Newbie buying truck and TT

[rutherfordk]

Hey everyone, I have to admit this forum has been immensely helpful. We are in the market for a new truck and travel trailer. I have read through virtually every thread here but I still find things a bit overwhelming so was hoping for input to help my shopping.

For a travel trailer we mare looking for a trailer with bunkhouse to give the kids their own area and the ones we like range from 32-35’ long and the heaviest has a dry weight of 7050lbs and a tongue weight of 830

I strongly prefer getting a 1500 (specifically the sport model) for every day driving and the extra rear seat legroom over the 2500. I’d be looking at the hemi with 1.92 I don’t want to try and fit a square peg in a round hole but with spending this much money I want to ensure weget something that is safe and will work for our needs/wants.

i know the 2500 will definitely pull a bunkhouse travel trailer better but with looking at the lighter keystone bullet/outlook options is 7000# trailer with 830# tongue weight something the 1500 can realistically pull within its limits?

 

[Rebelguy2020]

Hey everyone, I have to admit this forum has been immensely helpful. We are in the market for a new truck and travel trailer. I have read through virtually every thread here but I still find things a bit overwhelming so was hoping for input to help my shopping.

For a travel trailer we mare looking for a trailer with bunkhouse to give the kids their own area and the ones we like range from 32-35’ long and the heaviest has a dry weight of 7050lbs and a tongue weight of 830

I strongly prefer getting a 1500 (specifically the sport model) for every day driving and the extra rear seat legroom over the 2500. I’d be looking at the hemi with 1.92 I don’t want to try and fit a square peg in a round hole but with spending this much money I want to ensure weget something that is safe and will work for our needs/wants.

i know the 2500 will definitely pull a bunkhouse travel trailer better but with looking at the lighter keystone bullet/outlook options is 7000# trailer with 830# tongue weight something the 1500 can realistically pull within its limits?

Things to consider when buying your truck, you can get the towing package, brake controller, class 4 hitch, towing mirrors, transmission cooler, 10 ply tires and you will require a weight distribution hitch to help balance the tongue weight. On my last 2 trucks I added the Airlift 1000HD, they are air bags that go into the rear coil springs, just add air before putting weight to the bed or to the hitch. As far as being able to tow that weight, you are approaching the limit of the truck but sounds like you would still be under 10,000 lbs. with the extra cargo, the Hemi can handle that weight. Are you looking to buy the classic Ram or the DT model, the new model has 6 studs to the rims and have a higher weight rating. My 2011 Ram crew cab Ousdoorsman 5.7 Hemi with the towing package was rated at 10,050 lbs. max towing. I pulled my 29 foot older travel trailer that was 7,800lbs, the truck only had a 5 speed transmission back then, it pulled it with no issues, but keep in mind that it was slow to get to highway speed and I did not go faster than 60mph, it sucked the gas at that speed, a lot less gas at 50 mph. My new truck, a 2020 Rebel crew cab 3L V6 diesel, the same 3.92 rear axle ratio, it is rated for 9,750lbs towing, it tows the trailer with less effort because of the 8 speed transmission and 480 lb/ft of torque, the same truck with the Hemi is rated at 11,340lbs. Personally I have no regrets buying the diesel, it is so good on fuel compared to my 2011 Hemi, I get the same mpg with my diesel while towing a 5000lbs flatbed trailer than my old Hemi with no trailer. In Canada you cannot get the diesel with the base trucks, you have to step up to the Rebel, Laramie or higher. In the USA you can get the diesel in all the models, even in the base Tradesman. As a bonus for me way up in northern Ontario Canada the diesel is cheaper than regular gas.
Good luck in your shopping.

 

[LoNeStAr]

What 1500 model are you looking at? The higher the model the more options it has and the less payload. lack of payload is going to be the achilles heal for the 1/2 ton. I noticed you said “kids” so I will assume you have at least 2. That puts 4 people in the truck during travel. All that weight pulls from your payload capacity.

My truck is a Lonestar (Bighorn) 4x2, 3.21 gears with lvl 2 equipment and my payload capacity is 1743lbs. If you are set on the 1500 find the truck you want with the most payload then you can figure out what size trailer you can get.

Can a 1500 pull the trailer you mention above, yes. Can you do it with 4 people in the truck plus gear and whatever else you carry, sure but it depends on the payload capacity of the truck. Its hard to answer your question without all the pertinent info.

 

[devildodge]

We have done so many of these is the past week.

Have you towed before?

There are the numbers you need to understand.

GVWR and GCWR for the truck. Payload is important...but mostly for figuring out your base weight.

