NEED ADVICE!!!! We are currently shopping for a new travel trailer. We have been looking at numerous of trailers for around 8 months. What started as fun has turned into a nightmare. Of all the trailers we have looked at our favorite seems to be the Jayco Eagle 308rets. It has a uvw of 7660 and a hitch wgt of 990. It seems that all the trailers we have been interested in are very close in wgt. 6800-7800 lbs empty. Our biggest concern is our tv 2009 Ram 1500 5.7 3.92 rear axle. My concern is with my rear susp. being too soft. Is anyone on the forum towing a trailer of this wgt w/this truck?? Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.
tow vehicle
- Thread starter mikep64
- Start date
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Guest
Guest
i can not really comment on this ,, cause i do not tow ,, i have a MH ,, but from what u have said ,, IMO it is not advisable to tow what u are looking at with what u have for a tow vehicle ,, now it can be done if u want to spend the extra money to have the tow vehicle updated for a towing package,, but u also have to look at the cooling system ,, trans and brakes ,, it all makes a difference ,, but JMO ,, i know others will chime in on their views ,, and others will have a better perspective of the "tow " world ,, i myself only work on them and relay what i know on to the customer ,, but that is it ,, hope this helps u out some 
akjimny
Senior Member
Hi Mike and welcome to the RVUSA Forum. In my opinion you don't have enough truck to tow a trailer of that size/weight. I too have a 2010 Ram 1500 pickup and it was stressed just towing a 16 foot cargo trailer. he folks at the Dodge dealership told me it was okay up to 10,000 pounds, but I think they "over-stated" it a bit.
I wouldn't tow anything like you are looking at with a truck smaller than a 3/4 ton. Othrwise you are going to be slugggish on the road and dangerous on any hills you drive thru.
Hope this helps some. Post back if you have more questions.
I wouldn't tow anything like you are looking at with a truck smaller than a 3/4 ton. Othrwise you are going to be slugggish on the road and dangerous on any hills you drive thru.
Hope this helps some. Post back if you have more questions.
You're truck could pull the weight. However, how safe would you be? It's not the starting that counts, it's the stopping.....especially in an emergency situation.
You want to look at your weight ratings. Look at the GCWR (gross combined weight) of the truck. Fill the gas tank on your truck, put everybody and everything in it (including the hitch, load leveler, etc.) and go weight your truck. Then take the dry weight of the trailer, add a minimum of 500 lbs. for batteries, water and everything else that you'll load in the trailer (1,000 lbs. is more realistic.....you'll be surprised at how much stuff you load in a trailer) and that total plus your truck is your total GCWR.
You also need to know the tongue weight capacity of your truck and the tongue weight of the trailer.
My guess is that you're over the rating.....considerably. Could your truck pull it.....sure. But it'd be stressful and aggrevating for you and it'd wear your truck out prematurely. Also, if you ever were in an accident the weight is one of the first things they'll look at.
You want to look at your weight ratings. Look at the GCWR (gross combined weight) of the truck. Fill the gas tank on your truck, put everybody and everything in it (including the hitch, load leveler, etc.) and go weight your truck. Then take the dry weight of the trailer, add a minimum of 500 lbs. for batteries, water and everything else that you'll load in the trailer (1,000 lbs. is more realistic.....you'll be surprised at how much stuff you load in a trailer) and that total plus your truck is your total GCWR.
You also need to know the tongue weight capacity of your truck and the tongue weight of the trailer.
My guess is that you're over the rating.....considerably. Could your truck pull it.....sure. But it'd be stressful and aggrevating for you and it'd wear your truck out prematurely. Also, if you ever were in an accident the weight is one of the first things they'll look at.