Towing opinions

[notlimah]

Well the family and I are looking to take a camping trip for a few days in August so I was looking at renting a travel trailer from a nearby business, they have decent prices. The trailer I'm looking to rent is a 17ft Cascade weighing 4500lbs with a 1200lb tongue weight. Right now I'm 100% stock. Nothing in the trans, no extra power in the motor, this should be no problem right? I only have the stock hitch and it say's 1000 is max for tongue or am I reading that wrong?

 

Some concerns...

 

- running 305's so max psi is 40ish psi

- weak stock trans, although shouldn't be any major climbs to worry about, but some decent hills n such.

- tongue weight being higher then rated on my hitch?

 

Would it hurt to try and throw an edge ez or quad xzt for towing on stock trans?

[01cummins4ever]

You should have no issues with that tow. I tow about 11k with stock set up and no issues.

 

Do you have the receiver hitch on frame or bumper mount? You may want to consider a drop hitch of appropriate size to level out trailer while towing.  I would bet that who ever renting the trailer would probably be able to set you up with correct drop hitch if you don't already have one.

[dripley]

I towed for 4 years stock with a 12k pound trailer and did fine. Adding power did make it better but no more trailer that you are talking about stock will do what you need. Trannys start breaking with more weight and more power. As far as the hitch goes talk to who ever you are renting the trailer from. I would think they would be able help you get situated properly, after all it is their trailer and they should want to see it back in one piece. 

[Mopar1973Man]

Here is what these trucks are rated for right out of the manual.

3 weights are GCWR, short bed and long bed

 

Edited June 5, 2016 by Mopar1973Man

[notlimah]

Thanks for the input guys! Puts my mind at ease. I have the stock frame mounted receiver hitch and an adjustable height hitch for the ball. Any recommendations on tire pressure with the big 305s on there?

[Mopar1973Man]

17 minutes ago, notlimah said:

Any recommendations on tire pressure with the big 305s on there?

 

Really easy... Need to weight your truck with the trailer. The quickly do your calculations on your cellphone and readjust your tire pressures.

 

Like my tire pressure are for towing...

 

Edited June 5, 2016 by Mopar1973Man

[Buzzinhalfdozen]

2 hours ago, notlimah said:

Thanks for the input guys! Puts my mind at ease. I have the stock frame mounted receiver hitch and an adjustable height hitch for the ball. Any recommendations on tire pressure with the big 305s on there?

Are the tires load range E?

[Mopar1973Man]

Just now, Buzzinhalfdozen said:

Are the tires load range E?

 

Won't matter for the pressure calculation but might matter for the weight that might be placed on the axle. Might be over the rating of the tire. You can verify the tire weight capacity on the side wall of the tire. 235's are 3042 @ 80 PSI as long as the weight capacity is greater than 3042 pounds (gives 6,084 axle capacity) you should be fine.

[notlimah]

Tires are 315/75/16s, load range D, Max load 1450kg (3195lbs) Max psi 50 cold.

 

So based off your forumla (I used the same axle weights since we have the same year/model truck) it'd put me at front psi of 32 and rear of 36?

[Mopar1973Man]

That rather disturbing with load range D's with that kind of weight and only 50 PSI limit. If I'm not mistake typically load range D's is 65 PSI and Load Range C's are 50 PSI. Double check your information on the tires again hard to believe 3195 at 50 PSI.

 

If they are truly 50 PSI max I would highly consider getting different tires with at least load range E's for towing safety.

[notlimah]

Straight from the tire

 

[Mopar1973Man]

Well I guess you'll just have to try it out.

[notlimah]

What tire pressure do you think I should run?

[Mopar1973Man]

Try the calculated and see how it does. At the most you can add 5 psi to your calculated number.

[notlimah]

I used the same axle weight as your truck since we both have 02 4x4 quad cabs and I came out with 

 

32psi front

36psi rear

 

That sound right?

