Towing with a 2021 Rebel

[rocksmopar]

I recently bought a 2021 Rebel with the Towing package and now my Wife wants a Travel Trailer cause of COVID (Germs in Hotel rooms). She picked out a Nice Jayco with an unloaded weight of just under 8000 lbs. and a hitch weight of 1095 lbs. (35 feet long).
I ran my vin on the Ram site and it says Max towing of 11346.1 lbs and a Max payload of 1446.1 lbs.
I think its too heavy but the Salesman says I'm good.
Am I good or am I reading the rating wrong..
If I am reading it wrong whats a safe weight for a trailer for my Rebel? I'm willing to put some helper bags in the rear if I have too..

Thanks

 

[Fatherof3]

I recently bought a 2021 Rebel with the Towing package and now my Wife wants a Travel Trailer cause of COVID (Germs in Hotel rooms). She picked out a Nice Jayco with an unloaded weight of just under 8000 lbs. and a hitch weight of 1095 lbs. (35 feet long).
I ran my vin on the Ram site and it says Max towing of 11346.1 lbs and a Max payload of 1446.1 lbs.
I think its too heavy but the Salesman says I'm good.
Am I good or am I reading the rating wrong..
If I am reading it wrong whats a safe weight for a trailer for my Rebel? I'm willing to put some helper bags in the rear if I have too..

Thanks

That would mean you have less than 400lbs of payload for you , your wife and whatever else you take with you . Technically you are within specs for your truck you just wouldn’t be able to load a lot of stuff with the trailer hitched up .

 

[rocksmopar]

Thank You for looking that up.
I guess we will go to the alternate trailer to be safe....6750 lbs. with a hitch weight of 820 lbs. 34 feet long. I can only imagine how much stuff the family will load up..

 

[devildodge]

You want to get a travel trailer with a GVWR of about 7000lbs. And under 28 foot. The camper you are looking at has a base weight of 8000lbs. And is 34 foot long So your thoughts are correct. That is a huge trailer.

You need to figure out how you are going to travel. If you can take 2 vehicles...the bigger travel trailer is do able. If you plan to only have you and your wife...and have some towing experience...the heavier trailer may be ok.

If you are loading firewood and bikes and kayaks you will want to go lower.

If you have no experience. You will want to go lower.

If you deice in flat areas with no high wind areas...you may be okay with the bigger trailer.

If you are towing in hills or at elevation...you may want to go lower.

You will want to tow with empty tanks.

For numbers. 7100gvwr and 17000GCWR for the truck.

8000 unlaiden and 1095 so empty you have a 13.6% tongue weight. This is usually without batteries and propane.

So most people add 1000lbs to there setup. So say 9000 at 14% tongue weight is 1260lbs. So you have less than 200lbs that can safely go in the truck....remember...you also have a 100+ pound hitch.

It is too heavy.

What you know is that your truck weighs 5654.

7100 minus 1446 equals 5644.

This is your base weight. Empty truck with full fluids

17000 minus 5644 equals 11346. Do you see how that is not a max trailer weight but a max towing weight? 11346 is everything you can haul or tow.

So you have to have a driver. You have to have a hitch. You have to account for tongue weight. Then you have to take stuff.

Any specific question ask. Only you can make this decision...but that is a heavy trailer and the salesman does not care ir even know he is putting you into a large trailer

 

[IvoryHemi]

Thank You for looking that up.
I guess we will go to the alternate trailer to be safe....6750 lbs. with a hitch weight of 820 lbs. 34 feet long. I can only imagine how much stuff the family will load up..

Is that 6750 lbs dry weight or GVWR ?

Remember to also subtract an extra roughly 100 lbs for a good WDH with sway control from your trucks payload.

 

[IvoryHemi]

I'm willing to put some helper bags in the rear if I have too..

Helper bags will not increase your weight carrying ability.

 

[devildodge]

6750 is a much better trailer. But you can still load this too high. Need to watch what gets taken along.

But this is a much better weight to work with

34 foot long is gonna limit your camping spots too. Might want to look into where you plan to go.

Covid made camping very popular...and it seems everyone feels they need 34 foot trailers...and sone places just can not accommodate them. So keep this in mind too.

A real good fit is 24 to 28 foot

 

[Ou81]

Even 34 ft on a 1500 is too much IMO. Can be done but why make the trip a butt hole puckering ride for hours.
Watch this video & read the comments. ALOT of people saying they started out with a 1/2 ton & 30’ ft plus camper that had long miserable trips that realized they bought too big of a camper for their truck.

 

[Ou81]

Another good video. Again read the comments. A lot of good personal experiences with buying too much trailer for a 1/2 ton truck

 

[LoNeStAr]

I recently bought a 2021 Rebel with the Towing package and now my Wife wants a Travel Trailer cause of COVID (Germs in Hotel rooms). She picked out a Nice Jayco with an unloaded weight of just under 8000 lbs. and a hitch weight of 1095 lbs. (35 feet long).
I ran my vin on the Ram site and it says Max towing of 11346.1 lbs and a Max payload of 1446.1 lbs.
I think its too heavy but the Salesman says I'm good.
Am I good or am I reading the rating wrong..
If I am reading it wrong whats a safe weight for a trailer for my Rebel? I'm willing to put some helper bags in the rear if I have too..

Thanks

That salesman is an idiot!

 

[Renegade3]

I have a Rockwood Geo Pro 19FBS and love it. It’s also pretty light and the truck handles it really well. The Geo Pro line has a lot of models that are lighter with lots of tech. Check them out

 

[Ou81]

That salesman is an idiot!

