2017 Ram 1500 SLT, 5.7, 6-speed, 392gears, 4×4, CC, short bed. Bone stock. Seats six. Nothing fancy, no power seats, no heated seats, no sliding back window, no cd player. Fanciest thing my truck has are the side mirror defrosters! All that extra trim adds to your payload = less you can tow.
Max tow; 10,160lbs
Payload; 1240lbs
I could tow 10,000lbs, but I would have to completely empty my bed of all it's items, nor could I have any passengers! I wouldn't try, unless it was some type of emergency.
Two summers ago we rented a small R-Pod camper trailer, <4000lbs. B/c we rented the camper, we picked it up on our way out of town. So the bed of the truck was loaded, I mean loaded! Once rigged up, we did move some from the bed of the truck into the camper. Not much, but some.
I estimate I was right on the edge, possibly 50 - 100 lbs over my payload. Maybe even more?!? Wish I had time to hit the scales. W/a WDH, she towed great. I was really pleased w/it's performance. Fastest I ever hit was 70mph, and that was only to gain some momentum to climb hills.
One thing I will say, the truck rarely downshifted. Even on some good sized hills. W/the 6-speed, as soon as I engage tow/haul it locks out 6th gear. It was middle of summer, super hot. Encountered some strong crosswinds. Ran AC the whole trip. But, I do turn the AC off prior to pulling any hills. I got a touch over 13 mpg's, which I was happy with. Whenever we do it again, I will definitely p/u trailer first so I don't have to haul so much. Much easier to tow your weight as opposed to hauling it.
My $.02!