I am interested in purchasing a 31ft travel trailer with a dry weight of 7465lbs. I figure loaded & ready to camp there will be an additional 1200lbs tops. The ram builder sheet shows a max trailer weight of 8400lbs for my 2010 hemi crew cab 4x4 with 3.55's. I will have a WDH with sway control, electric brake control, air bags & LT tires. I know I may be about 200lbs overloaded but will this still be safe? I tow the camper about 8 times a summer for no more than 100 miles at a time. How will the truck do? Any long term damage or safety concerns? I don't see how being this close can hurt but I know I am maxing the truck out for sure.
I would think it would handle it fine but you may wanna look into some airlift helper bags for the rear they do have a lot of sag compared to the older leaf spring rear suspensions with that it should keep you in the clear and keep you from riding on just bump stops which wpuld make it uncomfortable to drive
So are you worried about the long term affects on your truck for towing that much that often? I know the truck will do it but I don't want to be maxed out all the time, I think we are going to have to get a different camper unfortunately.
I would get a set of helper bags and be done with it. I do not tow at all but the RAM looks horrible when towing anything(due to the extreme amount of sag in the rear). I can just imagine how bouncy it is with that much sag.
I have Timbrens on the back, and will probably switch to bags... I'm not happy with the effect the timbrens have on ride unloaded. I'm not concerned about affecting the long term health of the truck, the oil, engine and trans temps are consistently stable, and normal, even in the heat of Calif. Although the 3.55's probably effect the off the line performance, I have no complaint about it, and wouldn't need better.
Keep an eye on the gauges as your towing, drive it like you own it :doh:and it will treat you well.