail that actual weight tips over 8K lbs behind my EcoDiesel. I don't fight it at all, it's one hand on the wheel stable and use the cruise most of the time.

 

[14hemiexpress]

I think I'm confused about the numbers. I see these in the door jam.

GAWR Front: 3900lbs
GVWR: 7100 lbs
GAWR REAR: 4100 lbs

Is this telling me tat 7100 lbs is the most I can tow? If so, where does the 11400 figure I read come into play?

These are the camper specifications:

SPECIFICATIONS
Hitch Weight:
694 lb.
GVWR:
7600 lb.
UVW
5314 lb.
CCC
2286 lb.
Exterior Length:
25' 9"
Exterior Height:
11' 1"
Exterior Width:
96"
Fresh Water:
50.00 gal.
Gray Water:
35.00 gal.
Black Water:
35.00 gal.
Awning Size:
18'




Based on GVWR, it appears this is too heavy for my 1500.

how far do you plan on towing?

basic numbers 5314 and 690 on the hitch empty. Once your loaded up your probably in the 6300 range ish. Let’s call it 13% weight on the hitch that puts you in the 820 range for hitch weight. 6300lb 26ft trailer with 820 on the hitch is 1/2 ton territory for sure. You just have to be careful what you load up in the truck. Most half tons have 13-1500lbs payload check your door Sticker where it shows Tire pressure at, it will say passengers and cargo not to exceed xxxx that’s your base payload. Let’s say you have the 1300 Payload 800-1300 that leaves you 500 to load up your truck to stay legal and that’s passengers firewood etc. the idea would be to load as much as possible in the camper. Make sure as crash stated get a good hitch and learn how to adjust it properly.

as far as the numbers on your door sticker that’s the gvw as crash stated it’s what your truck can weigh legally when loaded, and what each axle can handle. To know your actual towing capacity we would need to know your rear axle ratio, and what engine you have that will determine your gross carrying capacity. I try not to be the weight police if your close to where you camp and your super careful and smart can you push the numbers and get by sure. I hate to see people talked Into trailers by a salesmen that are to big to comfortably tow distance and have the worst white knuckled vacation that leaves you wanting to leave the trailer at the campsite for the return trip.

 

[dhay13]

When you hook up your trailer loaded as it will be when towing, and have everything in the truck that will normally be in there, you want to go to a CAT scale and get weights. With the trailer connected you want your front and rear axles to be less than that 7100lbs. Can you push those a little? Sure, if you are experienced and take it slow and careful. But you don't want your rear axle over that 4100 or your front over that 3900. My step-son has a 2020 Tundra and just bought a 2021 Grand Design Imagine 3250BH. GVWR on the TT is 10,200lbs. We towed it back with my 2018 2500 but he towed it from his house to his campground 15 miles away with his Tundra. Here is his CAT ticket. Pretty sure his rear axle max is also 4100lbs. Granted this is a much heavier TT but just to give you an idea of what to look for. He said it towed it great. I also added the ticket from when it was behind my truck. These were on the same day and the TT was loaded the same on both.

Oh, and when you calculate the weight you need to add the tongue weight to the trailer axles to get the actual trailer weight. His TT weighed 9300lbs but we had about 1100lbs tongue weight. TT was completely empty and his advertised tongue weight was 865lbs

 

[tron67j]

Put your VIN in here ,https://www.ramtrucks.com/towing/towing-guide.html you will get exact payload capacity for your truck at factory, including all fluids and 1 person maximum 150 pounds.

From the payload number subtract the extra weight for the first person over 150, the weight for all other passengers, any accessories you added like running boards, bed liner or cargo cover, and dealer options added as listed on your window sticker, and the weight of your WDH set including draw bar and sway/load bars. As you can see you will lose payload capacity fast. Whatever is left over can be used for trailer tongue weight. In my experience people will run out of payload long before they reach maximum GCWR. Good luck.

 

[14hemiexpress]

Also I want to elaborate a little more on gvw and the combined weights. 1500 crew cab weighs in anywhere from 5300-6000 empty depending on the options, 4x4 sunroom limited with ram box is going to be very heavy as a tradesman 2wd will be lighter. Let’s say your truck weighs in at 5500. 7100-5500 would leave you a payload of 1600lbs. Let’s say passengers weigh total of 500lbs and 300lbs of tools, chairs fishing poles and fire wood. Now your truck weighs 6300lbs. So if the camper is 6300 loaded and 800 on the hitch that means 800lbs gets added to truck upping the weight to 7100 maxing out your gross vehicle weight. Now for the combined. Gross combined weight is the total your truck and trailer combination can weigh. If you have the hemi 3.21 your gross combined weight is 13900lbs. If you have hemi 3.92 your gross combined weight would be 17000lbs. You take base truck weight minus gross combined weight gives you max towing. 13900-5500= 8400, 17000-5500=11500 that you were talking about. Your combo at 6300
Of passengers firewood and chairs plus 6300 of the trailer= 12600 witch is inside that 13900 of the 3.21 rear ratio. There is very seldom times that you will find a 1500 towing 11500 And not over loading the gvw of the truck that is because most trailer run 10-15% of there weight on the hitch and 12-13% seeming to be the most common. just the hitch weight alone maxes out the payload. I hope this helps and doesn’t make it more confusing. If you want to know where you stand get a full tank of gas go to a scale and get a weigh ticket. You will know your exact starting number. If you don’t know your rear axle ratio go to windowstickerlookup and enter your vin it’ll pull up your window sticker.

