Ram 3500 SRW and 310GK-R or 344GK-R?

[ajg617]

Been some great reads in this thread on Tow Vehicles so I'll seek some sage advice. Our first 5th wheel (probably our last RV).

BLUF - my wife and I really liked the 310GK-R and then walked into the 344GK-R and that seems to be our preference (clearly the better half's), TV permitting. 2020 RAM Laramie Cummins HO, CC, LB, 4x4, SRW with factory 5th wheel prep. I was pretty confident on the 310, but not necessarily on the 344. Yes, the Laramie cut my payload but it is also my retirement truck (not yet retired) and daily driver once COVID permits. So a couple of questions in reference to other poster's Tow Vehicle threads that estimate 20% of 5th wheel weight for pin weight calc. Payload on my vehicle is 4014. GVWR 12,300. Front GAWR 6000. Rear GAWR 7000.

As I read through GD's specs on hitch weight, I'm trying to figure out what folks put in to get from UVW to GVWR in the trailer for a given use case - in our case maybe 2-3 month long trips east coast to near west coast in a year with possible extended stays near our children, some dry camping maybe. I don't see us close to GVWR on either but I know everything adds up.

Anyone know if the MORryde IS adds/reduces/no change to the UVW?

As far as the truck goes, just my wife and myself, 32 gal. fuel, 2.5 gal DEF, water, coffee - not much else - hitch type TBD (5th wheel or goose).

Both retiring next July latest and would like to order our RV late this year or early next year. Almost walked out with a 344GK-R Thursday but decided I needed to do much more homework.

TIA,
John & Robin

[Overtaxed]

Wow, that's a lot of payload on a SRW! I'd guess that loaded to camp, the 344 will probably come in around 3K or so on the pin ready to camp; unless you have a lot of people/gear loaded in the truck, I think you'll be within ratings pulling the 344. If you go with the Goosebox you'll save a little bit of weight on the pin (no 5er in the bed), I have it on my 351M and am very happy with it.

IS should be pretty pin weight neutral, and, AFAIK, they don't change anything about the trailers weight ratings they put on IS, so I'd say that's a non-factor in the decision.

I think you'll be fine, both legal and comfortable towing with that setup. You might want to add airbags (if you don't have them from the factory, I believe they are available on some of the GM's) to increase comfort/control in the truck. And of course, while not all that helpful given that you have a brand new truck, but, whatever a SRW can do towing a DRW can do better. It's all "pros" for a dually once you connect a trailer to it. If this is your daily driver and you live somewhere that a dually is a problem; I get it, but, there simply isn't a towing situation I can think of where a dually isn't better. Drive thrus, not so much, but if you try to go through a drive thru towing anything, well, good luck.

[Steven@147]

Been some great reads in this thread on Tow Vehicles so I'll seek some sage advice. Our first 5th wheel (probably our last RV).

BLUF - my wife and I really liked the 310GK-R and then walked into the 344GK-R and that seems to be our preference (clearly the better half's), TV permitting. 2020 RAM Laramie Cummins HO, CC, LB, 4x4, SRW with factory 5th wheel prep. I was pretty confident on the 310, but not necessarily on the 344. Yes, the Laramie cut my payload but it is also my retirement truck (not yet retired) and daily driver once COVID permits. So a couple of questions in reference to other poster's Tow Vehicle threads that estimate 20% of 5th wheel weight for pin weight calc. Payload on my vehicle is 4014. GVWR 12,300. Front GAWR 6000. Rear GAWR 7000.

As I read through GD's specs on hitch weight, I'm trying to figure out what folks put in to get from UVW to GVWR in the trailer for a given use case - in our case maybe 2-3 month long trips east coast to near west coast in a year with possible extended stays near our children, some dry camping maybe. I don't see us close to GVWR on either but I know everything adds up.

Anyone know if the MORryde IS adds/reduces/no change to the UVW?

As far as the truck goes, just my wife and myself, 32 gal. fuel, 2.5 gal DEF, water, coffee - not much else - hitch type TBD (5th wheel or goose).

Both retiring next July latest and would like to order our RV late this year or early next year. Almost walked out with a 344GK-R Thursday but decided I needed to do much more homework.

