I Have a 96 Dodge 5.9 Diesel, 2500, 354 gears, 4x4, long bed, air bags. I what to buy a 5th wheel trailer that weights dry 11800 lbs., I will be adding about 2000+ lbs. more in weight. I trailer dealer says that my truck is not big enought to haul the trailer.
What do I need to do to pull this much weight safely? What is the differance between a 96 and a 03 Dodge to get the ratings up.
Thank you,
Al

 

Get G rated tires, and if you do not have the camper package, add the helper leafs, it'll go ok. Good shocks, especially on the front will help greatly.

 

Good Day!
Okay, here's the deal -- all is well until you get into an accident or you're screwtinized by some local constabulary, then it's insurance cancellation-time or fine-time.
I recommend you buy a truck that is rated to pull the trailer.

 

I think there may be a difference in towing capacity between the 5-speed and automatic also, and whether you have a regular cab or extended cab (due to the additional weight of the extended cab). What do you have? I no longer have the towing capacities for the '95 I used to have, but the towing capacity for an '02 is 13,600/13,200 for the regular cab/quad cab, with no difference for the auto/manual tranny nor the 3.55/4.10 rear end. You should be able to find the towing weights for a '96 by doing a search on the web.

 

As far as the differences between the '96 and the '03, I'm not sure other than a more powerful engine and different available transmissions. I checked Dodge's towing guide (WWW.DODGE.COM, under the 'shop and buy' option, there is a towing guide option), and it appears to me the '03 can't tow that much either (apples to apples comparison; 4X4 long bed w/3.73 rear end). Once again, it depends on the engine/transmission combination, whether it's a 4X2 or 4X4, and whether it's a long bed or short bed. The more the truck weighs, the less you can tow. That's why a 4X4 has a lower towing rating than a 4X2, etc. :-

Was it your Dodge dealer that told you the truck was under-rated for the trailer or was it the RV dealer? If it was the RV dealer, I have to commend them since most RV dealers just want to make a sale and will tell the customer 'oh, no problem. Your truck can handle it'. : I also have to commend you for being concerned since many people don't even worry about whether they are overloaded or not.

 

This should handle it:

2003 Ram Truck 3500 SLT, Quad Cab, 4x4, Long Bed, Manual 6-Speed w/ Dual Rear Wheel, 5.9L 24V Turbo Diesel High Output engine:

With the 4.10 rear, rated at 15300 and a GCWR of 23000.

My dads old '96 3500 DRW was only rated at around 13000 or so (If I remember right).

 

His truck should be rated for 20,300 gcwr, subtract 7250 for the truck weight and he can pull the trailer. On the B cab some of the 3/4 tons are rated for more trailer than the duelly but less gvw.

 

you gotta look at three things:

GCWR. what haulin said.

GVWR. weight of the truck with you and passengers in it, plus hitch weight. This is what really gets you for 5vers in a 3/4 ton -- hitch weight in the bed. They can pull lots of TTs (hitch weight is limited to 1,000 lbs anyway for the older ones), you can't put a great deal more than that in the bed for the 5ver hitch weight. Especially if your hitch weighs 300 lbs...

to find your acceptable trailer hitch weight (pin weight), weigh your truck (with your 5ver hitch installed) on a DOT scale, then subtract GVWR-actual weight. What's left is what you can tolerate for hitch weight, passengers and cargo. don't even think about a bedroom slide. Most of the small to medium 5vers should be ok but you gotta check out the numbers to make sure.

GAWR. total weight on the rear axle must be less than its rating. same for front axle. this is seldom a limiting factor for the CTDs, which for years have put the 1-ton axles in the 3/4 ton trucks.

 

I must commend the RV dealer for being honest. BUT what yo need to look at is the CGVW. Your owners manual will tell you that with 3.54 gears you have a CGVW of 16,000 pounds. If you had 4.10 gears you would have a CGVW of 20,000 pounds. Will it pull it? Sure it will. Will you have a problem doing it? Probably not. Will you evetually get into trouble running overweight? Probably. If it involves an accident your insurance carrier might walk away because you were over the design limits of the truck. Will they? I don't even want to hazard a guess.
Tom

 

Thank you all for the replies. I just came back from my insurance company (AAA of California) and they said
that I am insured what ever I pull. Know matter how much it weights. But I am still concerned if I put some
performance parts on will that help? And what can I do to get my truck rating up? Bigger brakes more power
exaught brake? So is the GCVW the total combined weight of the truck and trailer? So if the truck weights
7000 lbs. and the trailer is 15000 lbs. loaded that means the total GCVW is 22000lbs.?

