RV Towing

[Brutal_HO]

Well he has a 2020 so it must be a 3500. Its a SRW.

Roger. If he has 'air bags" it's probably also factory and is a supplemental leveling system to the leaf sprung 3500 rear. Love mine. Only the 2500 uses either coils or full (rear only) bags if air.

FWIW, on the 3500 it's easy to tell SO vs HO if you pop the hood. The SO has a 68RFE trans with the dipstick on the pax side. The HO is AS69RC with the dipstick on the driver side. No external badging difference.

 

[Willwork4truck]

Actually I think a lot of owners are unwilling to sacrifice the ride and economy of a 1500/150 for the few times they need a 250/2500 to tow. I cant count myself in that group as I towed a 24’ TT with a 1 ton, ha ha.

I get it though, the ride of an HD truck is a pain when empty and the cost is usually higher than the half ton for equivalent trims.

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

Actually I think a lot of owners are unwilling to sacrifice the ride and economy of a 1500/150 for the few times they need a 250/2500 to tow. I cant count myself in that group as I towed a 24’ TT with a 1 ton, ha ha.

I get it though, the ride of an HD truck is a pain when empty and the cost is usually higher than the half ton for equivalent trims.

I went from a Ram 1500 Laramie to a diesel F-350 Lariat. The stock Ram rode better for sure, before I starting modding it to better handle our trailer. When we traded the Ram in, the ride wasn't that much better than what we have in the F-350.

Not disagreeing with anything you said...just offering up my experience in my particular situation.

 

[Brutal_HO]

Actually I think a lot of owners are unwilling to sacrifice the ride and economy of a 1500/150 for the few times they need a 250/2500 to tow. I cant count myself in that group as I towed a 24’ TT with a 1 ton, ha ha.

I get it though, the ride of an HD truck is a pain when empty and the cost is usually higher than the half ton for equivalent trims.

It's all relative.

I lower the tire pressures WAY down in my truck when not towing and with the rear (supplemental) air, it rides pretty dang nice IMHO. It's no TRX in the rough, but doesn't do much of that, just some light hunting duties on dirt/gravel and fire lanes and is otherwise a pavement princess.

 

[Willwork4truck]

I went from a Ram 1500 Laramie to a diesel F-350 Lariat. The stock Ram rode better for sure, before I starting modding it to better handle our trailer. When we traded the Ram in, the ride wasn't that much better than what we have in the F-350.

Not disagreeing with anything you said...just offering up my experience in my particular situation.

Ive never towed with a 1500, just my decades old experience with a 3500. I only know what my brothers truck (3500 I believe) rides like (she-it) when empty.

The rv forums I haunt often have threads on 150/1500 owners who mod the crap out of their trucks to avoid stepping up to a 250/2500.

Finances I understand. When you buy the truck first then fall in love with a 30’ multi-slide trailer that exceeds your available payload (for those that bother to get scaled), well, your money only goes so far.
To each his own. I used a 1 ton cause thats what I used for work (contractor) and couldn't have 2 trucks. Almost the same with some 150/1500 owners, they often don't tow much so just make it work.

The F150 forums all have the same threads about towing… Its certainly not a RAM specific issue although our coils do reduce payload when unmodified.

 

[Willwork4truck]

Last post on this. The forum has a seperate entry for towing, maybe the OP should glance over on that as well…

So you want to tow a camper!​

• Thread starterdevildodge
• Start dateDec 22, 2020

 

[RookieB555]

Brother in law and I share a travel trailer. It's about 7,500 pounds when loaded for a trip, 32' bumper to hitch. Probably fairly middle of the road size and weight compared to what's out there.

BIL just got a 2024 GMC 1500 5.3L and he let me use it for a trip. Since then I've gotten my 2020 Ram 1500 5.7L and I've done a trip with that as well.

I intentionally got my Ram with the 3.92 rear end. Mainly just because of the higher factory tow rating. BIL's truck has the 3.23 rear end, that lowers the factory rating on the GMC by about 2,000 pounds and just makes it feel sluggish IMO.

Not to bring up what seems like a huge rear end ratio debate lol. But my Ram with a little more power and the 3.92 rear end tows the camper effortlessly. The GMC feels like it's working harder. Even though it's a 10-speed, you don't get to take advantage of many of the gears.

Power aside, both trucks feel really stable cruising. I'd say the only variable is wind. One day the wind was steady 17-18mph, gusting almost 30mph. That's when a nice heavy 2500 with a diesel would have been great. My 1500 still towed well, I just slowed down a little on the highway.

All that to say, I feel very confident at this size and weight travel trailer. I feel like I could easily tow more safely. 5th wheel, probably not for me. Not really the weight as much as the height and just being more of a sail. I feel like I would want a heavier truck for that. But just my 2 cents.