For the trailer...GVWR and tongue weight. Ignore the UVW as that is an empty camper. You will be very close to GVWR than UVW with kids...believe me.

34 foot is a very long trailer for a newbie.

I am hitting the sack. I will see where this goes by morning. Good luck. We are headed camping tomorrow.

 

[rutherfordk]

What 1500 model are you looking at? The higher the model the more options it has and the less payload. lack of payload is going to be the achilles heal for the 1/2 ton. I noticed you said “kids” so I will assume you have at least 2. That puts 4 people in the truck during travel. All that weight pulls from your payload capacity.

My truck is a Lonestar (Bighorn) 4x2, 3.21 gears with lvl 2 equipment and my payload capacity is 1743lbs. If you are set on the 1500 find the truck you want with the most payload then you can figure out what size trailer you can get.

Can a 1500 pull the trailer you mention above, yes. Can you do it with 4 people in the truck plus gear and whatever else you carry, sure but it depends on the payload capacity of the truck. Its hard to answer your question without all the pertinent info.

I'm looking at the 1500 Sport (Canadian model) it has a decent complement of the luxury features without losing as much of the payload as the Limited model. I am definitely new to TT but I have a good amount of experience with boats and flat bed trailers so there will still be a learning curve for me with the TT.

Most of the TT we are looking at are under 6000# dry and around the 33' long mark, but the one my wife likes of course is the heaviest one at 7000# dry. I would like to buy a small/light enough trailer to stick with the 1500 if I can but with the bunkhouse being a must have for us my options are limited. Our kids are young and go to bed early so having that seperate area for them is a huge plus. I may have to go with the 2500 in the end, in which case I would go with the 2500 Limited. We start our "in person" shopping on Monday as we are trying to close in on our final preferences so just trying to be prepared for when I go out, these sales guys keep quoting different capabilities etc so I trust the opinions here a lot more.

 

[Fatherof3]

first of all welcome to the forum , the best thing to do is whatever truck you look at open the drivers door and read the label , that will tell you for sure about payload . In my experience salespeople don’t really know the trucks actual capabilities .

 

[devildodge]

You need to stop looking at dry weights. You need to look at the GVWR of the camper.

It takes no time to add weight to a camper.

Unless you you are one of the few who can keep everything minimalist.

A Sport is a good platform. But remember...that towing number they give...it is everything you can add over the base weight...so when you see 11000lbs...that is without you in the drivers seat. That is not the weight of the trailer. You habe to subtract passengers cargo and tongue weight from that and still keep the truck under GVWR.

 

[LaxDfns15]

You need to stop looking at dry weights. You need to look at the GVWR of the camper.

It takes no time to add weight to a camper.

Unless you you are one of the few who can keep everything minimalist.

A Sport is a good platform. But remember...that towing number they give...it is everything you can add over the base weight...so when you see 11000lbs...that is without you in the drivers seat. That is not the weight of the trailer. You habe to subtract passengers cargo and tongue weight from that and still keep the truck under GVWR.

Agree to stop looking at dry weights. That's what the salesmen pitch at you to get you to buy a more expensive trailer. "You can tow 11,000 pounds, this one's only 8,000 dry!"

Devildodge, he's got kids. There's no minimalist to that.

 

[Finn5033]

My Buddy has a 32’ Vibe bunkhouse camper. Just over 7,000lbs dry and 800# tongue weight just like the one you said your wife wants. I pulled it for him a year ago a couple hours away on a camping trip with my 2019 big horn Crew Cab hemi 3.21 gears. The payload rating on that truck was 1715lbs. I was within specs but the max tow rating on that truck because of the 3.21 gears was 8,500lbs and I bet I was pretty close to that. I have to say I would never want to pull a camper that size around with any regularity. My advice would be if your going to get that big of a camper step up to a HD truck.
My camper is a Grey Wolf RV Ice house that weighs 4,600 dry and hitch weight is 675lbs. I have air bags in the back and I would guess I’m about 5,500 - 6,000lbs loaded up. I can feel that weight plenty and that’s a lot less than what your going to be dealing with

 

[devildodge]

This is what i got going on. Wife 2 kids and me. All our stuff. I have a 2500 and a 5200lb GVWR camper.



As you can see...my camper is over GVWR...not proud of that...but not concerned either.

My trucks base weight is 7003 lbs. I know this because of the door jamb sticker. My payload is 2997 and my GVWR is 10000. GVWR minus payload is base weight.

You can see our stuff, us and the tongue weight add 2419 lbs to my truck. With a 5200 GVWR camper.

