Towing a 5'er with a RAM 2500

[Misfit]

Jeez.
There is a thing called personal choice. Put the information out there and allow people the opportunity to make informed choices.
We get it. Your a god when it comes to towing related issues
Sheesh

[Calnca]

^^^^^Obviously you are correct, and clearly don't have any assets you are concerned with preserving.

[Misfit]

Holy can't follow a topic Batman.

See thread response #12 .

[Txfivver]

Ok so what's the best oil to use in my not overloaded dually? I'm using Ford 5W40 synthetic. Also my G rated Westlakes have not blown out yet, should I worry?

[bcdiesel]

Jeez.
There is a thing called personal choice. Put the information out there and allow people the opportunity to make informed choices.
We get it. Your a god when it comes to towing related issues
Sheesh

“Informed choices” and “Personal choice” are nice, but not necessarily lawful. You did the right thing and bought a bigger legally capable truck. Others that knowingly choose to disregard manufacturers limits and tow overloaded I hope receive the full extent of appropriate enforcement. Some people need financial penalty to set them straight. Others are to incompetent to ever learn.

Too many people only think of themselves on the road and not of others. We share the road... follow the rules wherever you live.

[Misfit]

You are more at risk from other drivers on the road in regular passenger cars than from a overloaded truck and fifth wheel.

[howson]

Another request (two times tonight!) asking forum members to stay on topic.

FYI, liability associated with towing while exceeding rated specifications is fair game and appropriate for this thread IMHO, but it is best if there are facts to report. If yours is an opinion or anecdotal story state it as such. Within the guidelines of this forum everyone is welcome to their opinion on the topic, so please refrain from disdainful retorts.

(Moderator) Howard

[warsw1]

By Bruce W. Smith

“No matter what hitch, suspension, brake, cooling, or engine upgrades you make to your pickup, its towing and load-carrying limits can’t change once it leaves the assembly line.”



It’s a few minutes past 6 a.m. and your crew has to be at the jobsite in an hour.

The crew is grabbing snacks and filling the ice chest with drinks and ice while you top off the fuel tanks on your dually and the compact loader on the trailer.

Your new four-door diesel 4×4 is a dream pickup; comfortable, roomy, and powerful.

In fact, with a towing capacity of more than 16,000 pounds it’ll more than meet any needs for your construction and landscaping business. The little loader you’re towing today, which weighs just a little more than 8,800 pounds, is an easy tow.

You replace the fuel cap, check the hitch to make sure the safety chains are in place and the latch on the hitch ball locked, and head out on the road.

Now imagine being in an accident on the way to the jobsite. There are injuries in both vehicles. To your horror, a lawsuit ensues and you are subsequently found liable for a multi-million-dollar judgment to the injured people.

The reason: Negligent operation of your pickup by towing beyond its maximum towing capacity.



UNDERSTANDING TOW RATINGS
How can pulling a trailered load thousands of pounds lighter than your truck’s maximum towing capacity be wrong? Never happen.

Don’t bet your business on it: The above scenario is an all too real possibility.

Even though you thought your new heavy-duty diesel dually could tow 16,000 pounds, one small detail noted in the owner’s manual was missed: the difference between “weight-carrying” and “weight-distributing” towing limits.

Weight-carrying, or towing in the conventional mode as it’s commonly referred to, means the trailer is hooked to a tow ball or pintle setup attached directly to the hitch mounted on truck’s frame as it comes equipped from the factory.

Weight-distributing, however, is when the trailer is attached to a special weight-distributing (load equalizing) hitch with its spring bars and adjusting chains in use – a setup commonly used when towing travel trailers.

The differences between weight-carrying and weight-distributing hitch setups are worlds apart when it comes to maximum towing capacity: While weight-carrying limits range between 5,000 and 8,500 pounds for heavy duty pickups, weight-distributing ratings can top 18,000 pounds.

In the above scenario, your dually’s maximum weight-carrying capacity was 6,000 pounds rather than the 10,000-pounds-plus being towed at the time of the accident. Such an oversight can be costly in court.

Another often-missed towing caveat in the vehicle owner’s manual is the necessity to use a “sway-control device” on all towed loads beyond a certain weight. Again, this equates to using a weight-distributing hitch, which is a sway-control device.


Towing without regard to the properly-equipped limitations instantly makes the driver face the “Law of Negligence” charge in the eyes of an astute attorney and opens the door wide for a lawsuit.
And don’t think adding a heavier-duty hitch changes the limits set by the vehicle manufacturer: The only authority legally able to alter a pickup’s tow rating limits is the vehicle manufacturer.

No matter what hitch, suspension, brake, cooling, or engine upgrades you make to your pickup, its towing and load-carrying limits can’t change once it leaves the assembly line.

Tow or haul a load exceeding the original manufacturer’s stated limits and you assume all risks and responsibilities while the vehicle is in motion.

THE LIABLITY ISSUES
Pickup salesman and ads always tout towing-capacity numbers.

But pickup buyers fail to read the fine print where two words – “properly-equipped” – firmly establish how the vehicle must be setup to achieve those figures.

Towing without regard to the properly-equipped limitations instantly makes the driver face the “Law of Negligence” charge in the eyes of an astute attorney and opens the door wide for a lawsuit.

