I agree with dodgeramguy85, depends where you rent the dolly from, that may be your biggest problem. About 15 years ago we went to u-haul with a Dodge Ram to get a dolly and tow a 57 Chevy from NC to PA, and they said the Ram was not big enough, but we convinced them. Also extra charge for state to state rental, unless you bring the dolly back to the original store.

 

My dakota is the 5.2L V8 with 3.55 gears and 5 speed manual. I tow a 12'x5' trailer (750 lb dry weight) loaded with firewood and the bed of my truck loaded with wood as well, probably 3000 lbs combined (2000 lbs on trailer, 1000 lbs in bed). I live in Idaho and we have several hills with 6-8% grades for 5 miles and I can do it... granted at about 35-40 MPH uphill, but it is fine. Truck temp doesn't rise above normal at all and I am usually in 4th gear, sometimes 3rd on the long ascents. I have the 9" rear drums and I don't have any issues stopping, just give yourself extra room.

Since you have the 3.9L V6 I would imagine you would be in 3rd gear more, but you should be able to stop about the same. If you take it easy I think you would be ok. 3000+ pounds is definitely taxing it, my truck is rated at 2,000 lbs for towing and I tend to push that from time to time but I never feel like I am out of control or overwhelming the truck. If you had the automatic I would say no way, with the manual trans you should be fine.

 

I towed this about 100 miles today without any problem.

IMG_5907_zps93d18da3.jpg

 

This makes your truck look more like a 2nd gen ram than a dakota.

 

I thought it made my truck look like a little toy, lol.

 

I had a similar experience. Guy wouldn't sell me a trailer for a day to have my Dakota towed by a 2013 sierra cause he said the pulling truck wasn't big enough. Trust me it was. For ****s and giggles I told him I was using a dodge 3500 dually with a class 5 hitch and ball towing a Honda civic ( of course I'm make it up at this point) and he still said the truck wasnt big enough according to his broken *** computer program. Sucks if you get someone that doesn't know what they are doing and rely on $20 software.

 

I had to to pick up a 20' rental HD flat bed trailer for my school. The trailer itself weighed something around 3,000-4,000 lbs. I had a 2004 Durango with a Hemi in it (towing capacity at 6.5k I think), they said I could tow it but wasn't allowed to load anything on the trailer with the Durango towing...

 

That's laughable right there.

 

I kind of just nodded my head and agreed that I wouldn't. The bigger secret was 2 other of his exact same trailers were also driving by me, with the same Durango. Cargo of all three, floats for homecoming probably weighing another 1,000 lbs.

Breaking the rules

 

There are routes you can take to make it less hilly. You can cross over to 75 from Jasper pretty easily. I guess it depends how far NE GA you start from.

With your light load, having a concern to tow something would leave me concerned you'd drive it at all. If you trust your truck on any trip, you can trust it on this one.