I'm going to be purchasing a 2019 Dodge Ram 1500 and need some help determining what travel trailer will be safe to pull.
The truck has:
Towing Capacity : 8040 lbs.
Payload : 1520 lbs.
GVWR: 6900 lbs.
GCWR - 13,800 lbs.
I live in Colorado and will be in the mountains at times. My neighbor is a very experienced RVer with a huge 5th wheeler. He told us to keep the weight of the trailer (with our stuff in it) at about 70% of our towing capacity. I've been looking at trailers with a Dry Weight of around 4700 lbs or less. Does that sound reasonable? There will be three people but can't I imagine we will be bringing so much stuff as to bring us over the 70% mark of towing capacity. (All the trailers we have looked at have at least that as their cargo capacity). The trailer will be used mostly as a place to sleep and not necessarily to be making meals, etc so I don't foresee a lot of weight in food and kitchen supplies.
I'm concerned though because I know that I need to take into account payload as well. I know that includes everyone in the car (for us that's 480 lbs) and everything in the car. The part that I'm unsure about is the hitch weight. The trailers have a dry hitch weight listed but do I calculate the hitch weight based on a full camper? One of the ones I looked at has a hitch weight of 600 lbs. with a dry weight of 4629 lbs. Another one has a hitch weight of 434 lbs. and a dry weight 4735 lbs. I don't think I understand the hitch weight well enough to calculate this. I'm concerned that when I calculate that I'm not leaving a lot of room for stuff in the truck.
I'm a total newbie so I hope that what I'm asking are the right questions. I'm nervous that you don't know what you don't know and from reading the forums I feel like there's a lot I don't know.
Thanks for your help!
The truck has:
Towing Capacity : 8040 lbs.
Payload : 1520 lbs.
GVWR: 6900 lbs.
GCWR - 13,800 lbs.
I live in Colorado and will be in the mountains at times. My neighbor is a very experienced RVer with a huge 5th wheeler. He told us to keep the weight of the trailer (with our stuff in it) at about 70% of our towing capacity. I've been looking at trailers with a Dry Weight of around 4700 lbs or less. Does that sound reasonable? There will be three people but can't I imagine we will be bringing so much stuff as to bring us over the 70% mark of towing capacity. (All the trailers we have looked at have at least that as their cargo capacity). The trailer will be used mostly as a place to sleep and not necessarily to be making meals, etc so I don't foresee a lot of weight in food and kitchen supplies.
I'm concerned though because I know that I need to take into account payload as well. I know that includes everyone in the car (for us that's 480 lbs) and everything in the car. The part that I'm unsure about is the hitch weight. The trailers have a dry hitch weight listed but do I calculate the hitch weight based on a full camper? One of the ones I looked at has a hitch weight of 600 lbs. with a dry weight of 4629 lbs. Another one has a hitch weight of 434 lbs. and a dry weight 4735 lbs. I don't think I understand the hitch weight well enough to calculate this. I'm concerned that when I calculate that I'm not leaving a lot of room for stuff in the truck.
I'm a total newbie so I hope that what I'm asking are the right questions. I'm nervous that you don't know what you don't know and from reading the forums I feel like there's a lot I don't know.
Thanks for your help!