I have a 05 2500 4x4 Quad cab Laramie 3.73 with auto. How big of a 5th wheel toyhauler can I comfortably tow? How big of a tag toyhauler? I have experience towing a 28ft tag with a racecar and equipment but want to know how much the truck can safely handle on longer trips. 2-3 atv plus gear will be in trailer. Thanks Bret

 

I guess it depends on if you are wanting to stay within the truck's ratings.

With a 2500 or a 3500 single rear wheel, it's the rear axle weight limit that will usually be exceeded first with a 5th wheel, since 5th wheels can place 20% of the trailer's weight on the hitch. Toyhaulers w/tanks full and garage empty might be higher.

Add the weight of the hitch assembly and other stuff in the truck...

Anyway, I ran a 30' Patio Hauler with an 03 3500 SRW. It put around 2000 pounds in the truck.

Since empty weight for vehicles is often off, it would be a good idea to load your truck with people and camping gear as you would for a trip, and run it over a scale.

That would tell you what you have left, in the way of load capacity, before you would be over the axle rating, or the gross vehicle weight rating.

 

That's the same truck I have. You can find what Dodge says here:

http://www.dodge.com/bodybuilder/year.pdf

It'll be about 13K total trailer and cargo and passengers.

I've run about 18K gross, truck and bumper pull brick trailer together. With 35" tires into a killer wind it would barely stay in OD, but it ran up the "Grapevine" at 65 in third. There is a continuing and raging debate here about towing and weight.

I did put in a BD valve body, EGT, boost, and transmission gauges, and a double deep transmission pan. EGTs are the limiting factor, unless the torque converter is unlocked, then trans heat will be.

 

i have a 96 that i tow an $80k weekend warrior ftl 4005 with and it does great. i dont have much for mods but here they are: Alcoa's, toyo ht's, 3kgsk, timing bump, 10 plate, afe stg 1, 4inch turbo back, hx35/40 hybrid,inline pac brake, bd full roller bearing trannie with tripple disk converter, bd tork lock(the one with three positions), and a giant trannie cooler with fan. we weighed in at the scales last weekend at 31k and our truck tows it everywhere i want to go up any hill.

 

I'm not worried about the engine to much, more concerned with 2500 single wheel truck hauling a large toyhauler. I figure if I need more hp, I can just buy some goodies

 

I pull a 37ft Raptor with no problems at all. I think we are around 15k-16k in trailer weight. I do have a Jake brake becuase I am in mountains quite a bit. Power is no issue just keep the RPMs up and the EGTs stay down.

 

Depends on what you want to call comfortable towing. I ran a 96 3/4 with a 29 foot fifth wheel at about 16 k gross combined that made a very comfortable package on the road. With the upgrade to the HH fifth at 14k gross trailer, that wasnot a nice package on the road. With the dually at 21k, it's a much better package on the road.
If you're going to look at bumper pull, you'll quickly run into the 10k hitch limit.

Bill

 

Yeah I got my eye on a 29ft 5er. 33'8" overall length 1297lbs hitch, ship weight 8150, GVWR w/brakes 11457lbs. I am thinking that my 2500 chassis should have no problem with that, right?

 

I've pulled a 27ft 5er, ship weight 7800, gvwr 11800 over 12,000 in the last nine months with my 2500 and have had no problems. I really recommend weighing your setup - find a CAT scale and do it empty, then full. Don't overload your tires or your axles and you'll probably be fine. If you don't have one, get an exhaust brake.

 

31k gross with that WW 4005? Holy crap. I remember reading on rv.net a few years back about some guy who got one of the new Full Throttles and was about that heavy too. He ended up with an F550 to be legal.

That's why I ended up with a Raptor. Mine's the 40' model (single slide, but 14' garage). Empty it has 9500 on the axles and 2800 pin weight. Fully loaded with two 4x4 ATVs, propane, water, food, clothes, tools, etc, etc, the trailer is right at 17k. And I don't fill the water tank until I get close to camp (if dry camping), so it's usually around 16k.

ShutUpAndHoldOn, what do you get for fuel economy when towing, and at what speed do you run? I hang out around 60-62 mph and have gotten a low of 9 and a high of 12, depding on wind and terrain. I met a guy in Elko, NV with a truck just like mine, but an auto (and a Raptor) who said he never gets better than 7 at similar speeds.

Rob

 

You should be fine with that trailer. I would get some airbags if the trailer squats the rear of the truck at all. I personally tow a Fleetwood Gearbox 375, which is a 40' 5th wheel that knocks on 17k completely loaded with sandcar, quads and all of our necessities. My truck is happiest at around 62mph in 5th gear but if I want 6th I need to be at 65+. Eric

 

I was just looking at a rpm/mph chart, and the NV5600 with 3.54s should be at 1800 at 62 mph. My 05/G56 is at 2000. My truck is absolutely happy in 6th at that speed. I'm wondering why yours isn't?

I wonder... my 2001 always felt like it wanted more RPM. It just didn't "feel" right, so I rarely used my US Gear Overdrive that I had on it.

Then I got my 2003 automatic, and it felt the same way. THEN they did that funky radiator hose recall that everybody was talking about, because of the vibration it caused. Well, that weird "feeling" went away!! It was the recall that did it. So I knew that my 2001 was affected by it too even though nobody ever diagnosed that as a problem on the 2nd gens. That might be what you're feeling too. Thing is, I dunno how to correct it on a 2nd gen.

Rob

 

Rob,

I get about the same 9-12 mpg at around 55-60mph. I drive in mountains quite a bit so it spend a lot of those miles either screaming near redline or on the exhaust brake. I have never seen anything lower than 8-9. I am not sure it the auto makes that big of a difference. Most of the time I am gearing down to control EGTs so I don't think a 6 speed would help much.

 

Shutupandholdon, you mention you spend a lot of time around redline. I'm wondering how hot you let the EGT's get before you do that. On my truck if I get it around redline I feel like it's just a screaming engine not making much power, I try to stay between 1,800- 2,400rpm and that feels where good power is at. In the hills I've just gotten used to the EGT's hovering in the 1,200's.

RobG, what size tires are you factoring in on your equation? It's been a few weeks since I last had the trailer hooked up but I think I'm around 2,000rpm in 5th at 62. Currently, I have 285/70R17's. Like I said I can't remember my exact rpm's but I tow a lot by the sound of the truck. In 6th at 62 mph it just sounds and feels like I'm putting to much load on the drivetrain. Also, it will have a higher boost number than if I go down a gear to 5th so I feel like I get better mileage with the lower boost number. Eric

 

Eric,

My pyro is mounted post turbo in the brake. I try to limit the EGTs to 1000 (1300ish pre turbo) if I am on a big climb. On long steep hills (10%-12% grades), I need to pull it down to second gear because the EGTs climb too high in third. If I try to leave it in third I don't get enough boost to cool it. I only need to keep the RPMs up so I can keep up with traffic and not get sucked into the Semi lane which is doing about 10mph.