its because ford owns cummins and they told dodge that if they wanted to use a cummins they had to keep their trucks in a lower weight class

but no seriously, what gives? dodge needs to man up in the truck department.

 

Im takin a stab at this

from experience tho, Both the chevy and the frods have more leaf springs, and also their frames (chassis) are thicker as well, but not by much, hence the lower towing capacity..

Tx

 

They know our trucks will do this:



(Full story here) https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...ighlight=towed


But they just don't want to embarrass the competition!

 

Go take a look around the Dodge site and other sites that show factory trailer ratings, and you will be surprised. Here is a little known fact many people don't realize: some 1-tons have a LOWER trailer rating than 3/4 tons! Before you think I'm nuts, go do a search. One of the reasons is that 1-tons weigh more than 3/4 tons, so the extra truck weight has to be removed from the trailer GVW. Here is a link to Dodge trailer ratings:
http://dodgeram.info/2001/towing-charts.html#2500

Notice that a 2001 Dodghe 2500 4x2 std. cab diesel has a max. trailer GVW of 14,150 lbs. But the most a 2001 3500 diesel can tow is 13,900 lbs. The advantage of buying a 3500 is for the increased payload. So if you want a dump truck, buy a 3500. But if you want to tow a heavy trailer, a 2500 is what you want. The exception is if you tow with a gooseneck or 5th wheel, having dual wheels can be helpful for handling.

What I posted above is just the legal ratings. In the real world, our trucks can tow much more than they are rated for.

Jim

 

your tow ratings are kept low for warranty reason i believe

my ford 3/4 ton had the highest tow rating of any ford made in 2000 but there was no way i would hook a 14250 lb trailer to it it wouldn't have been safe i had up to 12000 lbs on it seceral times and it had all it wanted

after owning my one ton ram i know that just because the 3/4 ton has a higher tow rating than a one ton (usually only a couple hundred pound more) doesn't mean you should try and pull it with the 3/4 ton truck. load control and safety of the one tons is far superior

mho

 

Also consider the terrain. The ratings take into consideration all skill levels of drivers and different terrains around the country. Pulling a 20K# trailer might be a piece of cake on a flat midwest road, but around here there are places 6000 lbs. feels heavy.

Jim

 

I've been eyeballing trailers in the 18k range, so I am really hoping the Ram 4500 and 5500 cab and chassis turn out to be nice.

I sure hope they come with a 7 speed stick, or a splitter.

I've found with a 5th wheel you will overload the rear axle on a 2500 or SRW 3500 before you bump up to it's max combined weight rating or max trailer rating. The hitch assembly, people, tools and gear in the truck add up quicker than you would expect, and around 20% of the trailer's weight is on the hitch...

 

Go to the link I posted above, and look for "payload" of your vehicle. Of course different years will be slightly different, but that chart will be pretty close. Just remember that the Payload rating refers to all occupants, tools, etc., as well as the weight of the tongue of the trailer. Most of the 2500s on there ranged from 2900 to 3100 lbs. 2500 lbs. on a 2500 truck is pushing it a little. If the truck was empty and you were the only passenger, you would be fine, although cutting it close. But nobody ever travels with an empty truck, and you will probably be carrying a passenger.

Jim

 

Here in Alberta light commercial goes by the rated tire weight so theoretically you could gross 24,000lbs on a tandem single trailer and a 3/4 ton truck with 235R1685E tires. A dually with a tri-dual trailer can gross with the same tires 54500LBs, so what can a 3/4 ton carry??? The front axle is good for 6084LBS-tires 3042X2, 5200lbs axle spec. The rear axle is rated at 6100lbs, tires 6084lbs but the chassis is rated at 8800lbs gross however the same frame and axles are used in the newer 1 tons (98-2002) with a 12600lb gross- drivleine is the same. Under this system 2400lb pin weight would exceed only the GVW (8800lb) not the axle (6100lb) or tire (6084lb) weight. RV trailer movers use both 3/4 and 1 ton trucks to move any thing up to 40',14000lbs and tandem, tri, single or dual wheel and a lot of this depends on axle location and loaded unloaded design weight. A 3/4 ton with a big load and very good brakes with good hitch weight balance is far safer than a dually with mediocre brakes bad pin weight and an inexperienced driver (multi factor risks. After many years of hauling overdimensional equipment on multi wheel/axle trailers good defensive driving and experience is 70% of knowing how to evaluate ongoing road and traffic conditions. In theory with these loads you are always overweight and under braked with some loads reaching in excess of 1.4 million pounds including lead trucks, pusher trucks and trailers that are set up for each load with multiple deck sizes. Outside temperature plays a role in all this as icy conditions or hot days control speed and component durability. With my gooseneck and camper mounted on top at the front the 2500 is technically over weight on the gross but not the axle. 35psi in the air bags levels the truck and with a 3" ahead of axle pin setting puts me at 5000lbs on the front axle and steers excellent. Also the air bags are on seperate air lines so there is no side to side sway produced from air moving to the bag on high side with the least amount of air. With the camper on the trailer which have a wide axle/spring design it is far more stable in the corners than the same camper on a 1 ton dually. A tri-axle trailer will be even more stable and support more weight evenly as long as it is over the trailer axles, I don't like tri's because of the excessive tire scrubbing in tighter corners and prefer tandem dually but they have a narrower spring track width. I have a buddy with a business where he has 5 1 ton Dodges pulling 5th gooseneck trailers and loads to 30,000lbs regularily, maintenance is higher but this the cost of business. #1 cost to his equipment which by manufacturer standards is overloaded all the time is driver abuse. "How Much can a Dodge Carry" according to our DOT as much as a Ford or Chevy. PK

 

I'm not sure what the payload of a 2500 is, but I know that payload for my SRW 3500 is 2680 and the 2500's are less.

Since me, a passenger, and the hitch assembly are easily over 600 pounds, my SRW 1 ton would be at least 320 pounds overloaded with your 2400 pound pin weight...

Pull U 2, I think you are in need of a dually.

 

Pull u 2
Ford/Dodge/Gm 2500's with the diesels are heavy. Your truck weighs around 7500+ lbs. Subtract that from our 9000 GVWR and that leaves 1500 lbs for you/wife/kids/dogs/junk and 2400 lbs of pin weight. Your overloaded.
The GM/Ford folks are in the same boat with a 2500 truck. These trucks are heavy as some say they weigh 8000+ lbs.
15500 5er with 2400 pin weight is way to much trailer for any 4X4/CC 2500 truck plus you will have issues with the 5" lift with a heavy 5er.
You need to down size the 5er or get the 3500 DRW truck. Good luck.........JIM

 

I think your weights are a little high. My '96 std. cab 4x4 weighs around 6400 with me in the seat (300+ lbs. with me and junk in the cab). My friend with a 2000 F-350 srw 4x4 diesel, x-cab is around 6800. Both were taken from scales. Some of the ratings contradict each other...for example, my truck is rated as having an aprox. 3000 lb. payload capacity. Yet take the 8800 lb. rating on the tag (and from Dodge), subtract 6100 (aprox. weight of the truck empty), and I'm left with 2700 lb. payload. I'm going to go try to find a more extensive listing of payloads, trailer capacities, etc.

Jim