Was looking in my owners manual and it says the GCVW of a diesel with an auto is 12,000 and a manual is 16,000, is the auto really that bad? Thinking of buying a 20 foot enclosed trailer to bring to shows (I am a Classic Mopar Parts Vendor) and trailer the occasional car in (might be towing my Dad's 70 Charger to Vegas in a couple of weeks). Would a 20 foot enclosed trailer with a 3,700 pound car be too much for it? The truck weighs about 5,000 pounds with half a tank of diesel.

BTW - My truck is a 92 3/4 ton, 3.54 gears, auto w/ OD, stock except for an ASA intake. Also do not have any gauges yet and don't have time to put any in before I leave for Vegas in three weeks.

 

I dont know if this will help but I have a dually that I haul a 16' trailer that weighs 2300 lbs and skid steers that weigh between 6500 and 8000 lbs and didnt have any problems towing the bigger skid steer. I tow in drive it seems to get to hot in O.D. but i dont tow on highway much maybe someone else can give you some better advice on highway towing.

 

I tow a 35' 5th wheel camper on highway all the time no problem. It's not heavy compared to others who'll chime in fairly soon, you know ...bragging rights and all, ...

 

I have a 20' enclosed trailer that wieghs in at about 12,000 loaded and 4,500 empty and I tow it 5 out of 7 days a week with my 3/4 ton and it does just fine, I tow mainly on two lane mountain roads and some interstate and town, and aside from the occasional swaying at higher speeds on the interstate, due to to much wieght behind the axles on the trailer when loaded incorrectly, which could be easily fixed with a sway bar I think my truck does just fine and feels plenty safe to me. My trucks wieghs in at 7,000 giving me a GVCW of 19,000.


Chris

 

You Getrag guys are gonna be able to jerk things around a lot easier than a stock automatic.

No heavier than a little bitty old enclosed trailer full of parts with another trailer behind it with a muscle car and a couple spare engines should be nothing too heavy for your Cummins/automatic.

Now, a thirty-two foot gooseneck cram-full of cows might be a different story.

 

That's what they said in 1992. With an auto, you could get up to 14,000 from 12,000 if you installed additional transmission cooling (I did). And that's COMBINED. When I drag my 7500# 5er, I'm just within the dealer limits.

Now we all know that this is ridiculous in terms of pulling something - that diesel will pull much more - but for how long, etc. Another big factor is how well it stops that weight - and Dodge isn't known for its brakes.

I'd say take it since it's cooler right now, and take it easy, on this trip. Then look into the things that can make that auto do some real work without burning up. There's lots of info here on that.

Regards, DBF

 

Thanks for the help! Going to do the 3 inch brake conversion before I go, hopefully that will help the brakes out a lot. Don't have the extra tranny cooler on it unfortunately, my rig has zero options on it, only AC (and I think that was standard on the diesel's).

 

Why does everybody knock Dodge brakes ? From what I've seen Ford used the same rear brake equipment(shoes anyway). I've also drove enough of the other stuff to know that it has as much to do with keeping everything in good shape and adjustment. I also know that 2 vehicles of the same brand don't always act the same.Since the parts we put on the trucks now is not the same as what they had at the time the trucks were built there is a difference and also from one manufacturer to the next. As far as combined GVW remember the manufacturer has to set a limit low enough to prevent huge warranty claims if things fail below that mark . My 91 pulled lots of loads with a GCVW of 20000 lbs and up off road (logs, hay)and on (tractors)
and in the 300,000 km I drove it only only had trans troubles twice . I always ran with those loads with the overdrive off , always let the truck idle to cool off after ,but never had the extra cooler . Never ran much in air temps over 80*F either . Sorry if it sounded like a rant.Nothing man made is perfect if it was we'd never need to fix it.

 

i haul horses and cows all the time, my cummns jerks around 4 good ropin horses in a steel gooseneck stock trailer, i say you'll be fine. hen again, i think my truck was built on a wensday, i dont know about yours.

 

A couple weeks ago xOmertAx posted a tow feat, 17 round bales @ around 1200# each on a 4wheel hitch trailer about 1700#. He towed no problem but the hitch weight was high due to the tlr wheels being far back. He talked about getting overloads on his rear axle. He gave a link to some pretty impressive pix.

 

I'm at 28,000 GCVW frequently, but I have the BIG (~12"sq) 'underbody' tranny cooler, which runs a lot on my 3 mile home stretch w/8% grade . Between the tranny cooler fan and clutch fan on radiator we make a lot of air noise (not for speed... ~ 20 mph) trailer brakes are pretty important, and I'd be careful on long grades w/o a tranny cooler, definately avoid OD !