Need advice on new tt and towing

[Upi441]

NEED ADVICE
New travel trailer after looking at following specs do I need to upgrade to a Ram 2500? If so would you get Turbo Diesel or 6.4 gas? Any advice would help me out.

Thanks
Karen Baker

2021 Ram 1500 5.7 hemi Etorque Axle Ratio 3.92
GVWR – 6900
Payload – 1760
Base weight -total – 5136
Front – 2983
Rear – 2153
GAWR –
Front – 3700
Rear - 4100
CTCWR – 17000
MAX TRAILER WEIGHT – 11,370

2021 Grand Design 2970RL
Length = 34 feet
Dry Weight – 7397
Payload – 1598
GVWR – 8995
Hitch Weight - 751

Equalizer sway/distribution hitch

 

[Second Chance]

Just looking at the numbers you've posted, you should be OK. If you do trade up on trucks, bypass the 3/4-ton diesel and get either a 3/4-ton gasser or a 1-ton diesel. The diesel power trains are heavy and really eat into the payload of a 3/4-ton truck. But, again, I think you're OK with your current truck.

Rob

 

[suber81083]

Your truck will tow it well, but if you want to upgrade to a 2500 it will tow it better with the hemi or the Cummins. Your weights look within the limits of your truck. Just see how well it tows before going and buying another truck.


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[bertschb]

Regardless of which engine you get, skip the 2500 and get a 3500. You won't really "need" a 3500 to tow the 2970RL but you may need it in the future if (like many people) you upgrade to a larger RV. The 3500 will give you 1,000lbs more available payload and payload is what you need for towing RV's.

As for gas vs diesel- If you want a big smile on your face while towing and you have the extra money up front, get a diesel. If your truck will be your daily driver and your commute is just a few miles a day in city traffic, consider a gas engine. You don't "need" a diesel to tow an 8,995lb RV but again, you may need it later if you get a new 13,000lb RV.

If this is your first RV, the odds of you upgrading to a larger one later are pretty good.

 

[A.Texas.Yankee]

If you upgrade to the 2500, do NOT get the diesel as your payload won't improve much at all, if any at all, depending on trim package you select. Get the Hemi, or get a 3500 with a diesel.

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[FT4NOW]

I had a similar combo and it was fine towing, the TT was actually longer than what you are considering. I would look at the numbers stamped on your truck's hitch and see what the max tongue weight is with a WDH. If loaded to capacity, your tongue weight will be just shy of 1000lbs or a little over, plus the weight of the WDH itself.

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[NB Canada]

IMO your current truck is not at all adequate to tow that trailer
Maybe someone with a 2970 can chime in but I am sure the spec sheet from GD will have a TW of 820 lbs
Loaded with a hitch to camp you will easily be over 1200 lbs in order to keep it safe
Rear living trailers are notorious for being difficult to tow because of the amount of weight behind the axles. You need to keep a lot of weight on the tongue to compensate
Guaranteed your truck has less than 1600lbs payload after options have been added as well

IMO you are not even close
A 2500 gas would be the answer here or a different trailer
Like others have said if diesel go 3500 but only you can decide that. Is it your daily driver? Registration costs?
Good luck but I would never consider a trailer that large for your current truck


2021 Imagine 2400 BH
2018 GMC Sierra 4x4 crew

 

[jleonard]

I just went from ma Ram 1500 to a Ram 2500 diesel. I was overloaded payload and combined with a 2600 RB and not much cargo in the trailer and almost nothing in the truck.
Yes the 5.7 had plenty of power and it was stopping fine, but the difference is night and day with the 2500. The truck/TT combination is much more stable.
I think the diesel is actually quieter than the hemi especially on any kind of hill. The hemi needs rpm to maintain speed so it was constantly shifting.
The diesel just purrs along at 1600 rpm.

 

[BobnColo]

Well...............I have that trailer and pull it with a (gasp) F150. Eq4 hitch max tow package etc. Just got back from a trip to Camp Verde Az from the four corners of Colo. Pulled it great, no problems, one of the smoothest pulling trailers I have ever pulled. Properly adjusted wdh makes a huge difference. If this is your first time pulling a trailer, please practice locally before hitting the highway. That is a long trailer for a newbie.

