Well, it took me a long time to update you guys on my long drive from Maryland to California. I am in the middle of trying to buy a short sale (should be long sale) home and it’s a nightmare but that’s a different story. So, I drove over 3000 miles from Maryland to Northern California with a huge load. Basically, I had to move because the military said so. The nice thing is that they moved all my household goods for me and everything that they wouldn’t take I did along with some extra stuff. Below is a link of a thread I started a long time ago. I would like to thank you all for helping me get a ton of information and apply that to my trip. So, I have a Ram 1500 4x4 QCSB Off Road Package and it towed a 18 foot car hauler trailer. The trailer was a “custom built for me” 18 ft trailer with a 10k pound weight capacity and nice 4 wheel brakes. It weighed 2400 pounds. On top of it was my wife’s Honda Odyssey Touring (Touring is top of the line so all the options make it a little heavy) weighing in at 4640 pounds. The bed of the truck was loaded down to the max and the van had every bit of space loaded down with stuff to include the drivers seat! Below is a list of mods that I did to make it ready for the drive:

Wight distribution hitch with dual camber sway control
Superchips 3865
Tranny temp gauge installed into the SRT A pillar
Smoked Recon cab lights (I really didn’t need these but I wanted them anyway)
Mopar tow mirrors
New ProComp ES9000 shocks
Rear air bags with built in compressor and gauge (by far one of the best mods ever!!)
Cross drilled and slotted brakes with ceramic pads


I called Chrysler and found out that my max towable load is 8550 pounds. So, here was the stats on my weight. I know that it was over what GVWR but I took it slow and had plenty of mods to make it.

Truck, trailer, van and stuff:
Steer Axle 3360lbs
Drive Axle 4780lbs
Trailer weight 8220lbs
Total: 16360 pounds!

Just the truck, trailer, van and no stuff:
13380 pounds.


https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen...-6-months.html

Pics will be posted later on when I get home.

 

Some thirty five years ago the wife and I made a military transfer from California to Virginia using a 24' travel trailer. We spent three weeks exploring, camping and fishing. It was a great experience.

 

The only bad part was the mileage. I got between 7-9 mpg the whole way and there were time I was gulping thorugh 26 gal of fuel (93 oct) in two hours!!

 

Man what yo paid in gas and add ons for the truck you should of just bought a long bed diesel lol

 

Add ons...no. I got a lot of good deals. Gas...hell yes! But, I am getting ready to buy a house again and dont want the debt to income ratio to jump (the truck is paid off). Plus, I wont be using the truck for that kind of load for another year and by then, I will have a diesel!!

 

good thing you didn't get weighed that would have been a hefty fine

nice mods

 

GCWR is 13,000 for the truck, so you were right there with the total limit. Then you added like 3,000 in just loading up stuff!! Wow it's amazing how much stuff!! Well I think that is one tuff truck, probably tested it's limit on that one. Definatley a must have for the weight distribution hitch, sway control, bags, and tranny cooler. Might have lost something otherwise. I know how them Military moves go. You're always left with stuff they won't take.

 

Yea, its hard to believe that I could add that much more stuff!! If not for the mods...I would never have made it but I really think that a really tough truck to start off with paired with the mods made it work just fine. The only problems I had were the mountains just east of California and the 116 degree heat...made for a very hot tranny and engine!