 

[Mike_Rut]

Thanks for your replies. Mine has the 3.92 diff with the non-etorque v8 engine. Checking that website it says my max payload is 1826 lbs and max towing is 11726 lbs.

 

[392DevilDog]

1 person maximum 150 pounds.

This allowance is not part of payload number. Payload is GVWR minus base weight.

Base weight is an empty truck with full fluids

 

[392DevilDog]

Thanks for your replies. Mine has the 3.92 diff with the non-etorque v8 engine. Checking that website it says my max payload is 1826 lbs and max towing is 11726 lbs.

You need to go down to the look up my vehicle tab and enter your VIN.

If You own the truck...it is right in your door jamb. Then you take 7100 minus payload to get base weight. Your 3.92 equipped Hemi has a GCWR of 17000lbs. So you take 17000 minus base weight.

Thia gives you what you can tow and load. You then have to subtract passengers gear and hitch to get to the trailer weight.

 

[392DevilDog]

Sorry @14hemiexpress did not see you already explained it.

 

[14hemiexpress]

Thanks for your replies. Mine has the 3.92 diff with the non-etorque v8 engine. Checking that website it says my max payload is 1826 lbs and max towing is 11726 lbs.

if that’s the case you must have a very light truck I’m going to guess 2wd quad cab slt “bighorn”? How close am I?

 

[392DevilDog]

Look. This is really easy. We explain this all the time. And everytime a bit of misinformation comes in.

If you do not own your truck you kinda got to use the towing charts. But you have to realize their limitations and the info they give is for a configuration in a tradesman trim. Options add up fast and quickly take away from capacity.

BUT, if you own your truck...you do not have to guess and fall victim to misreading, misinterpreted misinformation.

Go out to your truck. Your axle ratings GVWR and payload is right there.

Lets assume a 2020 crew cab 6 foot bed Hemi with 3.92

Your door jamb will show
GVWR of 7100
GAWR of 3900 front and 4100 rear
These 3 numbers do not change.

Payload will be different with each truck. Lets assume it says 1500

Now. You need the chart for one number only GCWR. GCWR for this truck is 17000.

So 7100 minus 1500 is 5600. This is base weight. Empty truck full fluids.

Then 17000 minus 5600 is 11400.

THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU CAN TOW.

This is everything you can add to your truck while towing.

This is the driver, passengers, cargo, hitch, tongue weight and trailer.

At this point you need to add your own numbers. Add you need to keep the truck under GVWR with tongue weight.

So lets say driver 200, passengers 400, WDH 100...for a total of 700lbs.

So 1500 minus 700 is 800lbs for tongue weight. At 13% for a camper that means a 6100lb camper.

Done. Easy peasy. No mistakes. No wrong information.

 

[Fake-Account27]

Without going into a ton of detail if you pack light, under 1000 lbs of cargo you are going to be right at the max payload of your truck. This assumes two adults, and 2 kids, and a basically empty bed. In fact you are not going to be able to use your bed at all.

I have a 2500 cummins with a 2200 lb payload capacity. I tow a longer trailer but with similar weight specs. With 2 adults, two kids, 2 dogs, and a few hundred lbs of stuff in the bed I am routinely at 2000 lbs of payload when factoring in the tongue weight.

Below is the data for a weekend trip. When I take longer trips in the summer I have to be careful about overloading the truck bed. Payload is at 1740 in this setup. Tongue weight is at somewhere between 800 and 950 lbs.

 

[392DevilDog]

Without going into a ton of detail if you pack light, under 1000 lbs of cargo you are going to be right at the max payload of your truck. This assumes two adults, and 2 kids, and a basically empty bed. In fact you are not going to be able to use your bed at all.

I have a 2500 cummins with a 2200 lb payload capacity. I tow a longer trailer but with similar weight specs. With 2 adults, two kids, 2 dogs, and a few hundred lbs of stuff in the bed I am routinely at 2000 lbs of payload when factoring in the tongue weight.

Below is the data for a weekend trip. When I take longer trips in the summer I have to be careful about overloading the truck bed. Payload is at 1740 in this setup. Tongue weight is at somewhere between 800 and 950 lbs.

View attachment 244440

I have similar payload needs.

I would love to see some scale slips of these 1500 trucks going to camp with a 34 footer 5 family members and a dog. Bed loaded with wood bikes and chairs grills etc.

I see your Cummins puts 500 more pounds to the axle. And I obviously have more of my load in the bed. This was family of 4, wood, bikes, kayaks

 

[runamuck]

if that’s the case you must have a very light truck I’m going to guess 2wd quad cab slt “bighorn”? How close am I?

my '19 laramie weighs 5776# so yours sounds kinda light. I only have 1324# of payload

 

[392DevilDog]

my '19 laramie weighs 5776# so yours sounds kinda light. I only have 1324# of payload

He went to the guide and not his door jamb or VIN lookup

Unless he has a 2wd quad cab tradesman

 

[tron67j]

This allowance is not part of payload number. Payload is GVWR minus base weight.

Base weight is an empty truck with full fluids

I th

This allowance is not part of payload number. Payload is GVWR minus base weight.

Base weight is an empty truck with full fluids

The base weight does include 150 pounds for a person, I learned that from information provided by other members here. So one does not have to decrease payload by all people in truck.