 

[BeerBrewer-MGRV]

If I were you I'd go with a larger truck. We tow our 32 ft Transcend 26RLS with a 2018 RAM 2500 CTD and have no regrets. We absolutely love the diesel engine even though it does rob us of 850 lbs of payload. The payload on my truck is about 2450 lbs, if it had the 6.4L gas the payload would have been 3300 lbs. Since our tongue weight is just over 900 lbs we've got plenty of payload left for the odds and end that we carry in the truck (which isn't much). We did considered going up to a 3500, but didn't for a few reasons. The ride seemed better on the 2500, there weren't many 3500's available at the time, they were a tad more expensive and we had no plans to ever upgrade to a 5th wheel. So the 2500 suited our needs just fine. Having said all that, if you have thoughts of getting a 5th wheel someday, then I think that you'd be better served getting at least a 3500 truck.

 

[Steven@147]

NEED ADVICE
New travel trailer after looking at following specs do I need to upgrade to a Ram 2500? If so would you get Turbo Diesel or 6.4 gas? Any advice would help me out.

Thanks
Karen Baker

2021 Ram 1500 5.7 hemi Etorque Axle Ratio 3.92
GVWR – 6900
Payload – 1760
Base weight -total – 5136
Front – 2983
Rear – 2153
GAWR –
Front – 3700
Rear - 4100
CTCWR – 17000
MAX TRAILER WEIGHT – 11,370

2021 Grand Design 2970RL
Length = 34 feet
Dry Weight – 7397
Payload – 1598
GVWR – 8995
Hitch Weight - 751

Equalizer sway/distribution hitch

I will tell you we had the 2950RL version of this trailer. GD did some changes to the bedroom and bath then renamed it 2970RL. Its a heavy trailer. We towed ours with a Ram 2500 5.9L Cummins diesel using an Equalizer hitch with 1400 pound bars. I would not have towed it with any 1/2 ton truck.
Our 2950RL had the front and rear AC units. With the front AC unit it will put more weight on the hitch. As built the GD weight document listed our tongue weight as 902 pounds. The tongue weights are dry weights meaning no propane or battery. Our loaded tongue weight was right at 1000 pounds to start off. Another thing you need to take into account is the fresh water holding tank is right up front, essentially right under the bed, just back from the hitch. Filling the fresh water holding tank will put another 200 pounds on the hitch weight. So fully loaded and ready to camp we were always pushing 1400 pounds tongue weight. So you need to get at a minimum a hitch to handle 1400 pounds.

Most 1/2 ton pickup hitch receivers are only basic class 4, good up to 1000 pounds with weight distributed hitch so you start out way over weight on the truck hitch receiver. Our Ram 2400 hitch receiver was like this even on a 3/4 ton so I upgraded to a Curt class 5 hitch receiver. Then too a lot of 1/2 ton pickups have passenger rated tires meaning the tire size starts with "P" and not "LT". This makes the ride better, softer and more like a car but they "P" rated tires are lousy tires for pulling a trailer. The side wall is too flexible, not stiff enough. So whatever truck you tow with make sure it has "LT" light truck tires.

The picture I attached was my tongue weight scale with the storage compartment empty, full propane, battery and the fresh water tank full. I give you this information so you can make an informed decision. This kind of tongue weight, not to mention the total trailer weight, is very high for a 1/2 ton pickup.

Steve

 

[BobnColo]

Everyone, well not everyone, talks about "tongue weight" as measured by a tongue weight scale. Maybe I am missing something here, but my many years of experience tell me that once your weight distributing hitch is adjusted and hooked up correctly, the weight gets DISTRIBUTED, does it not? Case in point from running my 1/2 ton with a 2970RL hooked up, I gained 820 pounds on drive axle and lost 20 lbs on front axle on a CAT scale. I don't care what my "tongue weight" is unhooked because it doesn't matter unless I pull without a wdh connected and correctly set. I think some get caught up in the minutia and don't see the whole picture. I am still under all the parameters for weight and my 1/2 ton pulls this trailer fine. Is a bigger heavier truck better? Probably for some especially with little or no experience but at that point you have to ask yourself if the rig you have or are considering is out of your talent level. There are alot of people getting into RVing now that need some time under the wheel to get comfortable, as well as some that shouldn't be doing it to begin with.

