Hi Guys,

I'm a brand new to diesels and the forum, this is my first post. Based on the information I see posted, I figure this is the place to get some straight answers.
So, here's my situation:

My wife and I recently purchased a fifth wheel and truck package from a private party.
Truck is in great shape, has 104k miles on it, runs strong, has been well maintained.
I assumed that the truck was well matched to the fifth wheel, and, that if I was wrong I could beef it up or swap it out for another if needed.

Well, looks like my assumption was wrong.

Dodge doesn't rate the truck as configured to be beefy enough to tow the fifth wheel at it's fully loaded weight.

My truck weighs 7100 lbs with me, my wife, fifth wheel hitch and a full tank of diesel.
Trailer weight 7800 empty.
That's 14900, so far so good.

Trailer weighs 11800 fully loaded. I don't anticipate fully loading the trailer, I figure that's worst case, but there may be some additional items in the truck, too...
So figure the total is 18900 and I'm then 2900 over the rated 16000 combined weight for the truck.

I'd appreciate some suggestions on how to proceed.

I could:

0) Do nothing and hope it doesn't fail (yeah, right...)

1) swap the 3.54 gears for 4.10s. That gets me to 18000 according to Dodge. Still a little short.

2) beef up the tranny. I've seen options from DTT, ATS and Goerend - valve body, Torque Converter, Transmission, Input/Output shafts, etc.

3) Sell the truck and buy one that's actually rated heavy enough to do the job.

4) There's gotta be other things I've not thought of yet ...

Thoughts? Recommendations?

David

 

I think that you are perfectly fine for the truck and trailer since your truck has the tow package with overload springs, as long as the trailer's brakes are good. Especially if you are not going to drive with the trailer 100% of the time.
-P

 

the ratings from dc are SEVERELY under-rated. the truck will handle it just fine. however, there is the legal standpoint since technically you will be overloaded. if ever involved in an accident and someone decides to check weights, you may be in for a hassle.
you will only be 18% overweight.
the law generally doesnt look closely at large trucks towing travel trailers, heck over here they let anyone with a tundra or explorer get away with squatting 30*.
i think you'll be just fine. truck especially.

 

I haul heavy quite a bit up and down the AlCan hwy and thats what took out my tranny. Same one as yours. I didn't add any power until the tranny went, and I upgraded to something better. If you've got the coin, the transmission is a great place to start.

 

cameroneod - When you say "haul heavy on the AlCan", how much of a load is heavy? Is 18,900 truck+trailer not considered heavy for my 2500 which is rated at 16000?

 

If you put #4000 in your camper, you have bigger problems. Do you realize thats 2 tons. I can see #2000, but #4000 no way.
I took my 3 week trip to Disney world last year. It was the most stuff we ever put in the camper and that was #1400 of added weight. That was everything except the kitchen sink. I weighed it with 40 gals. of fresh water and a good 20-30 gals. of grey and black (no dumpsite close to home).

You will be fine.

By the way, my camper is a 27' travel trailer.

 

RockysInMyBlood:
You need to weigh your setup to get the basic info you need to make a decision you're comfortable with. You need the loaded weight on each of the tow vehicles axles with and w/o the 5er and the weight on the 5er's axles [hooked up to the TV is fine].
Then:
TV rear axle with 5er minus TV rear axle w/o 5er is the pin weight.
Gross [GVW] and the rest is self-explanatory.
Your payload rate is 2380.
Curb weight is 6568 [ at 7100 you're already using up some of the payload]
Keep your waste tanks empty and a minimum in your water tank will help.
You may have a problem pulling in the mountains with that 3.55 gear, otherwise the truck will probably be OK. The basic question is how comfortable you are with the numbers and none of us can help with that.

 

Once again, around and around, advise, hook it up and go travel. There is no published GCWR on the door jamb. I ran over 300,000 miles with a gross weight near 30,000 on a 2500. And in combination with a fifth wheel the GVWR no longer is in effect, just the axle weights.

 

Also, the 355 gear will not hurt you on the hills, it will just downgear sooner. It only hurts you at slow speeds in first. You run about one gear down with the faster gears. The output at the rear wheels is the multiplication of the transmission gear and the rear axle ratio. It will just be more sluggish starting off on a hill, going down the road is the same if you are in the proper gear.

 

I would keep my fluid changed annually if you tow/haul much. I believe these trucks have tranny coolers, which are aided by the cooling fan?
I would put a tranny fluid gaige to keep up with the heat.
If anything, a bigger cooler & electric fan may help in hot weather . heat destroys auto's. Keep your rpm's up on the grades, also helps to keep things cool.