Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Help from some trailer pulling/loading experts

For many years I have pulled a 20 ft gooseneck stock trailer. Age and health have crept up on me and I have sold my gooseneck trailer, and bought a 6&1/2 ft slide in pop up camper for my Dodge Cummins 2500 short box., 3:55 rear end ,5 sp. Then I bought a 3 horse slant trailer, bumper pull. Hopefully this will enable me to stretch out my hunting career and other 5 years or so.

Here are the specs: camper weighs 1500 lbs. Horse trailer weighs 3500 lbs with a tongue weight of 350 lbs. These are empty figures. Full up loaded with two mules, gear, grain, hay water ,tack, it will come up to about 7500 lbs and 750 lbs tongue weight max.

My receiver hitch says 1000 lb tongue weight, 10,000 lb trailer weight if using a weight distribution hitch.

The company that I want to buy the weight distribution hitch from says to size it correctly I also need to add the cargo load inside the truck bed that would be behind the rear axle to get the total tongue weight for the hitch.This would be approximately 750 lbs if the camper is distributed evenly.

So adding the 750 from the trailer and 750 from the camper, I get a 1500, lb tongue weight which would then indicate that I have to go to a Class IV receiver, which gets up to 1500 lb tongue weight and a 15,000 trailer and I am only half that weight with my trailer fully loaded.

I can't figure out, other than the suspension on the truck's limitations why I need to figure the camper weight in on the weight distribution system. A Class IV hitch is going to bolt into the same holes so the total weight on the suspension is going to be the same.

With the weight of the truck included I am a little over the GVWR specs of the truck itself which I am not worried about since my stock trailer loaded was over that and the truck handled it well.

Thoughts? advise? Is it correct to figure in the camper load or am I OK with my present receiver hitch?





If Ido this,the

Springs behave well when at their normal flex range so adding a good deal of nominal weight may flex them to where they under perform. To fix that you can add a helper spring, or an Air suspension kit.

I put in a Air Suspension Kit to fix that with my truck in case I filled the back with firewood, and was pulling a heavy trailer.

I bought a new camper back last summer, my old camper weighed 5700lbs dry and my new one weighs 9000lbs dry. My truck is a F-250 2012 CC SB 4X4 diesel. I had to get a larger weight distribution hitch, I got the husky center line. My lighter camper loaded did not load the truck much but the new does. The RV Dealer set my hitch with the camper dry & empty which pulled great home. I loaded the camper and ended up around 10500 and with about 500lbs of gear in the bed it screwed up the hitch set up. I had to adjust the hitch for the camper loaded and the bed of the truck loaded to level the truck out and improve the ride while pulling. The hitch was under adjusted with the truck and camper loaded to the weight I would have pulling. I ended up around 18000lbs combined loaded for a trip.

I would set the hitch with the truck loaded like its going to be used. You may have to buy some air bags or helper springs for that slide in camper too.

"I can't figure out, other than the suspension on the truck's limitations why I need to figure the camper weight in on the weight distribution system."


The added weight in the bed means more weight to distribute (rear to front on the truck) to have the truck ride somewhat level and to accommodate the added stress on the bars.

If it was not a weight distributing hitch it wouldn't matter.

Here's guide that might explain it better ...

http://www.ebay.com/gds/Weight-Distributing-Hitches-Buying-Guide-/10000000177633611/g.html

The Axle has limitations, the springs as well - then you have the frame limiation that the hitch / tongue is on.

IIRC

Axle = tongue weight + camper and 50% of truck

Spring is easy provided you aren't exceeding axle weight - it is' saggin'....

This is not good thinking, intentionally rationalizing overloading beyond the manufacturer's maximum rating.

Upgrade whatever makes sense for the safety of your passengers and yourself.

Air bags will take a big load off the springs. My camper is only a 20' but when I put a heavy steel stock rack and 4 llamas in the bed of my Dodge 2500 long bed and hang the camper behind it, it sags. The air bags will raise the hitch almost 6" and the frame at the axle about 4".

OK, Need advice on air bags/air suspension

When I bought my '08 Dodge, it already had Firestone Ride-Rite air bags installed. If you want to spend the money for on on-board compressor, you can adjust them from the drivers seat. It'll cost you more than the air bags. Mine don't have that as I don't need them often enough to justify the cost. There's an air valve on the side of the frame above each rear tire that's filled with an air hose.