Thanks again,
Al

 

I have a question for you. Have you ever pulled a trailer? If so, Was it anywhere near the weight of the one you want to by? There is a huge difference between talking about pulling a trailer, and doing it. If you have never pulled before, I would not recomend get behind the wheel of your truck while it is attached to a large heavey trailer. Also, your insurance might say now you are insured, but wait till you kill someone. Also, I wouldn't be so worried about the insurance company, It's the ones that were injured that will have the law suit. Also, if you are set on getting your trailer, go ahead and put the hitch in (I thought you said 5th wheel), then atleast test drive the trailer, that way you kind of get a feel of what you will be getting into. Please, don't get me wrong. I love pulling trailers, always have. But I never needed someone off the web to tell me weather my truck could handle it, it's learned. Start small, and good luck.

 

you can't do anything to get the "rating" up. once you are overloaded, you are overloaded by any measure that matters to you (insurance, lawsuits, etc.).

and yes, gross combination weight rating, GCWR, is the total weight of everthing that is moving down the road in response to pressure on the go pedal . All 3/4 ton trucks of any make and model that I know of are overloaded at that weight; none are rated at more than 21,000 GCWR and thats a late model CTD.

Really, y-not is right. take what he said to heart.

As to the problems you may encounter, that involves identifying the weak spots in your truck. First, a 14,000 lb 5ver may very well have a hitch pin weight that is too heavy for your rear springs. you may have to get air bags. I bet you're over GVWR by a few hundred pounds. GVWR is the weight of everthing that the axles bear -- curb weight plus cargo plus hitch plus passengers plus hitch pin.

Then, the brakes might not be up to that much. Really, 22,000 lbs is more than you should bite off, especially with no experience towing. you're just asking for trouble. But you could put on an exhaust brake, but the older automatics are real iffy for that, so be careful what you do there. That would require some mods to the tranny in all likelihood.

The auto itself may just not be strong enough to pull that much. that will be very expensive to modify your tranny. Alternatively, you'll just stress it more when you pull that much.

power wise, you'll be weak, but that depends on what you learn when you actually go out and pull. most experienced 5ver pullers would like more power than a stock '96 has. You can beef it up power wise.

So I guess the answer to your question is this: put $5K into the tranny, $1K in to an exhaust brake, $500-$1K for air bags, a set of injectors ($500-$1K), or perhaps just a different fuel plate and injector pump timing (a few more hundred), $300 for scotty air, $800 for 4" exhaust.

After spending all that, you'll still be overloaded, and the service brakes will be insuficient. The combination of inexperience, overloaded, and over powered could be deadly!

If you are committed to pulling 22K, you need an 03-04 dually.

 

Thanks for your concern. I have pulled a 24' box pull trailer for awhile. It weighted about 9000 lbs.
The trailer that I was thinking about, is a fifth wheel and is a lot heavier. I am not worried if I can
drive the truck with the trailer, I was wondering how I could pull it easier. I know a lot of people
pull more weight than this with the same truck. I was trying to see if there is anything that I could
do to the truck to make it safer until I can purchase a bigger truck. It is great to have feedback from
those of you that pull 5th wheels.

Thank you all,
Al

 

If you had the 5 speed and 4.10 rear then you would be OK. But the truck is over its max rating and tow rating.

 

I'mglade to hear you have some experiance with trailers, so you are not "new" to the game. I personally feel that anyttime you pull a trailer over 10,000lbs, or have a gcwr of over 17,000lbs, you should be in a dually. That is why they were made, not only are the more capable of hualing heavey weight, But they offer a much more stabile platform from which to opperate. If you ever have the chance to tow with one, you will see what I mean. Also, I pursonally don't like having so much rear axel weight on just two tire, they are alwasy maxed out, and if you ever have a flat on one, you will have virtually no control.