That camper you are looking at is 2400lbs heavier than mine at its absolute lightest.

I am sorry... I know 1500 guys do it every weekend...but that is a he'll of a lot of trailer.

Ours is only 24 foot to boot...and we keep that to get good rustic campsites.

With a 34 foot trailer you will not be making spur of the moment camping trips. You will have to reserve well in advance.

 

[devildodge]

To put this to paper. Lets say you get a crew cab Hemi 4x4 with 3.92 rear.

You look at your door jamb and it says 1525lbs.

So GVWR is 7100. GCWR is 17000. So you go to the RAM site and put in a VIN. It is gonna say payload is 1525 and max tow is 11425.

Do you see that the 11425 is your base weight subtracted from 17000. This means the truck is empty and the 11425 includes tongue weight and hitch weight

So 11425 minus passengers. Lets say a family if 4 weighs 600lbs. 10825...the tongue weight on that would be 1299lbs...ugh do you see.

So you have 925 lbs capacity left in the truck. This 7000lbs trailer has a tongue weight of 850 lbs. So you habe 125 lbs left. That is the weight distribution hitch.

And your camper is empty and your truck only has people in it.

 

[rutherfordk]

Thanks for the input everyone, I definitely feel a lot better going into our shopping trip on Monday. My wife is one that cannot visualize things on paper so she really needs to step in and walk around so i am hoping we can settle on a good option for our family. The one advantage of buying the truck and RV at the same time is that we have a clean slate and can ensure that we buy items that work together.

 

[WhattheTruck!]

We were all set on the apex 300. If you haven't looked at it, might be a viable alternative that helps keep your weights in safe limits (#6,000 dry, #7,600 GVWR, ~#912 max hitch weight). There was quite a wait time to get one when we were trying to purchase, which gave us time to think through things a little more and we ultimately decide on a slightly smaller trailer. Keep us posted on where you end up!

 

[NC Rebel]

Get a 3/4 or a 1 ton and save yourself a bunch of headaches trying to tow that with a 1500. I have a Rebel and tow close to those numbers and it just isn't safe even with WDH and air bags. The half ton is too light for long distance towing IMO. I am currently looking at getting back into another 2500 just to be safe.

 

[peeceejay]

I'm in the middle of this too. I was 100% new to both trucks and travel trailers.

I've bought a Laramie with 1300lbs of payload. I got the 3;92 rear, so I have plenty of towing capacity - but as others stated, payload is the limiting factor, and it limits QUICKLY.

We have a deposit on a Keystone Bullet 243 Bunk House, with a 5,000lb dry weight and a 580lb tongue weight - even so, the payload will be getting close to max once we load things up and add people, tanks and move into the camper for a weekend. We don't plan on doing anything more than local / regional trips, though.

 

[BmoreStew]

Like every towing thread on every forum, this is going to turn into a argument. Before it all falls apart, I’ll share my experience towing a 24’ Forest River/Rockwood Roo 233s hybrid TT with a 1500 limited. In short - it tows like a dream. Pulls great, handles great, and stops ok (I’d say great - it stops just fine - but the trailers’ brakes are too weak. I can’t get them to chirp even when unloaded and the gain is 10. No fault of the truck). The caveats are the build, my mods, and accessories; I can’t tell you how the truck would do in another configuration and/or unmodified. Here’s my setup:

-Air suspension
-6’4” bed
-Hemi with etorque
-3.92 gears
-factory brake controller
-E rated tires (KO2s) at 60 psi cold
-Hellwig rear sway bar
-Equal-i-zer 10k 4-point sway control WDH

The TT is hair under 5k lbs dry and has a 6,500 lbs GVWR. The loaded truck has a few pounds on the loaded trailer and the WDH makes a strong connection, which is ideal. It’s helpful too that it’s a hybrid TT, so the body is only 21’ long.

Mountains, hills, rough roads, semi’s and wind be damned, the thing just hums along all day long without complaint.

 

[cj7]

Hey everyone, I have to admit this forum has been immensely helpful. We are in the market for a new truck and travel trailer. I have read through virtually every thread here but I still find things a bit overwhelming so was hoping for input to help my shopping.

For a travel trailer we mare looking for a trailer with bunkhouse to give the kids their own area and the ones we like range from 32-35’ long and the heaviest has a dry weight of 7050lbs and a tongue weight of 830

I strongly prefer getting a 1500 (specifically the sport model) for every day driving and the extra rear seat legroom over the 2500. I’d be looking at the hemi with 1.92 I don’t want to try and fit a square peg in a round hole but with spending this much money I want to ensure weget something that is safe and will work for our needs/wants.

i know the 2500 will definitely pull a bunkhouse travel trailer better but with looking at the lighter keystone bullet/outlook options is 7000# trailer with 830# tongue weight something the 1500 can realistically pull within its limits?

