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  1. #11
    Seasoned Camper Thorvald's Avatar
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    After going through a similar nightmare on just a 1500, i’ve been pretty heavily studying 2500/3500’s and what to look for. I can guarantee that the next truck I buy for towing will be at minimum:

    - 3500 DRW Diesel 4x4
    - Top transmission for towing
    - All max tow packages possible
    - highest axle ratio possible (4.10 most likely)
    - payload on the door sticker of at least 5300 pounds or greater. Most Ram’s I’ve been eyeing are around 5400-5400 in change and same for Fords. Haven’t had time to check GM’s yet, usually too expensive to even consider (I.e. no deals or incentives).

    I’ve encountered more than a few fully setup 3500’s new on the lot that looked amazing (and the sales rep was quick to point out capable of 30k plus towing) until I realized they had the wrong axle ratios and hugely reduced towing caps due to that ... which you would only know by pulling out the owners manual and checking the charts.

    For example, a new Ram 3500 DRW 4x4 8ft Diesel with a 3.42 axle ratio can only tow 20520 lb.

    That same truck with a 4.10 axle can tow 30320 lb!!

    Don’t even bother with SRW, it can only tow 16850 lb, same as a maxed 2500.

    (Note: The only benefit of a 3500 SRW is hugely increased payload capacity over a 2500, besides the thinner rear end. Some people like these things but if you ever plan to upgrade to bigger trailers like a Momentum M-Class, skip it. If you never ever plan to, the SRW may work if it fits your trailer).

    —-

    If your already going out and getting a 3500 DRW, go all out for the max towing you can get now... you can’t add more later without going broke trading in on a better truck.

    Cheers
    Tim
    2022 Momentum 25G (aka "Baby Mo")
    2020 Ram 3500 Laramie SRW | 6.7 HO Aisin | 6’4” bed | 3.73 gears | air suspension | 3694# Payload
    Blog Post: 1500 Pickup’s and Towing - The REAL numbers with example
    Blog Post: 2016-2018 Imagine 2800BH - 3500 lb Axles Tire Rubbing Issues

  2. #12
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    I've also been in the market for a Solitude 374TH/THR with the mini garage unit. Odd they are now only relegated to dealer inventory per the GD web site. In crunching the numbers with my 2018 Ram DRW 3500 I reached the same disturbing conclusion... two 7K lb. axles are not enough to give me peace of mind. I also noted on the site that they have included the Momentum 376TH in a similar configuration with three axles.

    My history of towing car trailers to shows taught me to always have proper axle capacity or suffer having to replace numerous tires. Same deal was true for cargo trailers, insufficient axle capacity unless you bought the higher end units.

    I'd go with the Momentum but I'm not crazy about the interior specs/appearance compared to the Solitude. Too contemporary for my liking. Anyone else have thoughts on this beyond all the great feedback on this blog so far?

  3. #13
    Site Team xrated's Avatar
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    My G.D. Momentum 394 has three 7K axles and the GVWR of the trailer is 20,000 lbs. So even if it were loaded to 20K lbs and every single pound was on the axles (that isn't possible of course), I would have 1000 lbs of wiggle room. Using that same loading number of 20K lbs, I would have at least 4000 lbs of pin weight (probably more) on the truck and the other 16,000 lbs would be on the trailer axles....which have a 21,000 total rating.
    2016 F350 CrewCab Dually
    2018 Momentum 394M...Heavily Modded!
    2023 Suzuki GSX-S1000 GT+
    Excessive Payload is a Wonderful Thing

    "If it ain't fast....It ain't Fun"

  4. #14
    Site Sponsor Steven@147's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Thorvald View Post
    After going through a similar nightmare on just a 1500, i’ve been pretty heavily studying 2500/3500’s and what to look for. I can guarantee that the next truck I buy for towing will be at minimum:

    - 3500 DRW Diesel 4x4
    - Top transmission for towing
    - All max tow packages possible
    - highest axle ratio possible (4.10 most likely)
    - payload on the door sticker of at least 5300 pounds or greater. Most Ram’s I’ve been eyeing are around 5400-5400 in change and same for Fords. Haven’t had time to check GM’s yet, usually too expensive to even consider (I.e. no deals or incentives).

    I’ve encountered more than a few fully setup 3500’s new on the lot that looked amazing (and the sales rep was quick to point out capable of 30k plus towing) until I realized they had the wrong axle ratios and hugely reduced towing caps due to that ... which you would only know by pulling out the owners manual and checking the charts.

    For example, a new Ram 3500 DRW 4x4 8ft Diesel with a 3.42 axle ratio can only tow 20520 lb.

    That same truck with a 4.10 axle can tow 30320 lb!!

    Don’t even bother with SRW, it can only tow 16850 lb, same as a maxed 2500.

    (Note: The only benefit of a 3500 SRW is hugely increased payload capacity over a 2500, besides the thinner rear end. Some people like these things but if you ever plan to upgrade to bigger trailers like a Momentum M-Class, skip it. If you never ever plan to, the SRW may work if it fits your trailer).

    —-

    If your already going out and getting a 3500 DRW, go all out for the max towing you can get now... you can’t add more later without going broke trading in on a better truck.

    Cheers
    Tim
    Everybody's been there. From my experienced shopping the DRW have much higher payload caps than SRW trucks, but that depends on other factors. Sometimes its just as confusing looking at truck towing numbers as it is RV numbers, and depending on what web site you look at, what book you read from or what year of truck you look at. Sometimes between two trucks that look very similar in build, have totally different payload and max tow numbers, and doesn't make sense. But every option added to or missing from a trucks factory build changes the numbers. Let alone anything the owners add later. As in our truck, it has 3.73 gears, but is a 4x4 which lowers the numbers a little because of the weight of the 4x4 components, but ends up with max tow in excess of 20,000# but has a GCWR of 33,800#. Every little option or package change affects the numbers. For the trucks like Ram to get to those huge towing numbers it has to be a very special build indeed. Not many will be found on dealer lots.

    Its confusing but the wife and I first picked the RV we were going to upgrade to, either the Reflection 337RL or the Solitude 2930 or 3350RL. We are never, ever, never going bigger or heavier than the 3350.
    We looked for a year before we selected the truck we have. We were determined to only upgrade trucks once and get one way over the weight specs of the RV we chose. Once we bought the truck, then we purchased the RV.
    The first thing I did was ignore the sales person, went directly to the door post for the payload number. If the payload was above 5000#, DRW and long bed 8ft and gear ratio was 3.73 or better, the Max tow was automatically going to be in access of 20,000# perfect for the heaviest of our RV selection the 3350.
    Then looked at the rest of the truck options and what it had. We looked all over central and south Texas before we found what we needed/wanted. Yup, expensive truck, but our motto was go big or stay home and don't complain later if we made a bad decision and picked the wrong truck.

    Its a daunting and frustrating decision making process, but keep looking, the truck of your dreams is out there somewhere.
    Last edited by Steven@147; 07-02-2019 at 09:51 AM.
    Steve & Tami Cass - Escapee's, FMCA Members, Texas Fulltimers Since July 2020
    2019 Solitude 3350RL S-Class, 2018 Ram 3500 DRW, Laramie Longhorn, B&W Companion, Texas Class A Non-CDL Drivers License
    Sharing the Fulltime Lifestyle - www.youtube.com/@tsrvadventures3219/videos, Nonprofit Channel

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