Hey everyone, I'm new here and new to towing in general. I bought a new RAM last year and now we're looking into travel trailers. I'm trying to determine what our realistic max trailer weight is. If it matters, we're a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 young kids). We're looking at travel trailers rather than 5th wheels due to the lighter weight of travel trailers in general. My specs:
Year: 2019
Make: RAM 1500 5.7L HEMI (Big Horn) 4x4
Bed: 6' 4"
Axle ratio: 3.21
GVWR: 7100 lbs
GCWR: 13900 lbs
Max trailer weight rating: 8220 lbs
I've attached my stickers along with a picture of the axle ratio. I had to crawl under the truck to determine the axle ratio - I couldn't find it anywhere in the original listing or paperwork. I was surprised (let's be honest, annoyed) to find that had I gone with the higher axle ratio (a decision I didn't even consciously make at the time) that I would have had a much better towing capacity. This is my own fault for not doing my research ahead of time and trusting the dealer when I mentioned "we will probably do some towing" (one of the reasons we bought the truck in the first place), so lesson learned there. We've considered biting the bullet and trading up to a bigger truck but instead we are going to pick up a cheaper travel trailer, get our feet wet, and perhaps later consider upgrading across the board.
I understand that I need to take into consideration the tongue weight so I'm not over my truck's GCWR. I also understand that most trailers publish their dry weight, and I need to account for whatever I'm hauling (water, propane, stuff, etc.). My biggest question is, how close to my max trailer weight rating can I get assuming I'm within my truck's GCWR? So far we've been limiting our search to travel trailers under 5000 lbs playing it safe, but I'm curious if I could bump that number up closer to 6500 lbs without issue. What do you guys think?
Cheers,
msal
Year: 2019
Make: RAM 1500 5.7L HEMI (Big Horn) 4x4
Bed: 6' 4"
Axle ratio: 3.21
GVWR: 7100 lbs
GCWR: 13900 lbs
Max trailer weight rating: 8220 lbs
I've attached my stickers along with a picture of the axle ratio. I had to crawl under the truck to determine the axle ratio - I couldn't find it anywhere in the original listing or paperwork. I was surprised (let's be honest, annoyed) to find that had I gone with the higher axle ratio (a decision I didn't even consciously make at the time) that I would have had a much better towing capacity. This is my own fault for not doing my research ahead of time and trusting the dealer when I mentioned "we will probably do some towing" (one of the reasons we bought the truck in the first place), so lesson learned there. We've considered biting the bullet and trading up to a bigger truck but instead we are going to pick up a cheaper travel trailer, get our feet wet, and perhaps later consider upgrading across the board.
I understand that I need to take into consideration the tongue weight so I'm not over my truck's GCWR. I also understand that most trailers publish their dry weight, and I need to account for whatever I'm hauling (water, propane, stuff, etc.). My biggest question is, how close to my max trailer weight rating can I get assuming I'm within my truck's GCWR? So far we've been limiting our search to travel trailers under 5000 lbs playing it safe, but I'm curious if I could bump that number up closer to 6500 lbs without issue. What do you guys think?
Cheers,
msal