Personally I wouldn't tow anything with a 1500.

But if you insist, be sure to weigh the trailer packed and ready for use. It'll probably be heavier than you think.
Also, get a good weight distributing hitch, and don't forget that the 1500 is still a short, light, and equipped with small brakes.

Those varying numbers depend on the amount of options (each one weighs something) and the gearing. And I suspect that yours is a V6 in which case you'll be going slowly and use lots of gas when towing.

 

Don’t push the max rating. Better to be under. Your truck will be much happier and maintenance will be cheaper.

 

duplicate couldn't remove so edited it

 

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The ram 1500 towing can be rated as low as 6100 and up to 12k depending on model. You can find specifics on the manufacturer website the online owners manual usually has a link. Your information tag in the door jamb gives axle and other specifics that will along with the manufacturer towing tables help find the true recomendations. It would be worth weighing the truck curb weight, avles, total loaded weight as well to see real world numbers and how they compare. If your not going to spend a lot of time traversing high mountains and steep grades getting near the max shouldn't be to bad as long as you take your time traveling and pay attention so you can antisipate things. It may take a bit of time to get used to the extra accelerating, stopping distance and differences in handling. I did not see the specific trailer mentioned if it is flat in front expect the performance to suffer in windy conditions, You will of course want an adjustable break controller and weight distribution hitch setup. The ratio of the trailers tongue weight to trailer weight will influence the way it tows more than anything. I would guess most people who have issues with half tons either expect to much, do not compensate for the limitations or have the trailer loaded incorrectly.

 

I would guess most people who have issues with half tons either expect to much, do not compensate for the limitations or have the trailer loaded incorrectly.

I've had three 1/2-tons ('05 GM, '14 Ram, and '21 Ram) and tried hooking up an empty light trailer to each one just to find out how they'd deal with it. Let's just say they didn't handle even some 1.500 lbs. well. Absolutely no forgetting that the trailers were back there, and I sure didn't expect too much from them.

Of the three, the '21 was the least worst, but even though it has about the same amount of torque as my '17 Ram 3500 Cummins it's still too light, short, and has too small brakes to be even a decent tow vehicle. Yet Ram has it rated at 8,100 lbs. Those J9287 ratings are a misleading joke, I think. They emphasize power over handling and stopping abilities.

After hundreds of thousand of miles of towing, using 3/4-tons, 1-tons, and Class 8 tractors, pulling just about everything from empty little tandem axle bumper pulls to doubles weighing some 60,000 lbs. I am a firm unbeliever in towing with 1/2-tons.

 

Good for a few thousand pounds in my book, like 5k would be comfortable max for me. Drive nice and keep braking distance.

Honestly I’d be most worried about blowing up the tranny, they’re pretty shitty on the new rams, no?

 

I dunno. They use ZF transmissions even in the 5500s now.

If anything, Dodges often had transmission issues, and Rams with the 68RFEs didn't always fare well behind Cummins engines, so the newer ones seem to hold up much better.

 

When it comes to towing it is all about the numbers. The numbers that count are on the data plate on the driver’s door or driver’s door frame. It will tell you the GVWR, the ad built empty weight, and the net payload. Be aware the information on the data plates on your truck will vary greatly from advertised weight ratings. Regardless of what is advertised, what is on your data plates are the only numbers you need and can use.

The GVWR is a hard number, a number you should never exceed if you want to get good life and carefree service out of your truck.

Empty weight numbers are meaningless because I have yet to meet anybody who goes camping with nothing inside the trailer.

If the GVWR of the trailer is 6,800 you will have a potential maximum tongue weight of 1,020. You want a minimum of 10% of the total weight of the trailer on the tongue. 15% is better. Proper tongue weight helps to prevent trailer sway.

To determine if your truck is capable of towing that trailer you need to subtract that 1,020 from the net payload of the tow vehicle. Most 1/2-ton trucks and SUV’s have net payloads of around 1,500. With a tongue weight of 1,020 you will have 480 leftover for people, pets, and stuff. If however your truck has a net payload of 1,200 you will have virtually no payload leftover for people, pets, and stuff. If if has a net payload of 950 you will be overweight.

There are aftermarket products available to make your truck better able to carry the maximum load. Just be aware the weight of those products reduce your net payload by the weight of the product and can not legally increase the GVWR of your truck.

Also, don’t forget to to include the weight of your Weight Distribution hitch when you are figuring out the net payload.

1/2-ton trucks and SUV’s can be very good tow vehicles as long as you keep within the OEM’s weight ratings.

 

1/2-ton trucks and SUV’s can be very good tow vehicles as long as you keep within the OEM’s weight ratings.

I was with you until that last sentence.

You do say "can be", but what would you feel comfortable towing behind my Durango V6 (rated at 6,200 lbs.) or the Ram 1500 V8 (rated at 8,100)?

I've never tried pulling anything with the Durango, but an empty 16' flatbed was terrible behind my '14 Ram 1500, and better behind the '21 1500, being a little longer and heavier, but not exactly good.

Keep in mind that I'm not one of the "can't even tell it's back there" people. If I couldn't feel that there's something in tow there would be something wrong with me, but I don't want the trailer to be overly noticeable either. Which with a light and short tow vehicle they tend to be...in my experience.

 

Where is the op? Posted once and left.
(end thread)

 

Sorry, I've been here, also been busy and wanted to see what kind of feedback I got. I do appreciate the info, maybe not what I wanted to see but probably what I needed to see.

Truck stats are in my bio, 2023 Ram 1500 V6 etorque and I've seen the 3 figures listed iny original post for max tow weights. We were looking at a Bullet camper dry weight 5,970. I was trying to stay around 5,000 myself like one of you suggested and that Bullet is a bit heavier than I'm comfortable with but my wife really liked it.