I tow a Highland Mesa Ridge 2504BH UltraLite, that’s 29’ hitch to bumper. Advertised dry was 5400, trailer sticker showed 5700 dry, Weights in around 6800 wet (7400 max gross) with a little more than 900# tongue (per CAT Scales). My 2020 1500 5.7 eTorque w/air and 3.92 pulls it well (I think 3.21 would be fine too). I use a Recurve R6 WDH with sway control, camera on the TT rear and Dill Trailer TPMS. Also, i always replace the tires with Goodyear Endurance (load range E) tires (buy American!), and am happy to pull with this setup anywhere. It’s stable, even over bridges and being passed by overlimit road trains, and while payload is a limiting factor, so are the trucks’s brakes.

We really like this particular TT, which has a private master bedroom w/full queen, one pop out with large table that flattens for a queen air bed, and two full bunks. Second door direct access to the full bath is handy, nice kit, and the roof is walkable (stargazing or spectating), Also, its a bit high (requires 11’3” clearance): but has ground clearance that has come in handy when towing up north and using two-track dirt roads. I also have to carry an empty supplemental potable water tank on wheels, as my crew can’t survive on 51 gallons fresh (I put in a Truma continuous hot water heater that is SO nice after a day of dusty dirt biking )

Before I purchased my 1500, I towed this rig with a bunch of Enterprise Truck rentals: 1500 Classic, a F150, an F250, a 19 RAM 1500 DT, and a 2019 2500. Also drove a 20 2500. The 1500 DT with air and MFT was the sweet spot, by being comfortable towing my setup, not too big or truck-ish and being an excellent family car, livable commuter. I would trade a couple inches of Crew Cab back seat for more bed, but not too much, as the Quad cab rear is too small and seat too straight up. I do know that the only time I’d be happy with a 250/2500 would be when towing - all the other days of the year I would not.

Anyway, see if you can find something 28-30, maybe upto 32, and under 8.5k max gross, if you want to stick to a 1/2 ton.

 

[LoNeStAr]

My wife and I are still trying to make our decision on a camper and as of right now we are leaning towards the Keystone Premier 26 UDPR. It would be just us and a few dogs 80% of the time. Maybe our college aged son may join us occasionally or daughter and granddaughter. Dry weight is 5518lbs, GVWR of 7500, a hitch weight of 680 and just under 32’ tip to tall.

I don’t see us putting more than 1500lbs of gear so looking more at 7k loaded. My only hesitation is the length. I really wanted to stay under 30’ but I don’t think this would be an issue if setup correctly. Still may try to convince the wife to go smaller

 

[blakei]

We are very similar to cj7. Have a 28’ Jayco, which is about 33’ total length. Dry is 7000lbs, loaded (no fluids) is about 8000lbs. “Factory” tongue was 685 lbs but reality is closer to 1100 when loaded (scaled).

TV is a 2020 1500 Longhorn. 1780lbs payload. People is about 600lbs, so we are right around paper payload limit. I keep the bed empty and we load heavy items over trailer axles. I’m about 15% under on axle ratings and GCWR.

I started with an undersized hitch (e2 fastway 1000/10000) and since upgraded to an Equalizer 1400/14000. Also installed Timber Grove airbags to deal with a bit of rear sag (WDH is set up well per scales).

Truck tows well. I’m very comfortable and we’ve done over 4000 miles this summer. Equalizer almost eliminates sway from semis and crosswinds. Going up steep grades is slow. I’ve come down 10+ miles of 6-7% grade and only applied brakes 6 times - gear limit worked quite well. Can cruise level highways at 60-65.

We are on the bubble as far as capacities go, but are ok with that as we balanced floor plan we wanted and daily-driver considerations.

Would I go bigger TT? No. I do wish I’d gone with a 2500/3500 for more “security”, but not the daily driver aspects. I’ve thought about upgrading but am satisfied enough that I can’t justify the +20-30K for another truck.

I’d actually go for a smaller TT not for lower weights, but because it is easier to get into more rustic campsites.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[devildodge]

TV is a 2020 1500 Longhorn. 1780lbs payload

Out of curiosity. Have you looked at your door jamb or used the VIN lookup.

We have a Longhorn on the site with only 1069 pounds of payload...most are about 1300.

1780 sounds like the configuration payload...which is a tradesman trim.

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You might see why you keep thinking about a HeavyDuty truck.