# Towing it with a Dodge



## Aekisu (Jan 27, 2007)

30' Heartland Bighorn  5th wheel 10,850 Dry & 14,000 GVWR

2006 Dodge 2500 4x4 with a 5.9 Cummins Diesel
My VIN plate says 9000 GVWR 

Checking at the Dodge web site in their tow info, it lists my truck as: 
8510 GVWR and says I can tow 13,500.  If I want to tow 14,000, I should have gone to the 1-ton truck.

Anyway, I'm not worried about the diesel being able to pull it.  This fall, I pulled a 25' moving trailer packed full of furniture, a piano, and the remainder of any entire household, over the rocky mountains.  It never put the Cummins to task.

My concern is the whether or not the trailer will be pushing me all over the road.

Do I have enough truck for the job?


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## DL Rupper (Jan 27, 2007)

Re: Towing it with a Dodge

Hey Aekisu, It depends on how much your 5'er weighs loaded.  You may not load it to the 14K weight.  Personnaly I think you can get by with the 30' 5'er without any problems.  I have been towing a 30' Hitchhiker for 12 years.  My dry weight without my on-board Onon generator is listed at 9800 and my GVWR is listed at 12.5K.  I have never weighed it, because I really don't want to know how much it weighs. I know, not too smart.   I just assume it weighs about 12K, because I don't really load it to the extreme.  However, I have towed the same trailer with a 95 and 03 Dodge CTD 2500 for 12 years with no known problems.  I wouldn't want to tow anything larger than a 30'  trailer with a 2500 (3/4 ton) pickup, but I have seen some really large 5'ers (36' +)being towed with 3/4 ton short bed pickups ( RIDICULOUS).  I'm sure GTS can shed some light on what he tows with his Duramax/Allisons. :laugh:  :bleh:  :approve:


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## hertig (Jan 27, 2007)

Re: Towing it with a Dodge

I'm a bit concerned that the VIN on your truck and the web site do not compare by 500 pounds.  So, for safety, I'd assume your towing limit was 13,000.  Minus 11,000 for the dry trailer, gives you about 2000 pounds for anything you carry in the truck, any passengers, any accessories added to the truck or trailer, anything you weigh over 150 pounds (the value for driver weight they use for computing towing capability), water, sewage, food, clothes, toiletries, trailer hookup stuff and anything else you carry.

Should be doable if you are careful about the weight of stuff you carry, only carry a little water, dump before travelling, etc.  A 'heavy duty' 3/4 ton probably would serve you better, I think.  With your truck, a stop at the scale before each trip is in order.


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## DL Rupper (Jan 27, 2007)

Re: Towing it with a Dodge

Hey John, ALL 2500 Dodge CTD's are HEAVY DUTY.  One size fits all. :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:


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## Aekisu (Jan 27, 2007)

Re: Towing it with a Dodge

The site info was kind of confusing.  One place said the max tow weight was 13000, another 13500, and another said 13750.

I suspect I have the 'heavy duty' version.  I picked up a VIN summary sheet from my dealer.  Listed under options were a Trailer Tow Group (probably the bumper and hitch receiver), Trailer Tow Mirrors, and GVW Rating - 9000#.  Since the standard GVW is 8510, I'm guessing the 9000 GVW makes it a 'heavy duty'.  I think I will go to the Dodge forum and see if I can find out.

Your water comment is interesting. Between the water heater, fresh, grey, and black water tanks, the trailer will hold 222 gallons of water and that's 1852 pounds.

Anyways, I'm feeling a little more comfortable.  I sure appreciate the responses.


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## Grandview Trailer Sa (Jan 27, 2007)

Re: Towing it with a Dodge

I would suspect that Dodge gives you a tow rating for the rear hitch and Fifth Wheel towing.  The Fifth Wheel towing will be higher.  I think you will be fine with your trailer and truck.  

You won't go down the road with all your tanks full.  In fact you are supposed to empy your holding tanks before you travel.  You may have fresh water, but don't add in your holding tanks.  

On that Bighorn, make sure you even have holding tanks.  They shipped 3 into Canada a couple of months ago without any tanks.....