Since my OP and reading responses we've started looking again and have a couple good possible options under 5,000 dry, brands most of us have seen on the interstate.

When it comes to transmission I looked over consumer reports before choosing RAM and it looked like consumer reports liked them better when it comes to engine and transmission issues over time. If I understood, one of you seemed to suggest that newer RAMs do better? I'm hoping so.

 

The biggest factor with towing is proper weight distribution.

A properly loaded truck & trailer will roll down the road like butter.. when you got it perfect the trailer isn't hardly noticable.

Beyond that the closer you get to max.... Or the more you go over max rated towing capacity the longer the vehicle will take to accelerate, stop and climb. Moreover the more stress is placed on suspension & powertrain. Not a single geographical location is the same. One person experience on the west coast isn't anything like the mid west or south. Your truck will tell you when it's not happy or when something is wrong. Listen to it.

 

Beyond that the closer you get to max.... Or the more you go over max rated towing capacity the longer the vehicle will take to accelerate, stop and climb. Moreover the more stress is placed on suspension & powertrain.

No reason to tow anything for those physics to take effect. The performance losses begin when adding a single pound and only go up from there.

On some vehicles (think 1/2-ton) the negative effects become very obvious long before reaching max towing capacity, with others the rated capacity can be exceeded by 30-50% without affecting performance by all that much.

For example, if memory serves me my 3500 would've gained about 6,000 lbs. of rated towing capacity by going with 4.10 gears instead of 3.73s. But I tend to drive a bit fast for having 4.10s, which would've put the engine at 2,200 rpm at 80 mph, so I compromised. And it still gets the occasional 39,000 lb. CGVWR up the hills here in the Rockies.

 

I will definitely listen to my truck, maybe even see if I can rent a similar camper for a short drive first. I'm not going to miss the tongue weight either, just figured if the whole trailer was too heavy then I didn't have to look further. I'm planning to get a mechanics opinion too as he'll be looking at the actual truck and it's equipment and condition. I'll ask him about the brakes being smaller as I've heard of upgrading brake components when pulling trailers before.

 

I'll ask him about the brakes being smaller as I've heard of upgrading brake components when pulling trailers before.

Good. You can't have too much braking power available.

Yes, the trailer should handle slowing itself down with its own brakes, but they aren't flawless or 100% reliable. Thankfully it's rare that I need to use the brakes due to the excellent exhaust brake on the 3500, but I still opt for disc brakes on the trailers, just in case.

 

Ok I looked at the door sticker again and saw it with different eyes I guess, GVWR is 6,900 which almost matches what the dealer told me. Based on previous posts I should definitely not tow a trailer heavier than that and should give myself a nice cushion. A camper that is 5,970 dry is probably pushing it although I've considered putting some gear in the back seat or truck bed but then I'd have to be careful not to overload the truck itself after checking the tongue weight of the trailer.

Am I starting to get the math at least?

Probably safer with a lighter camper so hopefully some of those under 5,000 will work well for my wife.

 

A camper that is 5,970 dry is probably pushing it although I've considered putting some gear in the back seat or truck bed but then I'd have to be careful not to overload the truck itself after checking the tongue weight of the trailer.

You'll have to get a good weight distributing hitch no matter what, so the tongue weight isn't that big of a deal. Of course, you should still do your best to stay under the GVWR even after transferring some weight to the trailer and front axle.

Most likely your 1500 has P-rated tires, which is another thing to pay attention to. Exceeding their limits can make things ugly.

 

You should have enough load capacity to hold up to whatever the axles end up having to support. Ideally with a decent reserve.

Be prepared for the soft suspension and shocks not necessarily getting along with the stiffer sidewalls and higher pressures when not towing or fully loaded.

 

I've been hauling the living shit out of this 1500 Silverado

I guess it has the taller gears since its 2wd and v6, so it magically looses almost 6000# of capacity on the same chassis.

I've been hauling garbage out of my backyard all summer with it.

Bumper pulling a deck over. I'm scaling on average 11,000# a trip.

Yeah, fresh brakes, fresh tires, fresh wires, a respectful brake controller. I probably should change the engine oil. I roll load range Fs on the tandem and Es on the truck

Gwvr and tires/axles, im legal.

I honestly don't think you can get a ticket or citation trying to burn up a gearbox.

So far I've removed 94 ton.

Another load ready for Monday!!! I promise I'll probably not change the ATF too.

 

Good news is my wife is totally game to look at some of the lighter weight campers we've found. We just haven't gotten to do so yet because...life. After reading through all this, yes I eliminated one camper she really liked but overall, my original target dry weight was 5,000lbs dry which some of you essentially confirmed and now I feel even more confident that is a good number. I can read the sticker in my door frame for more than just tire size now too; I have looked at the tires I'm likely to replace my current one's with and none of the options I'd already looked at were P rated but I still have to make sure I'm doing their load calculations correct.

 

Great you are closer to the numbers that will work for you and your truck good luck with the search. The only thing I could add is go over everything thoroughly on any new trailer before completing the transaction make sure everything functions as it should and everything is assembled correctly inside and outside. If it has mismatched panels, shoddy fitment damaged finishes make sure to get it fixed before signing or look for another unit. Run the shower, sinks, toilets, fridge, AC, heater, stove, microwave, generator try all the outlets because the warranties often suck no lemon law protections apply in most states. Some RV dealers only seem concerned with making a single sale not a satisfied or a return customer and will add a lot of they are just sellers and don't imply the RVs fitness for any specific purpose. not responsible for warranty service and repairs language in their contracts. On the other end of the spectrum some dealers will go over everything and repair things before they put it on the lot to generate business.