Ok So I am shopping for a new truck and have my eye on this one.....https://seattle.craigslist.org/est/c...107845305.html
My question is around tow capacity. So mostly this truck is going to be doing general farm things, hay hauling some small to medium tractor hauling and various other things. But I am also looking at buying this tiny house to move out to the land and it weighs 14000. Now I think the most I would move the tiny house would be once or twice a year about 200miles. I was thinking that if I did one of the cheap dually tire add ons, sway and weight redistribution bars, and a transmission temp gauge, I could get away with it. The guy said that he has pulled that amount with it once or twice.

So I know I'm going above the recommended capacity but with some of the upgrades he has made plus the things I'm thinking aaannd with avoiding hills. Do you think I can make it happen? I know a bigger truck is more ideal but I have a hard time wanting something bigger and having it suck that much more out of my pocket most of the year only for something that will happen at most twice a year.
anyway thanks for reading my posts. These type of forums are always such an amazing help so I appreciate everyone on here who shares their knowledge.

 

Get the VIN for the truck, and run it through the equipment lister. I *think* it will give tow ratings and such. I can't find a decent online chart that will give me any useful information....... Best I can find is 7500 pounds, but, that is listed with the 5.2 motor, which the 2500s never came with...

The problem with hauling something that exceeds the listed (by the manufacturer) tow capacity is, it's illegal, not to mention unsafe. If it was just a couple miles, maybe you could get away with it, but 200 miles? Nope. That's askin' for trouble. And should you get in an accident, and your insurance company notices that you were over towing weight, they instantly decline your claim, and whatever costs are involved, are on you. (including any awards to folks that sue you. and you know they will....)

If you are going to haul that much weight, then you need a truck rated to haul that much weight.

 

I don't think I'd pull a 14,000 tiny house that far. That isn't really that tiny anyway. Why not just get a decent used camper. It's designed to be moved then lived in. Maybe built a carport over it to make it last longer. Plus you can get them with plumbing and a/c and heat. As for pulling a tractor, a 3500 would be better but with an equalizer hitch, or a fifth wheel or gooseneck trailer you should be fine

 

Hey thanks for the replies so far. Ya finding reliable tow capacity numbers has actually been surprisingly difficult. I really have just gone to asking folks for a pic of the vin card and then putting the numbers together myself. Unfortunately for this one the guy isn't around the truck and won't be until we go and check it out. But I have also seen some numbers around 10,000 for that truck. And well the whole story is that I'm going to school on the west side of Washington but I am going to be moving back to Idaho once I'm done. And it's kind of up in the air if I will do a seasonal life with being over there part time and then over here part of the year. So the most it would be moved is twice a year, but perhaps not. Hard to plan this far into the future right now.

And as for getting a camper, Yea thats not a bad idea. And especially if I end up moving back and fourth that much. And I think I threw that option out there because that's the most extreme situation for the truck to see what people think about that wear and tear on the truck and the safety. But probably the most realistic option is that I tug it up here from oregon, and then a year or two later over to Idaho and then perhaps once more to somewhere around that area and then that's it. So that makes it even harder to want to get a bigger truck just for that.

 

Also, I know its right after the generation change but is a 2002 dodge ram really that different? This one claims to get a 12700. https://www.irv2.com/forums/f45/dodg...ow-173544.html. I know it has that towing gear ratio, which someone was trying to tell me only happens in diesel, but did they perhaps do that in the second gen?

also, is the official tow capacity of the vehicle include the limitations of the factory hitch they put on a truck? Or is it just focused on the struts, transmission, engine, and weight things?

also, to complicate things further, I found this! that says that is as a tow capacity way higher, granted its a 4x2 but I can't imagine it would add thousands of pounds of towing capacity. https://dodgeforum.com/forum/dodge-r...owing-adv.html
Ok so I found one other resource from https://www.goodsamnetwork.com/sharedcode/towrating/ Model En"1996 Dodge 2500 Pickup 4x4 8.0 V-10 13,300

Many of thoes databases that are giving the 7,000 are ya giving that smaller engine, which I guess they never came with? and when the correct engine is in place I'm getting into the range of only being about 1,000 or so over. Which, yes while I'm breaking the golden rule, is about 7% over the official rating and perhaps seems like I'm not doing anything toooo stupid.

 

If it's 1 pound over, your insurance company won't be happy......

Check the sticker on my truck, and it doesn't list GCWR..... which surprised me. I regularly pull a 12 foot dump trailer, that probably weighs close to 10K loaded.... the truck doesn't struggle with it, at least, not getting it moving, Stopping it, on the other hand... even with trailer brakes, is fun. And sometimes exciting. For that 14 thousand pounds, you really need a one ton truck.

 

Ya I understand the legal risk. I'm not trying to act like thats small potatoes. But I don't have unlimited funds and there are other serious considerations that I'm trying to juggle.

 

One pound over what weight ? As you noted, the GCWR or max towing weight is not listed anywhere on the vehicle or the registration. (though GM recently stated putting stickers on their trucks they are not federally mandated). Heck, I can find three different numbers for my 2013 2500 depending which source (all from RAM) I use.
This issue has been an ongoing point of contention for a long time. You can be unsafe and negligent with a badly loaded trailer well under the max tow rating, just as you can be safe and sound at 1000 lbs over. Hot shot operators typically register their vehicles for something like 36k combined weight and have no qualms running over the max tow rating. See discussion here e.g.: https://www.cumminsforum.com/threads...weight.419306/

 

Here is from the sales brochure. A 4x4 Ram 2500 V10 (which can tow less than a 2x4 and options will make it less) lists 19,000 pounds.

 

Note that's gross combined weight not tow rating which is 13,200 lbs.