No...he isn’t an idiot...lol Typical salesman doing salesman things. They don’t care how dangerous of a situation they are putting your family & other drivers in as long as they make the sale. Family of 3 walks in....”oh y’all would fit right in to this camper with an entire bunk room equipt with 3 bunks a couch & a tv.” But sir we only have 1 kid.... “yea but you have room to grow now, think of it as you never have to buy a trailer again if you have more kids. What truck do y’all have? (As the transport dually is driving off the lot)” A Ram 1500.... “Shooooooo you have that Hemi, man you have a stump puller on your hands. You have all the power you need.” What about the truck’s ability to control that long of a trailer.... (Salesman changes subject quickly) “Shooooooooo man like I said, that thang has a Hemi. You can pull it all day long.”

 

[Dragonmaster13]

6750 dry is doable under 30’. I have a 4th gen with 1360lb payload and a 2014 Dutchmen 268BHS that is 6873lbs dry, 7600-7800lbs loaded (depending on trip length and if water is being hauled) 33’ tip to tail but lots of experience towing everything from a 500lb utility trailer up to 73,000lbs of float with excavators and rock trucks and everything in between.

Due to brakes and always high rpms (and a gas gauge dropping like a rock), a trailer over about 8500lbs with anything but an empty truck and just the driver is going to be a hairy butt-puckering situation and stressful drive. Think four hours feeling like a hard worked 14 hour day.

Also as mentioned once you go over 28’ many campgrounds are not doable. Yes, they may have spots that can accommodate longer, but the access roads and trees surrounding make it all but impossible to get into without a very good spotter and a perfect placement each time, or risk severe damage. I’ve seen people get into spots they cannot get out of as the steering dynamics backing are different than pulling out. Think 34’ trailer in a spot for 40’, but on the way out truck buried in the trees opposite the site damaging fenders and left side of trailer hard against a tree and back right side with a tree between the bumper and box of the trailer. Was about $9,000 worth of damage, but he got it in with no issues.

Never trust the salesman, they are there for one thing only...make the sale and bail.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rocksmopar]

Thank You all for the helpful responses. After reading these and watching the videos I'm narrowing the search to something under 30 foot and hopefully under 6500 lbs. Still plenty of options. I've been towing trailers on and off for a long time now but this will be the heaviest yet. I wish the RV shows were back on, Would have made life a whole lot easier.

 

[rocksmopar]

Is that 6750 lbs dry weight or GVWR ?

Remember to also subtract an extra roughly 100 lbs for a good WDH with sway control from your trucks payload.

That's the advertised dry weight.

 

[ktl5005]

I recently bought a 2021 Rebel with the Towing package and now my Wife wants a Travel Trailer cause of COVID (Germs in Hotel rooms). She picked out a Nice Jayco with an unloaded weight of just under 8000 lbs. and a hitch weight of 1095 lbs. (35 feet long).
I ran my vin on the Ram site and it says Max towing of 11346.1 lbs and a Max payload of 1446.1 lbs.
I think its too heavy but the Salesman says I'm good.
Am I good or am I reading the rating wrong..
If I am reading it wrong whats a safe weight for a trailer for my Rebel? I'm willing to put some helper bags in the rear if I have too..

Thanks

Your payload gets reduced with you and your wife in it. So now your left with under 200lbs for your gear.

 

[WhattheTruck!]

You can do a little bit of weight 'budget' work ahead of researching TT's that'll make the search much easier.

If you haven't yet, find a cat scale and load your truck up with the passengers you'd expect to take towing, top off your fuel, and get your baseline weight. Take the GVWR of your truck and subtract that scale weight to get your available payload.

To simplify the trailer weight assessment, just take the GVWR of the trailer and multiply it by .12. That'll get you the hight-end of your possible tongue weight that will impact your payload.

Now take your payload and subtract the tongue weight and see if you're comfortable with that number.

There are some general assumptions built into this budget, like not overloading your trailer or exceeding axle ratings, but it'll help you narrow things down pretty quick.

 

[Willwork4truck]

Ahh the never ending “can I tow this” threads... Amazing what using the “search” function could tell a person... Pardon my grouchiness, it just seems like “basic” research isn’t being done by people.

Wait a minute, has anyone ever asked about RAM 1500 gas mileage? Hmm, let me post a question about it.

 

[Divemedic]

We have a loaded 2021 Ram Rebel 5’-7” with hemi. The payload capacity on this truck is only1115 lbs. Take away my installed backflip mx4 tonneau cover (62 lbs) and me, my DW and dog that’s 425… leaves me with 628lbs capacity with no cargo. 628 lbs for a hitch weight. Our 26’ trailer we have a deposit on has a hitch weight dry of 690 lbs. It’s dry weight is 6845 and GVWR of 8495. Just a little concerned. Any advice is appreciated. Should I bail? Absolutely love this trailer and my truck was new last August. Can’t move up to a 2500.

 

[jws1982]

We have a loaded 2021 Ram Rebel 5’-7” with hemi. The payload capacity on this truck is only1115 lbs. Take away my installed backflip mx4 tonneau cover (62 lbs) and me, my DW and dog that’s 425… leaves me with 628lbs capacity with no cargo. 628 lbs for a hitch weight. Our 26’ trailer we have a deposit on has a hitch weight dry of 690 lbs. It’s dry weight is 6845 and GVWR of 8495. Just a little concerned. Any advice is appreciated. Should I bail? Absolutely love this trailer and my truck was new last August. Can’t move up to a 2500.

Yes, you should bail. No trailer weighs the dry weight. It’s always more, and you’re already over. Rebels are designed more for off-road, not towing. I’d you can’t go 2500, then maybe look for a bighorn level 2/B with few extra options (payload would be around 1600-1700).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk