I do believe Dodge under rates their towing capacities...my 94 Toyota, mini-truck, with four cylinder and 14" tires was rated at 3500lbs, with a five speed, my new Ram 1500ST, six cylinder, six speed, with 17" tires is rated at 3,300 lbs, 200 less than the small toyota!

But I have been doing all my heavy towing, up to 6k or so with a 62 D100 Town Wagon, 3.55 sure grip, 225 slant six motor, and NP420 four speed, custom built back bumper and hitch. Haven't even put a hitch ball on the new truck yet, my trailer needs some weld repair first!

Howard

 

Sway bars are something else entirely, here, I'll quote the aforementioned website:

 

yeah you're correct but lots of people interchange the two which is why sway is italicized in my statement.

FWIW, stabilizer bars do assist in sway control as well but not like a sway control device would.

I figured the link would clarify which is why I did not go into it.......

 

Well as most people have said, you should be able to do it but it will be towards the limits of the truck. According to the 06 Dodge Brochure a 1500 Mega Cab 4x2 3.73 Auto should be able to handle 7,750. Now that is probabbly based upon a gooseneck hitch. One thing you do have working for you is that you have a 3/4 truck chasis and some components should be a little beefier already. Ipersonally think it is well worth going for the dodge pieces because it goes on rather smooth. You can also find these pieces online at ebay or other similar sites that might have them a little cheaper. Good luck,

Ryan

 

Very important ,don't tow in Over Drive. The tow package has a button on the shifter. If you tow with it you push the button in. That kind of weight will damage your transmission . Trans cooler is a must Heavy duty one is the best you can't over cool it.Use a mid grade fuel when towing. .89 octane .an equalizer is a must have. it levels the load .What kind of rear brakes do you have? Disc I hope. Do you have surge or electric brakes on your trailer. ?My Boat trailer has four wheel Disc Brakes. Towing isn't the big problem,stopping is.

 

The bumper is rated for 500 lbs TONGUE and 5000 lbsTRAILER.

 

One question I have is what size rims and tires you have? The 20" rims vs. 17" (standard) rims give a mechanical disadvantage. For top towing figures the 17" rims are calculated into towing figures, 20" are options which is where the * actual figures may vary based on vehicle options.

I tow a 29' travel trailer weighing around 7000 depending on how much stuff is in the trailer. The travel trailer can max 7900 lbs.
Truck: 2005 1500 QC Hemi 4x2 3.92 and 20's, everything stock on the truck except for the towing equipment. Truck came with NO OEM towing stuff.
Towing equipment:
Reese 1200#tongue 12000 towing frame mounted receiver,
10000# ball,
Reese Weight distributing bars
Reese Friction Sway bar
7pin connector
Brake controller (prodigy)
Additional trans cooler

With the 20's the max towing for my truck is 7900 lbs, with 17's 8900 (tire size makes a big differeence) Also the 20's make it much harder to brake!!! With the trailers brakes working for you it's fine. I turned the controller off to see what it would feel like incase I lost connection and the trailer brakes didn't engage, not fun! Which is why Texas law is anything over 3000lbs must have electric brakes! If your going to tow a car on a flatbed trailer make sure it has it's own brakes.

In all actuality about my tow setup, I have no problems. Granted I'm in flat Texas and not towing through the Alps, but the truck does fine all the way up to 75, gas mileage is about 9-10 when towing. I'll be putting in 4.56's in the rear this spring and should ease up the drive train a bit.

My suggestion for you is get a Weight Distributing hitch wihich evens out the load across your front and rear axles. Add a trans cooler inline with the one you have now or get a much bigger one all together. A trailer with brakes and a brake controller in your truck, the Prodigy brake controller is very nice. Overall, go to a RV dealer and talk to them about different hitches. The dealer is not the best choice for towing information. Neither is the manufacturer for that matter, (is there a section for towing in your owner's manual?, not mine).

 

yes they are underrated...my buddy has an 04 ram hemi and he towned his 28' grady white from CT to NC no prob. EBS and no dist bar. all we did was change the oil b4 we left and checked tires. Also left overdrive off for obvious reasons.

 

I have a 04 Quad Cab 4x4 Hemi, It has 17 inch tires and the trailer towing package. I tow a tandem wheel Load rite trailer rarted at 7,999 lbs. It has four disc brakes but they aren't electric there serge brakes. TheTrailer is rated to pull a boat that is 28 feet long. My boat is only 21 feet and weighs in at 4,,000 lbs loaded. I use the hitch that came with the truck with a standard 2 1/2 in reciever. .I have no problems with this set up. It pulls great with no over heating problems. and I get around 14 miles to the gallon.. That's doing the speed limit. .

 

I have 02 quad 2wd 4.7 and i tow my race car on a 24 or 26 foot and that is with the bumper. I live in GA and it is hill down here. i have not had a problem (knock on wood) yet. we may go to a track a that is 3HR away and i have ran up to 90mph with that trailer. i have another trailer that is made for bobcats and it is heavy with the car on it hell it is heavy without it but the truck did good burn more gas. but i may tow somebody car maybe 2 or 3 time a month plus i go to the track every weekend. i love my truck but i do want it to have more power and i dont have the towe pkg