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## hertig (Jan 29, 2007)

Re: Towing it with a Dodge

My 2500HD GMC has a GVWR of 9200, so I suspect you and DL are right, you have the 'HD' equivalent.  And going to a 1 ton for a 30' trailer approaches 'overkill'.  With care, you should be ok.

I know it is better to dump before you travel, but that is not always practical.  If I am travelling from here to there, I might save significant money staying in places which do not have or charge more for dump hookups.  Its not a good idea to dump when your black tank is less than half full or you don't have half a tank of gray water to wash out the lines with anyway, and I don't like wasting water just to fill one or both tanks up to that point.  So I'll often travel 2 or occasionally even 3 days between dumps.


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## Grandview Trailer Sa (Jan 30, 2007)

Re: Towing it with a Dodge

*


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## Grandview Trailer Sa (Jan 30, 2007)

Re: Towing it with a Dodge



In a motor home that might be one thing, but I have always been told it was not legal to travel with a trailers tanks not empty. Fresh water is OK, but just imagine what would be in the road in the event of a wreck.

If I am wrong about the legal part, I would like to know. I am willing to use a little water to get tanks empty and clean.


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## DL Rupper (Jan 30, 2007)

Re: Towing it with a Dodge

Not sure about legality issue, but the only time I travel with my Grey/Black water tanks full is when I have been dry camping and I can't find a place to dump.  Then I travel to the RV Park I plan on camping at that night and dump.  I do hold my breath if I hit any bad/rough sections of road and hope my tanks don't decide to come unglued with the extra weight they are holding.  Just my druthers.  I only travel with about 1/2 tank of fresh water unless I know I'm going to dry camp.  Then I usally fill the fresh water tank.  I always dump my black water tank even if it isn't full and rinse it out with the inside the black tank water spinkler system.


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## hertig (Jan 31, 2007)

Re: Towing it with a Dodge

Full?  I'd try to never travel with the tanks full, would be painful to pay to haul sh*t       But 1/10th filled?  Better than wasting water and time and money to dump.  Probably traveled with partial tanks more when I had the trailer, as we dry camped overnight most of the time in that.


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## TomAndJanie (Mar 7, 2007)

RE: Towing it with a Dodge



> Aekisu - 1/27/2007  2:11 AM
> 
> 30' Heartland Bighorn  5th wheel 10,850 Dry & 14,000 GVWR
> 
> ...



I hope I'm not too late with this.  It seems that nobody has addressed the possible problem, here.  Where you may have trouble is by exceeding the GVWR of your tow vehicle.  That would put excessive stress and strains on all of the truck's suspension, steering, brakes, etc.  I had to trade trucks when I found out that I exceeded the GVWR on my 3/4 ton by 900 lbs once loaded!  We traded trailers and the truck seemed to pull well enough, but when I got it onto the CAT scale I found out that we'd bought more trailer than the truck was designed to safely handle.  Our trailer, now pulled by a 1 ton dually, weighs 10,500 empty and has a GVWR of only 12,100.  It is 31' 6" long.  According to the scale, we were safely within every rating (frt axle, rear axl, GCWR, and trailer weight) EXCEPT GVWR.

The scale cost me less than $8.00 and sure was worth it!


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## bufordtpisser (Mar 21, 2007)

RE: Towing it with a Dodge

Can some elaborate on the actual meanings of some of these acronyms. GVW, GCRW, GVRW, etc. etc. etc. There are so many of them that they start running together.


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## hertig (Mar 21, 2007)

Re: Towing it with a Dodge

GVWR is Gross Vehicle Weight Rating.  It is the maximum the vehicle is 'allowed' to weigh.

GCWR is Gross Combined Weight Rating.  It is the maximum the vehicle and anything it can tow is 'allowed' to weigh.

GAWR is the Gross Axel Weight Rating.  There is one for each axel and is the maximum weight which is 'allowed' on that axel.  By law, this is limited to 20,000 pounds no matter how much the axel will really handle.  Usually the rear axel is the more interesting one.

'Dry Weight' is the weight of the vehicle empty, except for a 150 pound driver.

'Wet Weight' is the weight of the vehicle empty, except for the number of 150 pound people it is rated for, full water and full fuel.


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