How much weight does a WD hitch actually distribute?

[Dave_Monica]

david-o,

The numbers indicate that you only have 260 lb of additional payload. Frankly I'm really surprised at the weights of your loaded truck. My 2005 Ram 1500 CC 5.7L RWD, 2 people, 80lb dog and full of fuel was 3160 lbs front, 2540 lbs rear for 5700 lbs total.

Any chance that you can move stuff from the truck to the camper...if that extra weight is over/near the campers' axles, it wouldn't impact on tongue weight.

Dave

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by david-o

Thanks Herk for sticking with me here and setting me straight. I went back to the link in Andy's post (thanks again Andy) and see that I have more homework to do.

In the meantime, I took my TV - with full gas tank, passengers, Equalizer hitch in the receiver and typical camping cargo in the bed - to the CAT scale in order to know exactly what I'm working with. The weights are: Front Axle 3,520; Rear Axle 3,020; Gross Weight 6,540.

At this point I'm comfortable that with the new trailer (loaded 8,300; tongue 1,000) and a properly set up WD hitch moving some weight off the TV to the TT, I should be ok with axle weights (GAWR 3,900 front and rear) and combined weight (GCWR 15,500). The only problem area I see is the TV weight.

With WD disconnected the GVW (TV + tongue weight) will be 7,540 lbs. With WD connected it will be something less than 7,540, but still greater than the TV's GVWR of 6,800 lbs.

Does any of this make sense?

Sounds like you are where you need to be. You should be "safe" (relative) in the short run loaded the way you are. Just remember when you look at the 2500 in a few years, the diesels have less available payload than the gas trucks (through they can pull more). The diesel engines weigh about 800 pounds more than the big gassers.

[david-o]

Originally Posted by Dave_Monica

david-o,

The numbers indicate that you only have 260 lb of additional payload. Frankly I'm really surprised at the weights of your loaded truck. My 2005 Ram 1500 CC 5.7L RWD, 2 people, 80lb dog and full of fuel was 3160 lbs front, 2540 lbs rear for 5700 lbs total.

Any chance that you can move stuff from the truck to the camper...if that extra weight is over/near the campers' axles, it wouldn't impact on tongue weight.

Dave

Dave,

Dodge Body Builder says the Base Weight of a 2009 Ram Laramie CC 1500 4x4 w/Rambox is 5,711 lbs (3,204 ft; 2,507 rr). Assuming that's a valid number for my truck, after adding 32 gal of fuel (200), passengers (400) and WD hitch (100) I would be at 6,411 lbs. The remaining 129 lbs must be tools/cargo in the Ramboxes/bed.

Yes, I should be able to move some of the tools out of the Rambox and into the rear storage area of the trailer. I'm also thinking that when I'm towing I should only fill the gas tank half way. That means more pit stops, but every little bit helps.

Thanks for helping me work through this!

Dave O

[david-o]

Originally Posted by herk7769

Sounds like you are where you need to be. You should be "safe" (relative) in the short run loaded the way you are. Just remember when you look at the 2500 in a few years, the diesels have less available payload than the gas trucks (through they can pull more). The diesel engines weigh about 800 pounds more than the big gassers.

Herk,

You must have been talking to my good friend who works for Chrysler Corp and hooked me up in 2009. As soon as I told him I ordered the new trailer, he talked to the GM at my Ram dealership and they started preping an order for a 2500 with similar options as my 1500. A few years? They're going to be all over me in a few months!

So along with your broad knowledge and ability to explain things in a way that non-technical folks like me can understand (I've been reading your posts for many months now), I now see that you're also a fortune teller. :-)

Thanks again for your assistance!

Dave O

[Herk7769]

Aw, shucks...