Sorry for the very long post but I have been looking for a place to put these thoughts for a while. Remember, you can skip or speed read this post..............
I tow with a half ton. I have read all the derogatory posts about half-ton towing online. I disagree with the majority of them. I especially disagree with the ones that say that the brakes on half-tons are too small to stop the trailer, the transmission or rear-end gearing is too weak or the suspension is too weak. Those are exactly the items, and others, that the engineers take into consideration when setting the tow rating. I do personally feel that the engineers are under a lot of pressure to set the tow rating as high as possible for competitiveness. That is just my personal thinking and because of that I want a good safety margin between max gross weight of the trailer and the TV tow rating.
However, there is an additional problem when purchasing a half-ton tow vehicle, especially a used one. That problem is knowing "for sure" what the "actual"l tow rating is!! I did a little survey at campgrounds a few years ago and found, not surprisingly to me, that many people towing with half-ton's do not know the actual tow rating of their half-ton truck and likely do not know the actual weight of their loaded trailers. Amazing!! When asked how they found their tow rating many people said "from television advertisements, the salesman told me and other inaccurate sources. Then, while not knowing their actual tow rating they match that truck up with a trailer with a max gross that is very close or at the tow rating. Some even use the empty weight and say they won't carry much...Wrong!! It is no wonder that half-ton tow vehicles have a bad reputation!!
When I bought my first half-ton tow vehicle (a Ram 1500) the salesman and the sales manager claimed the advertised tow rating for their trucks. Well, that was totally wrong!! I don't think they were lying I just don't think they knew and better....not that I don't think salesman lie. In fact not one of the Ram 1500's on their lots, or any other dealers that they checked for me, had a truck with the proper rear-end gear ratio that resulted in that advertised tow rating...if you didn't add any option packages. The trucks on their lots actually had tow ratings that were 1400+ pounds "below" the advertised tow rating. This was because none of the dealers ordered trucks with the lower rear-end gear ration because they wanted the sticker to show the best gas mileage possible. The lower towing gear ratio adds some gas consumption.
In order to get the half-ton truck with the advertised tow rating I had or order the truck and wait for it to be built. So, unless you know what you are doing and know how to properly determine a half-ton vehicle's tow rating for sure...you can go VERY wrong! I was in a dealer's shop getting an oil change and tire rotation while out of town on a long trip. While the truck was being serviced I walked into the showroom. There was a Ram 1500 half-ton in the showroom with a sign plugged into the hitch receiver. The sign read "Tow 10,200 pounds with this truck." WRONG!! The actual max tow rating for that vehicle was 8,800 pounds due to the rear-end gear ratio. Actually, it was less than that due to the option packages that were installed. I brought that to the attention of a salesman and he kindly told me what I was full of...... Later, I walked back out in the showroom to see if I could have more fun with a different salesman and that sign was gone. Go figure!
We do not do much big mountain towing but do a lot of mountain driving in the east...some would call them hills...up to 7,000 foot. We do a 3+ month winter trip and a bunch of two and three-week trips for a total of about 7 months on the road per year. I have no problems at all towing with my half-ton. I have had three half-ton trucks and two TTs. I kept each truck 7 or 8 years. I'll not make this any longer than it is by going into why I bought a half-ton in the first place except to say it involved a health issue and the 3/4 ton rides were all too stiff when not towing. I got the half-ton and a trailer that at max gross weight was 1,000 plus pounds below the tow rating of the truck...and I never had the truck loaded to max gross.
The trailer we have now we really like. I was really surprised at the numbers on this trailer. The listed empty weight is 5,639 pounds (not weighed). The max gross is 10,000 pounds...Wow, that is a theoretical 4,361 carrying capacity. Now, I went against my rule of having a 1,000 + pound safety margin between the tow rating and the max gross on the trailer due to the huge carrying capacity . So the tow rating on my half-ton is 10,200 and the trailer max gross is10,000 pounds. However, as weighed we went on the road at 7,200 pounds. After 3 years of growth we now weighed out on our heaviest and longest trip (last winter)...which was the reason for weighing the loaded trailer again...at just a little over 7,800 pounds. A 2,400 pound delta under our max tow rating... less the small amount of stuff loaded in the truck. I figure that I am at least 1,800+ pounds under my tow rating as loaded for our heaviest and longest trip which is down the east coast and pretty much level ground.
I am very happy with half-ton towing if done properly and the actual weight and rating numbers are determined and used! If asked about tow vehicles I always recommend at 3/4 ton but I am sticking with my "done properly" half-ton. I enjoyed a lower purchase price, lower personal property tax (our state), lower maintenance costs, lower registration costs (our state) and lower insurance costs over a 3/4 ton. I use an Equalizer hitch properly set up and am very happy with the stability and braking, even on panic stops...there have been a few and I was impressed with the stopping distance at speed... (Yikes!). I can run with the big trucks and in the winds and cross winds and have no issues. I run between 60 and 65 MPH, with short excursions higher when passing, and try to stay above 60 on highways. That puts me in a sweet spot in the torque/HP curves.
Other things on the trailer that I like to look at, no matter what I am towing with, are the following. I look at the listed empty weight vs the empty tongue weight. Then I look to see where the storage areas are and see if that makes sense with my goal of coming up with around 12% + or - tongue weight when loaded. In other words, if the empty tongue weight listed is heavy...and most of the storage areas are forward (or the reverse) I would avoid that trailer especially for a half-ton. Next I look at the tire load ranges vs the max gross weight of the trailer. If the manufacturer can squeeze in with a load range that is just good enough he will...not so good. If he just can't fit with the lower load range and has to go up one range...Better! I look at the holding tank capacities. The larger the tanks the longer I can stay on a site without hook ups or with water and electric only. I like 40/40/40 as a minimum for holding tanks. That is pretty large as travel trailers go. Our present trailer has 56 gals fresh water, 76 grey (two tanks) and 41 black. I don't like having forward and aft dump stations. I was pleasantly surprised to find this trailer with a backwater dump valve and two grey-water valves all at the same aft dump outlet. The forward galley grey tank was plumbed all the way to the aft dump outlet...nice! We also have specific floorplan and appliance features that we like but these are personal choices. We have a must have list and a nice to have list for floorplan and appliance features.
OK, I finally got this off my chest...Again sorry for the very long post.
