Hello:

I am a new member of the forum. I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada, and drive a 2008 Dodge Ram 1500, 5.7 Hemi, 4X4. My question:

I am planning to buy a 5th Wheel trailer. I checked the owner's manual on "Towing" and got an instruction on getting set to tow that consisted of the use of all my limbs, a ball point pen and all the shifts on the truck. The instruction pertained to 4X4s with an electronic shift to engage the 4X4.
This procedures complex. Do I have to do this every time I tow my trailer? What am actually doing with this procedure?

Thanks,
Ron

 

that sounds rather complicated. what instruction are you talking about? and now that i think about it, how heavy is this trailer? Generally 5th wheel trailers are a bit too heavy for a 1500.

anyway, welcome to DF. I'll move this over to 3rd gen ram for you so you can get some more help.

 

Iagree unless the 5th wheel is one of the smaller ones 20ft or less its to heavy for the 1500...But...can put air shocks/air bags it the back to help I did this to a caravan to help pull my pop-up camper and it worked well.

 

Man I cringe when I see these little half ton trucks hauling around a fith wheel. Not only knowing how unsafe they usually are, But knowing what they did to there bed to get the hitch installed.

 

Fifth wheels are NEVER approved for towing with a half ton pickup... The FIRST thing you need to do is check with your insurance company. I know down here, you have a problem and you're over spec, they refuse to cover you, for damages, liability, anything. I'd hate to see you have a problem on the road and lose everything because you were over spec...

 

1500s are generally not suited to fifth-wheel trailers. The PO of my truck traded it so he could tow a fifth-wheel horse trailer.

 

Hello:
Thanks for the quick response. Seems to be a consensus about 5th wheels. I am looking at one under 7,000 lbs. My truck has a trailer package that I thought would do that weight.

Is hauling a 'tag along' (regular hitch travel trailer) a better option?

Thanks again
Ron

 

I think you were actually reading the section on another vehicle towing the truck, not the truck towing another vehicle. You can put the 4x4 into "neutral" by sticking a pin in a small hole on the 4x4 switch.

 

Published "tow ratings" are generally for travel-trailers, not 5th wheels. This is mostly because a 5th wheel puts a lot more weight on suspension, frame, etc. of the truck. 20-25% of a 5th wheel's weight goes on the hitch vs 10-15% on a travel-trailer.

Even at 7,000 lbs, and the low-end of 20% pin weight, that's 1,400lbs. That is close-to or over the payload on a 1500 depending on regular vs QC, auto vs manual trans, etc. Once you start adding camping stuff and water, propane, etc. to the trailer, you leave "close-to" in the dust.

A 7,000lb travel trailer would likely be fine (you'd need a weight-distributing hitch), but a 5th wheel is almost certainly going to be too much for the truck's specs.

 

thats still roughly 1500 lbs "hitch weight" going into the bed. and that doesnt account for fuel, supplies, gear, etc. i would look at something with a class IV weight distributing hitch requirement. that you could tow 7000 or 8000 with no problem.