Okay. Back from a 2300 mile trip from KC to Grand Canyon thru 9 states, including Southern Colorado Rockies. From about 590 ft elevation to 11,000 ft. We fought a stiff headwind, wouldn't you know it, both coming and going. The truck pulled it. It did not pull it easily. It had to use a lot of engine rpm to do it, especially in the mountains. I believe the 3.55 rear axle had a lot to do with that. The rest of the drive train, IMO, is sufficient. If you occasionally go to the East Coast, it would be fine. In the Midwest, the setup is fine. But If I ever go West coast again, I'll have a bigger, beefier truck...
For what its worth... I got a P0405 and P0406 error during the trip. This relates to a EGR valve issue. The Dodge has a "Digital" sensor to tell the EGR valve to open or close. It did not seem to effect the engine performance at all, fuel economy may have been affected. (Maybe from "Poor" to "Very Poor") When I was not pulling the trailer, after 10 to 20 miles, the light would go out. This never happened before while pulling in Missouri. So I'm not sure if that was due to elevation change or because the engine was sucking a higher volume of fuel. I had bought a replacement EGR valve, but haven't installed. I see no reason to change it now. ( Stealership wanted $120 for one and would have to order it in, O'Reilly's had one in stock for $39.00)
Bottom Line - I'm looking to trade up to a 3/4 ton truck with 3.9ish rear axle gears.
Thank you all for your input!