towing

[Paul West]

I have a 2016 Dodge Ram Eco Diesel 4x4 crew cab long horn and am interested in anyone that pulls a 7000 lb trailer with one. i am looking at purchasing a 2014 Salem 30kqbss.

[wbdavey]

I have a '14 Ram EcoDiesel and pull a Rockwood 2604WS. It's about 6,200 pounds loaded for travel with 800 pounds tongue weight. The problem with our trucks is low payload numbers (check the yellow door sticker to find yours). Get a good weight distributing hitch, adjust it yourself until you get good numbers on a truck scale. May take a few tries on the scales. I also added Timber Grove air bags to my truck, I don't have air suspension. You'll probably be slightly over your payload, but under on axle and combined weight ratings if the hitch is adjusted properly. Go to the Ram1500diesel forum where they have a discussion group just on trailering for more info.

[Paul West]

Thank you your info was great we went ahead and bought the trailer yesterday trailer weight is 6900 lbs truck rating is 7460. We just be able the load it to the max. Good idea for the air bags,I don't have air ride either. Thanks for the info.

[Happy Vibe]

I just looked up the specs for 2016 version of the trailer and the unloaded weight was 6800 lbs with a GVWR of 9700 lbs . Unless the earlier version is a lot lighter than you will be way over weight. The other thing is it list the tongue weight at 915 lbs so as a RAM owner I will bet you will be way over your payload rating of the truck.

[emm-dee]

Originally Posted by Happy Vibe

I just looked up the specs for 2016 version and the unloaded weight was 6800 lbs with a GVWR of 9700 lbs . Unless the earlier version is a lot lighter than you will be way over weight. The other thing is it list the tongue weight at 915 lbs so as a RAM owner I will bet you will be way over your payload rating of the truck.

Are you sure about those numbers? A 1500 series truck with a 2,900 pound payload????

[Happy Vibe]

I was talking about the trailer not the truck.

[emm-dee]

Originally Posted by Happy Vibe

I was talking about the trailer not the truck.

Oops. Misread. But, it does look like the trailer can exceed the truck tow rating. It must be a power issue because the tow rating for a 3.92 geared truck with the hemi gas engine is over 10,000 pounds.

[Happy Vibe]

In the RAM trucks the max towing is almost irrelevant as you will run out of payload well before you hit max trailer. My 2013 hemi big horn is only rated at 1100 lbs and I am betting the OP's truck is around the same or less as his truck is a fully loaded long horn. My question for the OP is where did you get the 6900 lbs from?

[The_Rhino]

Originally Posted by Paul West

Thank you your info was great we went ahead and bought the trailer yesterday trailer weight is 6900 lbs truck rating is 7460...

You should have probably waited for more than 24 hours so that more folks could chime-in... Based on your Longhorn's tow rating of only 7,460 it sounds like you have the 5' 7" bed combined with a payload of only 1,052 & GCVW of 13,750. (I looked at Eco-Diesels before we chose our Ram 2500...)

Unfortunately, the Ram 1500 w/heavier EcoDiesel is not a good choice for towing trailers with empty weights in the 7,000 range. It has about the lowest payload amongst all 1/2 ton choices (less than our minivan...) so you will be well-over payload & also over GCVW (combined loaded weights of both TT & TV)...

For instance, our TT is 6,400 empty and 8,000 loaded. The empty tongue weight was 650 but loaded we're at 1100. This is because, like your TT, most of the storage is up-front under the pass-through storage, front master bed & closets, etc. These TT's also require a decent WDH, like our Equalizer 4 1200, but the WDH also adds tongue weight...

So, with nothing else in our truck, our payload is 1100 (tongue weight) plus the weight of passengers. Our family of 5 & a few carry-on items adds 700, so we're at a payload of 1,800 before adding a single item to the PU bed. Our ready-to-camp payload is actually around 2,500 with GCVW around 15,000 because we like to bring bikes, scooters, enough fresh water for a few flushes, etc. & enough black tank water to keep solids from sticking - which all adds-up...

The EcoDiesel has enough torque to handle the weight but unfortunately the rest of the truck was not designed to safely handle a 30' 7,000 lb. TT...

The good news is that you can probably trade-in your EcoDiesel 1500 for a Ram 2500 with little money lost. We found a 2 year-old Ram 2500 for only $14,000 & it has a payload of 3,050, nearly 3X the payload of a 1500 EcoDiesel...

[emm-dee]

Too bad the 1500 series trucks get loaded with so many options they lose their their ability to be a truck. I have the basic "Express" model and the numbers work perfect. Cat scale weights show I have 400 pounds payload remaining when set up for towing. The trailer, fully loaded including the Harley, weighs 7,660 and has a max weight of 9,800. So, if I loaded that extra 2K in the trailer I'll be just under max towing weight and just under max combined weight.

Extra trailer weight has little effect on truck payload because it's easy to move the Harley forward or backward enough to maintain the same tongue weight.

[Happy Vibe]

I'm hoping we did not scare the OP off. Not trying to be the weight police just try to show you that there are more numbers to look at than just the towing weight.

[wbdavey]

Originally Posted by emm-dee

Oops. Misread. But, it does look like the trailer can exceed the truck tow rating. It must be a power issue because the tow rating for a 3.92 geared truck with the hemi gas engine is over 10,000 pounds.

The tow ratings for the diesel are lower than the hemi on the exact same suspension because the intercooler on the diesel is in front of the radiator. Heat from the intercooler adds to the engine heat so on the worst case the ECM will reduce engine power to prevent overheating. In practice, if the trailer is under 7,000 pounds this is almost never a problem. You may have to slow down a little on big hills, but you'll be rewarded with 13-15 mpg while towing. YMMV

[Paul West]

I just want to thank everyone who responded to my post on towing, it was a great help.I have spoken to the truck fleet guy from Chrysler Canada and he assures me that i can pull the trailer but yes i will be over the payload rating. He stated that the only difference in the hemi is the additional horsepower. Hopefully we will get the trailer next week and be on the road somewhere in the Kawarthas in Ontario. Thanks Again Paul.:

[Happy Vibe]

All I can say is make sure you understand how to setup the WDH properly after you are loaded and drive very carefully. That is a big heavy trailer and you will definitely know it is back there. Do you have the OEM brake controller?