Hey Guys,
I have a small topsoil business here in the midwest (owner/operator) where we load out trucks for delivery. This year I'm thinking about doing residential deliveries as we've mostly been focused on construction needs offering triaxle deliveries with trucking partners. I have had a Ram 2500 6.7L Cummins, a Chevy 2500 6.7L gasser and more recently downsized into a Ram 1500 5.7L with 3.92 gearing. According to the Ram towing chart, I can tow up to 11.4k lbs.
I've been looking at picking up a 7x12 12k sure-trac dump trailer which has a weight of 3400 lbs and a payload capacity of 8500. Topsoil weighs roughly 2100 lbs dry so if I load out around 3.5-4 yards, I should be within my towing capacity.
Now I've tried this with the stock setup, and while I can pull, the sag is horrific. I've been looking into airride bags paired with some falcon tow/level shocks and swapping out the stock tires for some load range e Nitto Ridge Grappler 285/60/20 for strength.
I'm wondering if anyone has beefed up their 1500 with a 3.92 gearing and 5.7L engine to tow at capacity ?
I'd like to avoid having to sell the truck to go up to a 2500, the extra coin of $10k to go to a 6.4L or $20k to go to the 6.7L would only provide me the ability to tow an extra yard or two respectively. I do miss pulling a gooseneck vs a bumper pull, but I'm not sure what the residential demand is going to be yet so I was hoping to spend the $4-5k on upgrades and pickup a dump at $9k vs the alternative of $20-30k.
Curious if anyone pulls 11k with their 1500 and how well it performs. I dont need to be haulin @ss up mountains (which we dont have lol) I just need to get it there safely.
Thanks!
I have a small topsoil business here in the midwest (owner/operator) where we load out trucks for delivery. This year I'm thinking about doing residential deliveries as we've mostly been focused on construction needs offering triaxle deliveries with trucking partners. I have had a Ram 2500 6.7L Cummins, a Chevy 2500 6.7L gasser and more recently downsized into a Ram 1500 5.7L with 3.92 gearing. According to the Ram towing chart, I can tow up to 11.4k lbs.
I've been looking at picking up a 7x12 12k sure-trac dump trailer which has a weight of 3400 lbs and a payload capacity of 8500. Topsoil weighs roughly 2100 lbs dry so if I load out around 3.5-4 yards, I should be within my towing capacity.
Now I've tried this with the stock setup, and while I can pull, the sag is horrific. I've been looking into airride bags paired with some falcon tow/level shocks and swapping out the stock tires for some load range e Nitto Ridge Grappler 285/60/20 for strength.
I'm wondering if anyone has beefed up their 1500 with a 3.92 gearing and 5.7L engine to tow at capacity ?
I'd like to avoid having to sell the truck to go up to a 2500, the extra coin of $10k to go to a 6.4L or $20k to go to the 6.7L would only provide me the ability to tow an extra yard or two respectively. I do miss pulling a gooseneck vs a bumper pull, but I'm not sure what the residential demand is going to be yet so I was hoping to spend the $4-5k on upgrades and pickup a dump at $9k vs the alternative of $20-30k.
Curious if anyone pulls 11k with their 1500 and how well it performs. I dont need to be haulin @ss up mountains (which we dont have lol) I just need to get it there safely.
Thanks!