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Old 07-13-2018, 12:29 AM   #1
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Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 239
Looking at the numbers new F.R. & Ram 1500

Son in law bought a new TT the other week so we loaded her up for the maiden voyage and a week at the Lake Cumberland State park in KY. About a 300 mile run. SIL took his boat behind his truck and two friends with their boats. Ran a little faster than I like but the young fellas thought they needed to go 68 & 70 with their boats. Still managed 16.1 down & 15.0 back. Not hand calculated but this truck is normally very close. This fuel economy is a little high but we weren't cutting any wind and my truck a 1500 Ecodiesel does have what I call a tow tune. SIL used over 3 gallons more fuel than I did on the way down with his f150 with 4.6. Trailer towed great no sway no porpoise no wind wiggle despite being 33.5' tip to tale. I really liked the trailer with wide axle stability & aero nose. Have a look.

Freedom Express Liberty Edition 292BHDSLE Travel Trailers by Coachmen RV

https://www.ram1500diesel.com/forum/...e1ce88fff.jpeg

https://www.ram1500diesel.com/forum/...a523eba75.jpeg

Looking at the numbers. Truck with me fuel hitches basic tools & supplies about 6k. Fully stocked TT with 50 gal FW (Thanks SIL) about 8k. TW 1,120 pounds IE 14.0% a lil high to my normal setting of 12.0% because of FW. This put me at 7,120 on the truck axles which is 2.5% over GVWR. Am I ok with that? Absolutely because this puts 260 pounds more on the truck axles (7,120) than the TT axles (6,860) which I prefer. Less chance of tail walking the dog so to speak. And is still considerably less than the combined max axle weight. The legalistically minded might not like that but I am more interested in my family's safety and GVW is a secondary concern at this level. Steer axle was 3,440 IE 100 pounds over unloaded steer weight. This means full braking power/traction and generally retaining best factory COG. IE By keeping near factory unloaded steer weight. Drive axle only 3,680 well under max rating. So good balance & stable. CVW of almost 14k IE well below 4th gen max CVWR of 15,950 so she will stop in a factory determined safe distance. In fact limiting or controlling down hill speed with this weight is easy & safe as I have the added safety of GDE's turbo brake and the optional factory TBC for stopping any sway.

Many newbs get all out of sorts looking at payload stickers trying to stack up weight guestimates toward that number and think its the same as gvwr and that it must be much more important than it it. Because to them what constitutes a safe weight tow is ambigous and they overvalue this quantitatively. They also do not understand TW with respects to dynamic weight when using a WDH vs static weight such as a tongue on a scale when not using a WDH. When you start to understand what specific numbers are for you start to get a better overall understanding and see the value of a triple scale such as CAT. This really gets hammered home if you ever take the same rig from sketchy to stable via WDH and TV/TT weight redistribution. With a 1/2 ton truck & a 4k trailer this is pretty mute but with an 8 to 10k trailer its the difference between white knuckle and safe & stable.

Sketchy rig; TV light on the steer & heavy on the drive with raised COG prone to rollover and reduced braking ability, trailer & TV wiggle when pushed by wind or semi bow wave instead of being pushed as one unit, trailer will sway.
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The answer to what can my 1/2 ton tow; Generically whatever TT has a GVWR less than TV’s max tow rating. Specifically is found on CAT scale via weight distribution with TV TT & WDH. Best motor & gearing all 5 Mfgs within specs IE safe & stable normally to 8k but passengers & bedload reduce this. RAM 1500 ED max tow 9,200, max axle ratings 3,900, max 09-18 CVWR 15,950, axle weights me & gear 3,240 steer 2,560 drive
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