“A plaintiff who was injured as a result of some negligent conduct on the part of a defendant is entitled to recover compensation for such injury from that defendant,” says Richard Alexander, a major injury trial attorney in San Jose, California, when asked about these towing issues.

“One test that is helpful in determining whether or not a person was negligent is to ask and answer the question whether or not, if a person of ordinary prudence had been in the same situation and possessed of the same knowledge, he or she would have foreseen or anticipated that someone might have been injured by or as a result of his or her action or inaction.

“If the answer to that question is ‘yes,’ and if the action or inaction reasonably could have been avoided, then not to avoid it would be negligence,” warns Alexander.

TWO POWERFUL WORDS
The negligence issue gets back to the tow vehicle being “properly equipped.”

Those two words are the automotive version of an electrified fence between towing with the full blessing of the vehicle manufacturer and towing illegally.

A properly-equipped vehicle has everything the manufacturer deems necessary to tow up to the maximum towing capacity: the specified engine and transmission; the right bed and cab configuration; the exact axle ratio; and the correct hitch setup.

(These factors are spelled out in the vehicle’s owner’s manual—and on the pickup manufacturer’s web sites. And it’s the responsibility of the vehicle driver to read the owner’s manual.)

The hitch is what determines immediately if a pickup can tow a little or a lot.

To tow a trailer exceeding the above weights mandates the use of a weight-distributing/load-equalizing hitch. No “ifs,” “ands,” or “buts” are found anywhere in those vehicle manufacturer’s limitations.

AD-INDUCED CONFUSION
Don’t blame yourself for not knowing these little caveats about towing. Automotive manufacturers are always pushing for a marketing edge, and tow ratings play a big role in their sales strategies.


2011 Ford tow rating chart
Almost every ad you see on TV or in magazines shows a truck or SUV towing at or very near its upper limits.

By design or happenstance they don’t show the hitch setup being used.

This leads the average buyer to believe their vehicle can perform in the same manner just like it comes from the showroom floor without the use of any additional towing equipment or accessories.

Unfortunately those who use their pickups hard at work and for play have to live with, and abide by, the tow ratings the vehicle manufacturers set.

Ignore the vehicle’s maximum tow ratings, and words such as “properly-equipped,” “weight-carrying,” and “weight-distributing,” then you assume all responsibility for whatever happens down the towing road. – PT



About the author: Bruce W. Smith is editor of Custom Rigs and author of “The Complete Guide To Trailering Your Boat,” published by McGraw-Hill/International Marine Press.



Manufacturer Towing Info

http://www-5.dodge.com/towing5/D/bas...ght_class.html

https://www.fleet.ford.com/showroom/...ng/default.asp

http://prod.chevrolet.gmgssm.com/trailering/

http://www.gm.ca/gm/english/traileri...rary/article09







WEIGHT LIMITS
Look closely at the hitch on your truck and you’ll see the weight-carrying capacity clearly indicated. This number is the maximum weight the hitch manufacturer deems safe for towing with that particular hitch configuration.

The limit indicated on the hitch may be higher or lower than the weight-carrying limit on the vehicle—especially if you’re purchasing a used vehicle whose previous owner installed the hitch.

If the two ratings don’t agree, the lower figure of the two always takes precedence because that’s the limit of the weakest link in the towing connection.





TOW RATING EXAMPLES
Dually or not, towing compact equipment such as this skid-steer loader almost always requires the use of a weight-distributing hitch setup to be in compliance with the vehicle manufacturer’s towing requirements of the vehicle being properly equipped.





ABOUT WEIGHT RATINGS
There are limits to how much load your pickup can carry safely as determined the manufacturer.

These limits include how much it can carry on each axle, the total combined weight it can carry, and how much it can tow. Each of these limits is important to vehicle durability and handling.

Surpass any one of them and you put yourself, your passengers, your vehicle, and those sharing the roadways with you at risk.

Automotive manufacturers provide this information in the form of Gross Weight Ratings listed in the owner’s manual, inside the glovebox, or on the edge of the driver’s doorpost. Here’s what each rating means:

GROSS AXLE WEIGHT RATING (GAWR) is the load-carrying capacity of a single axle. Note that there are separate GAWRs for the front (FGAWR) and rear (RGAWR) axles—and these ratings are limited by the lowest-rated component’s load carrying ability, whether tires, wheels, springs, or the axle housing itself.
GROSS VEHICLE WEIGHT RATING (GVWR) is the maximum allowable loaded weight of a vehicle. This weight is the combination of the vehicle’s empty weight (with full fuel tank) added to the vehicle’s maximum payload capacity, plus the weight of the driver and passengers.
GROSS COMBINED WEIGHT RATING (GCWR) is the maximum allowable loaded weight of a vehicle and the trailer it tows. It is the sum of the vehicle curb weight plus the weight of driver, passengers, bed payload, trailer tongue weight and towed trailer weight. –BWS

There is a lot of BS going on here. Makes all the info useless IMHO

[DaveMatthewsBand]

oops, wrong thread...

[bcdiesel]

There is a lot of BS going on here. Makes all the info useless IMHO

Which part is BS? Seems very well written to me...