 

[Joe1967]

Anyone pulling a 34 foot travel trailer behind a half ton truck is more of a man than I will ever be : )

 

[BobnColo]

Thank you lol

 

[RV Sailor]

Pulling a 2021 2500RL with the 6.4 Hemi 2500 Ram. It’s about 8000 fully loaded just a short amt less than yours.
Today I was driving in wind of 20+ with a Blue Ox and it was very steady. I felt the gusts but no danger or white knuckle.

It has plenty of power and it’s payload is set at 3300 lbs. I’m not sure the 1500 would have been a similar ride. I opted for the gasser as the diesel was $9000 more and 500 lbs payload less. Besides most turbochargers need replacing at the 125,000 mark to the tune of 3k-$4k.

 

[BeerBrewer-MGRV]

Everyone, well not everyone, talks about "tongue weight" as measured by a tongue weight scale. Maybe I am missing something here, but my many years of experience tell me that once your weight distributing hitch is adjusted and hooked up correctly, the weight gets DISTRIBUTED, does it not? Case in point from running my 1/2 ton with a 2970RL hooked up, I gained 820 pounds on drive axle and lost 20 lbs on front axle on a CAT scale. I don't care what my "tongue weight" is unhooked because it doesn't matter unless I pull without a wdh connected and correctly set. I think some get caught up in the minutia and don't see the whole picture. I am still under all the parameters for weight and my 1/2 ton pulls this trailer fine. Is a bigger heavier truck better? Probably for some especially with little or no experience but at that point you have to ask yourself if the rig you have or are considering is out of your talent level. There are alot of people getting into RVing now that need some time under the wheel to get comfortable, as well as some that shouldn't be doing it to begin with.

I don't want to get into a debate on what is safe to tow and what's not, but I would like to clear up what a weight distribution hitch does. A weight distribution hitch works to distribute some of the tongue weight of a trailer up to the front axle of the tow vehicle so that it will sit more level and handle/brake better. That being said the weight distribution hitches do not "reduce" tongue weight or allow you to tow beyond the capacities of the vehicle.

 

[huntindog]

I don't want to get into a debate on what is safe to tow and what's not, but I would like to clear up what a weight distribution hitch does. A weight distribution hitch works to distribute some of the tongue weight of a trailer up to the front axle of the tow vehicle so that it will sit more level and handle/brake better. That being said the weight distribution hitches do not "reduce" tongue weight or allow you to tow beyond the capacities of the vehicle.

This is true. What is also true is that owners of lesser tow vehicles will use any far fetched excuse to justify exceeding their ratings.
TW is what it is, there is no magic that can change it.

 

[NB Canada]

This is true. What is also true is that owners of lesser tow vehicles will use any far fetched excuse to justify exceeding their ratings.
TW is what it is, there is no magic that can change it.

“Lesser tow vehicles”?


2021 Imagine 2400 BH
2018 GMC Sierra 4x4 crew

 

[BobnColo]

This is true. What is also true is that owners of lesser tow vehicles will use any far fetched excuse to justify exceeding their ratings.
TW is what it is, there is no magic that can change it.

That has to be one of the lamest statements I think I have ever read. Kind of reminds me of back in the early 70's and 80's when I was in the trucking business and guys with 3408 Cat motors made fun of us that had 350 Cummins. Lesser tow vehicle indeed.
As an aside, I am not anywhere near my "legal" or published weights and don't have the need or want of a Dually Crew Cab diesel at this time. Could change when I get older, but at 69 yo I still have no need to prove anything to anybody.

 

[NB Canada]

That has to be one of the lamest statements I think I have ever read. Kind of reminds me of back in the early 70's and 80's when I was in the trucking business and guys with 3408 Cat motors made fun of us that had 350 Cummins. Lesser tow vehicle indeed.

Agree
I mean he only has a 3500 as well
Isn’t that a “lesser” tow vehicle?

There are plenty bigger


2021 Imagine 2400 BH
2018 GMC Sierra 4x4 crew