[Mopar1973Man]

4060 / 2 = 2030 / 3195 = 0.63 * 50 = 31.7 (32 PSI)

 

4580 / 2 = 2290 / 3195 = 0.71 * 50 = 35.8 (36 PSI)

 

Math looks good. Just never seen tire pressure so low for such a high weight rating. Just going to see how it works out for you. I still say scale the truck out ans see what the actual weights are for safety.

 

because just from the tire stand point of inflating to 50 PSI on all 4 tires should carry 12,780 pounds on the truck alone.

15 minutes ago, notlimah said:

I used the same axle weight as your truck since we both have 02 4x4 quad cabs and I came out with

 

What you see in the photo is exactly what my weight were sitting on the scale with my RV in tow. My empty weights a bit different.

[Buzzinhalfdozen]

2 hours ago, notlimah said:

I used the same axle weight as your truck since we both have 02 4x4 quad cabs and I came out with 

 

32psi front

36psi rear

 

That sound right?

With that tall of a tire and only 36psi I'd be concerned with side wall flex in the corners. 

[AH64ID]

1200lbs of tongue weight seems VERY, VERY, VERY high for a 4500lbs trailer. That's 26% tongue weight which is high even for a 4500lb 5th wheel. 

 

A 4500lb trailer should have no more than 675lbs of tongue weight. Even if 4500lbs is the axle weight, and not trailer weight, it's still shouldn't be than 800lbs of tongue weight. 

 

I would check with the rental company again. 

 

 

LRD tires on a 2500 is wrong, IMHO, as is a 50 psi tire; however, they get away with it because of the volume of air in the tire. It's not uncommon to see high load capacity with low air pressure as tires get larger, mainly above the 285/7x range. 

 

Your calculations are correct but I would personally run 40/40 if you don't get to a scale first and stop after 25 miles to see how hot they are. If they are quite hot then air up. You may run into funny wear patterns thou if your wheels aren't 10" wide. 

 

 

You have plenty of power and transmission for the job. I wouldn't bother with adding power for a couple day camping trip if it isn't something you would be doing anyways. 4500lbs is nothing for these trucks even with the added drag of a camper. 

[notlimah]

2 hours ago, Buzzinhalfdozen said:

With that tall of a tire and only 36psi I'd be concerned with side wall flex in the corners. 

 

Yea same thought here. I went and aired up to 32/36psi f/r and it even sits with a slight "flat" look at the bottoms of the tire, mainly the front. I think I'll take AH64ID's advice and do 40/40!

 

2 hours ago, AH64ID said:

1200lbs of tongue weight seems VERY, VERY, VERY high for a 4500lbs trailer. That's 26% tongue weight which is high even for a 4500lb 5th wheel. 

 

A 4500lb trailer should have no more than 675lbs of tongue weight. Even if 4500lbs is the axle weight, and not trailer weight, it's still shouldn't be than 800lbs of tongue weight. 

 

I would check with the rental company again. 

 

 

LRD tires on a 2500 is wrong, IMHO, as is a 50 psi tire; however, they get away with it because of the volume of air in the tire. It's not uncommon to see high load capacity with low air pressure as tires get larger, mainly above the 285/7x range. 

 

Your calculations are correct but I would personally run 40/40 if you don't get to a scale first and stop after 25 miles to see how hot they are. If they are quite hot then air up. You may run into funny wear patterns thou if your wheels aren't 10" wide. 

 

 

You have plenty of power and transmission for the job. I wouldn't bother with adding power for a couple day camping trip if it isn't something you would be doing anyways. 4500lbs is nothing for these trucks even with the added drag of a camper. 

 

I'll call and ask about that tongue weight tomorrow. Is there a calculation to figure out tongue weight so I can sound a little more educated on the phone?

 

What are LRD tires? I will be putting smaller 285 or 295 load E's once these are worn. I'm hoping this quick trip won't cause any wear damage, I believe the tires are over 12in wide though.

 

I didn't think the weight would be an issue, was more thinking if I should add a small tuner or something just to help out but wouldn't hurt the trans either. Still eying a quad xzt+ especially since I'm sending Tyler's smarty back Monday so I'm going to be feeling weird with stock power again!  

[TFaoro]

It's probably best you tow with stock power if your trans is stock! Think of it as a favor