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Old 06-05-2016, 02:03 PM   #1
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Truck for pulling Champagne

I need a bigger truck for my new trailer. The 2500 Ram with Super Springs is a little lite for the pin weight. The Cummins has plenty of power pulling the hills/mountains between Chattanooga TN and Nashville on I-24. The trailer GVWR is 16,485 with an empty pin weight of 2,485. With the floor plan design most of the storage is from the axle forward adding to the pin weight.

I have always pulled with a 8 ft bed but I am considering 6-4 bed. I liked the 8’ bed but many parking spots are really to short to park in the designated spot and the turning radius would be is less with the shorty.

The Champagne’s doesn’t have a front cap designed for short beds in mind, so, I am looking to people with experience with short bed trucks for there advise including input on my concerns. I am considering a 3500 Ram 4X4 with Cummins, Aisin transmission, non-dually and thinking about air leveling.

1. Will the ride comfort be markedly reduced with the short wheel base?

2. Does any one have experience the factory air leveling option?

3. Will a sliding 5th work with the factory installed Trail Air pin box? Concerned that it could hit the tailgate and/or the side rails on the truck box in the back position?

4. What are your thoughts on a manual sliding versus an auto sliding hitch?

Any advice will be appreciated.

Have a good one
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Old 06-05-2016, 04:42 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by grouchmore View Post
I need a bigger truck for my new trailer. The 2500 Ram with Super Springs is a little lite for the pin weight. The Cummins has plenty of power pulling the hills/mountains between Chattanooga TN and Nashville on I-24. The trailer GVWR is 16,485 with an empty pin weight of 2,485. With the floor plan design most of the storage is from the axle forward adding to the pin weight.



I have always pulled with a 8 ft bed but I am considering 6-4 bed. I liked the 8’ bed but many parking spots are really to short to park in the designated spot and the turning radius would be is less with the shorty.



The Champagne’s doesn’t have a front cap designed for short beds in mind, so, I am looking to people with experience with short bed trucks for there advise including input on my concerns. I am considering a 3500 Ram 4X4 with Cummins, Aisin transmission, non-dually and thinking about air leveling.



1. Will the ride comfort be markedly reduced with the short wheel base?



2. Does any one have experience the factory air leveling option?



3. Will a sliding 5th work with the factory installed Trail Air pin box? Concerned that it could hit the tailgate and/or the side rails on the truck box in the back position?



4. What are your thoughts on a manual sliding versus an auto sliding hitch?



Any advice will be appreciated.



Have a good one

G


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Old 06-05-2016, 05:19 PM   #3
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Opinion :

Great big trailers need great big trucks.

Long beds help towing a lot.

I park my dually. It always parks somewhere. When I have to walk a ways, I just think about how much better it tows than a short bed. Life is a series of compromises.
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Old 06-05-2016, 07:11 PM   #4
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A new Ram 3500 with the cummins will be a walk in the park with that trailer. They are a pulling sob .
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Old 06-06-2016, 12:51 PM   #5
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1. Longer wheelbase usually provides a smoother ride.
2. No experience with air bags.
3. I have a Trail Air and a sliding hitch, no problem. Slider was left over from my F-250 short box.
4. Autoslide, no need to worry about hitting cab of the truck.

Attached are weight charts for your consideration, disregard any yellow highlights. Your new RV's pin box is in the 3,300# range when loaded. Keep that in mind when you review the GVWR of the truck. See my signature line for our rig. It works well.
Attached Files
File Type: pdf 2016_ram_3500_towing_charts.pdf (1.10 MB, 42 views)
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Old 06-06-2016, 04:39 PM   #6
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In my opinion, that large of a trailer needs to be a dually. If you can pull around that large of a trailer, surely you can manage parking a dually. Its not hard.
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Old 06-06-2016, 06:04 PM   #7
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I am towing a 34RL with a Ram Mega Cab 2500 with the 6.7L Cummins and the 68RFE auto, I have 3:73 gears and is a 4X4. My total truck/camper weight is 21,000 LB. I have after market tire and rims rated for 3,700LBS each at 80 psi, but I run the front at 50 psi and the back tires at 70 psi. I have also installed air bags along with an on board air compressor, the bags are at 70 psi when I tow. Now the Mega Cab has the same wheel base as a long bed truck for my model year. In fact the wheel base is longer than a Regular Cab 8ft bed truck. Depending on the model year the 2500 and 3500 SRW trucks share everything except for one additional leaf spring thus allowing a for the 3500SRW truck in a different class of vehicle for registration purpose.

So if you want a new truck than you should go with a DRW Truck but I am not familiar any more if a Mega Cab will be offered in a DRW configuration? Or you can just stitch out to heavier tires and wheels that will support the load correctly.

I towed last year out West on I70 trough the Eisenhower pass in 5th gear doing the speed limit, my EGT's where under 800F and the boost pressure was between 10psi and 15psi, transmission temperature was under 190F and braking was no issue at all for my combination.
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Old 06-06-2016, 08:04 PM   #8
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Champagne towing

I have a Champagne and tow with a SB 2014 Ram 3500 SWD with a Super glide 18K hitch mounted on ram hitch prep mount. I installed airbags to level truck out. We came up from Fl to WNY this spring with no major trouble. Hauled my Champagne just fine and we were loaded to max weight on our trip north.
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Old 06-06-2016, 08:06 PM   #9
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In my opinion, that large of a trailer needs to be a dually. If you can pull around that large of a trailer, surely you can manage parking a dually. Its not hard.
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