The instructions say to keep at least 5lb in them at all times. They'll take up to 100lb of air which will hold more weight than your axle will (5000lb max). You still can't exceed the weight rating of the truck as the hubs, bearings, etc. can't take it. I find that about 60lb will give me all I need, even with a full load of hay. To fill them, load the truck 1st, then add air to bring them up to the correct ride height. The instructions show you how to measure them to get the right height. After doing it once or twice, it's easy to eyeball the bags to know how much air to add. It only takes a couple min to fill them but to do it at home you have to have some kind of compressor. Any shop compressor will fill them in seconds. A 12v inflator will do it but it'll be much slower. I tried doing mine once with one of those jump start units with a built in inflator. It took a very long time as they slow way down when you get much over 40 lb.
I also have a 120v tankless compressor that puts out up to 125lb. It works as fast as a tank type and I don't have to wait until the tank fills. I just switch it on and instantly have full pressure. It takes me longer to get out an extension cord than it does to fill the bags. It's very handy for small jobs like this. I got mine from my dad when he died but you can buy one for around $50.

Here's the website for the ones I have. You can go to the one that fits your truck and pull up the instructions to see what you're up against. RIDE-RITE

saddlesore take a look at a set of Timbrens.....very simple and will take care of any rear end sag and sway

as far as a weight distributing hitch , I dunno , I have pulled some beastly loads without one but I am not running in mountains

You also need to take into account front end gymnastics with a bumper pull. Maxing out a bumper load means the front end geometry can dirty your shorts quickly. It's exponential also. The further from resting geometry the quicker the steering goes ugly.

Those bigger hitches do a great job of making the load more linear from front to back. Helps eliminates the hinge factor associated with just bagging for weight. JMO

W

Ok,If I put a set of air bags on it that will level the load with the camper on the truck am I ok with the set up of the receiver hitch I have which is rated for 1000 TW and 10,000 tow weight using a weight distribution system or am I totally screwed with this trailer?

As for the truck itself,

Truck specs are :
Rear axle capacity, 6200 lb
Rear spring capacity 7500 lbs
maximum trailer weight is 10,300
GCWR is 16,000 with the 3:54 rear rend and 20,000 lb with the 4:10

The truck weighs 8800 lbs.1/2 that on the back axle is 4400,( which is very conservative as most of the weight in a pick up is forward) 1/2 the camper, is 750 lbs which makes the rear axle load 5150. If I add the loaded trailer tongue weight of 750 lb, I am at 5900. So I should be good with the axles leaving another 600 lbs for loading the camper and such.

Ditto the rear springs at 7500 capacity. So will I need the air bags even?

Am I figuring this right or ??

Air bags won't help all the rest of the over-stressed components, just the springs.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/trailers-transportation/236659-weighed-my-truck-today.html

If the truck weighs 7400 lbs unloaded ...

60% front / 40% rear = 2960 rear axle weight

Add the 1500 lb camper = 4460 lbs rear axle weight

+ 750 lb tongue load = 5210 lbs rear axle weight

+ 600 lbs gear = 5810 lbs rear axle weight

And ... I'm not suggesting that this is absolutely correct.

What's the maximum CGVWR? Truck, cargo and trailer.

FWIW, Dodge used to have a calculation sheet, based on the model truck, for determining the answers to the questions you're asking.

A google search might find it.

truck specs are as I showed above, taken right off the brochure when I bought the truck.

From that it shows that I am not over stressed in regards to springs and axles

The only thing I was questioning is the weight of the truck. 7400 lbs seems like a more realistic number.

The number you need is curb weight and not something else like GVW or GVWR.

Specs can be confusing. GVW can be the total weight of the truck, plus passengers, and a full tank of fuel. It can be a generic rating that isn't always vehicle specific when you include optional equipment like transmission choice.

I could be wrong but ...

The only way to really know what you have is to load it all up, run to the local feed store and scale it. It's worth spending the $5 scale fee to know exactly what you have.

RC. I have the weights from the paper work on the camper, truck and horse trailer and pretty much know the weights for he hay, water, grain, tack, and mules so I think I am within a 100-200 pounds or so.

I will take the rig down the road where there is a set of scales, but the only time it will be fully loaded is the day before I leave to go hunting. All other trips will b eway below the figures quoted.

Here's the online calculator for Dodge trucks.

http://www.dodge.com/towing/D/vehicle_to_weight.jsp

Hope this helps.