TIA,
John & Robin

Hello John and Robin, You can see our rig details in signature line. I have read that the MORryde IS adds approx 200-230 # to the coach, i have no personal knowledge. We fulltime so we carry alot more stuff than most folks part timing. Clothes - we carry our summer and winter clothes with us although scaled back a lot. Everything adds in weight, plus we added a small fire safe in the up front bedroom closet. We do not have a washer/dryer but that would also add weight up front on the pin if they were installed. May sound trivial but can food adds a lot more weight. Plus the wife uses insta-pots for cooking, and try to keep the pots and pans to aluminum to save weight. We also have a electric oven about the same size as the Furrion gas oven the wife uses a lot. We also carry a electric skillet. For us its easier to use more electric appliances than propane. So everything adds up.

We are members of the Escapee's RV club and used their "Smart Weigh" so we know by wheel what our weight is. Our pin weight was a little less than 20% when we first weighed, but now since we went fulltime its right at 20% if not a little higher. We need to weight again just to make sure we are within limits since we went fulltime.

We installed a MORryde pin box to the RV which weighs a lot more than a standard stock rigid box. Our truck stats are a little higher than what you're looking at in payload and such as its a DRW. We need the DRW for stability and load. We use a companion hitch with Ram pucks which weighs in the neighbor hood of 250#. Plus I have a bed toolbox on the truck loaded with a toolbox, jack stands, torque wrenches, triangle safety reflectors, and other various tools.

When we first weighed we were about 3000# under our RV GVWR, but now I am sure we are a lot closer.

[traveldawg]

Been some great reads in this thread on Tow Vehicles so I'll seek some sage advice. Our first 5th wheel (probably our last RV).

BLUF - my wife and I really liked the 310GK-R and then walked into the 344GK-R and that seems to be our preference (clearly the better half's), TV permitting. 2020 RAM Laramie Cummins HO, CC, LB, 4x4, SRW with factory 5th wheel prep. I was pretty confident on the 310, but not necessarily on the 344. Yes, the Laramie cut my payload but it is also my retirement truck (not yet retired) and daily driver once COVID permits. So a couple of questions in reference to other poster's Tow Vehicle threads that estimate 20% of 5th wheel weight for pin weight calc. Payload on my vehicle is 4014. GVWR 12,300. Front GAWR 6000. Rear GAWR 7000.

As I read through GD's specs on hitch weight, I'm trying to figure out what folks put in to get from UVW to GVWR in the trailer for a given use case - in our case maybe 2-3 month long trips east coast to near west coast in a year with possible extended stays near our children, some dry camping maybe. I don't see us close to GVWR on either but I know everything adds up.

Anyone know if the MORryde IS adds/reduces/no change to the UVW?

As far as the truck goes, just my wife and myself, 32 gal. fuel, 2.5 gal DEF, water, coffee - not much else - hitch type TBD (5th wheel or goose).

Both retiring next July latest and would like to order our RV late this year or early next year. Almost walked out with a 344GK-R Thursday but decided I needed to do much more homework.

TIA,
John & Robin

I saw your post over in the 'don't settle for... impulsive...) - nice to see you shopping and asking around.

I would suspect the 344 may be a bit much for the truck. You can see what I have. It's mostly because I wanted to stay as short as possible while still being comfy (too spoiled with 'creature comforts').

We travel up to 5 and 6 months at a time and are very comfortable in our rig. The last time I weighed everything when loaded I was about 2800 lbs on the tongue and pushing max payload on the truck. So even the 310 is max on a SRW I think. But it has serves us well; we absolutely love the windows on the DS/patio side, it's what probably sold us on that floorplan.

I think the thing causing the most weight gain is the heavy slider hitch I use because of the short bed (it is a Demco hijacker) and the 37 gallon RDS aux fuel tank I added. So it's not just about the weight of the RV anymore.

You will find that with a 32 gallon tank in your truck you won't go far without looking for a fuel stop.

Good luck and happy hunting - it's half the fun!

[swordsmn]

Not qualified to weigh in, pardon the pun, on towability aspect really, but as an aside, I THINK your DEF tank is 5 gal as I have a 3500 DRWCummins HO and when my def hit just below 1/2 full I added 2.5 gals. Btw I went with the Reese 20k M5 hitch in the bed. I liked the qualities of it’s pin retention mechanism, always ready to receive feature, indicator of mated vrs not mated that i can see from cab ( always do a tug test though —trust but verify).
I think if you don’t load the kitchen sink you can figure pin wt at 20-25% GVWR of trailer. So After you’re all ready to rock, seek out a cat scale and get good wts and see if u need to cut back on misc “stuff”. I decided to not try to bring the who tool shed and I hv my wife on a diet of plastic servingware , qty suitable for us normally camping alone. In my case, my spouse wanted smaller, it was ME wanting the layout of the 337RLS. She let me win lol.