Beef up or sell? 1500 Towing Capabilities

[1500Pulls]

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!

 

[RAM Patriot]

I had the same issue hauling a Travel Trailer with my truck.

I switched to an E rated tire as you have already suggested that makes a big difference, the next step that I took was to install a set of Timbren Suspension Enhancement System (DR1500DQ) which fixed the sagging issues. The final step was to install a Hellweg sway bar to replace the hollow factory bar. This planted the rear end of the truck and gave more stability to the ride.

If you implement these three changes I believe it will meet your needs.

 

[1500Pulls]

I had the same issue hauling a Travel Trailer with my truck.

I switched to an E rated tire as you have already suggested that makes a big difference, the next step that I took was to install a set of Timbren Suspension Enhancement System (DR1500DQ) which fixed the sagging issues. The final step was to install a Hellweg sway bar to replace the hollow factory bar. This planted the rear end of the truck and gave more stability to the ride.

If you implement these three changes I believe it will meet your needs.

Thanks, I appreciate that!

 

[dodgedifferent2]

I just did a swap from stock, but i added a leveling kit first (bilstein 5100).

The rear I added dobinsons 330-500 lbs coil springs. I have not hooked to my trailer yet, but I should have a 10000 lbs load to tow next week, possibly tomorrow. I take it slow and use the backroads to keep away from other traffic.

 

[Ramroo]

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!

Sell it and get a 3500.

 

[Eighty]

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!

If you're loading up a trailer to a total of 11,400 lbs, then what's the tongue weight? My guess is somewhere around 1400-1500 lbs. And how much weight is in the truck (driver, passengers, cargo)? I suspect you're upwards of 1800 lbs when you add everything together.
Now, what does the sticker on your door jamb say? It will list your actual payload capacity. I suspect you're exceeding the truck's payload capacity. AND, unless you're using a WDH, you have terrible weight distribution.

 

[kzielu]

You almost certainly are significantly exceeding payload on your truck - towing capacity on 1500 is basically irrelevant, they're always payload limited and no amount of beefing it up is going to help with it (in fact you're risking damaging frame/axle/whatever).