i am sure you will be OK.
Our trucks are heavy very very heavy. If you want more payload cut weight with some of the features your adding to your truck.
More than you ever wanted to know about towing.
Understanding your truck and knowing how much is safe to tow...
More importantly, it sounds like you know how to drive with that kind of weight. Those limits are for everyone, even the 16 year old kid in his first vehicle, those are the people that need the limits.If I planned on hauling or towing heavy on a regular basis, I'd throw on a good set of lt tires, a quality wd hitch with sta bars & hit the road. Definitely wouldn't let a set of impractical numbers stand in the way of using my truck to its true capabilities. Ok, I've braced myself so take your best shot!
I absolutely agree & am going to turn in my man card for driving one of these wimpy a$$ed trucks!!Can this even be classified as a truck??? My tinny little Scion XD can hull 980lbs, that's 121lbs more than this so called truck. Why would they take an otherwise awesome vehicle and cut it's balls off, thus turning it into a glorified car. It's rather embarrassing and stupid don't you think?![]()
I'm sure I'll get slammed by the weight police but here goes. Understand that weight restrictions are set with oversight from exponentially overly cautious bureaucratic safety regulators & an army of liability lawyers & probably have little to do with practical capabilities of the vehicle. Common sense has to dictate these trucks can handle more weight than an old Tacoma or small passenger car!! My longhorn has cargo limits of less than 900#; yes, that is ridiculous but not even close to its practical capabilities. I've had over 800# stacked in the bed behind the rear axle & absolutely couldn't tell there was anything back there. On another occasion, I had 1600# in the bed while towing another 3000#. The air suspension had no problem leveling the load & the truck performed flawlessly in the hilly terrain of East Tennessee. Most of us are aware of when it feels right & when it doesn't. I, for one, have always had the mind set of if it feels good, do it. If I planned on hauling or towing heavy on a regular basis, I'd throw on a good set of lt tires, a quality wd hitch with sta bars & hit the road. Definitely wouldn't let a set of impractical numbers stand in the way of using my truck to its true capabilities. Ok, I've braced myself so take your best shot!
I feel your concern & ram is taking a big hit with these ratings. Over at rv.net forum this truck is a lightning rod for criticism. But to answer your question, no I gave no consideration at all to the advertised limitations. I was confident it would haul or tow whatever load I wished to labor it with. I can't fault you for classifying it as feeble by using the advertised load limits, but in practical use it's just not the case. From my experience & the shared experience of others, with air suspension even a well optioned higher trim level is totally capable of a 2000# payload. I probably wouldn't do this on a continuously repetitive basis but I can't imagine who would need to. Also, reports of comfortably towing 7000# rigs are numerous. Anything in excess of this would be more comfortably carried by an hd class truck anyway. About the only less than enthusiastic tow report I've heard was from cap on his experience in the southern Appalachians. Bare in mind he's making a transition from a 2500 cummins, though. And what's dodge (now ram) thinking? I couldn't tell you. Heard they have adapted a new rating system prior to competitive brands following suite but don't know enough about it to repeat. If you want one, go for it. I assure you 4 big guys & a tent won't tax it!!While I agree with everything your saying it seems stupid to under rate the capabilities of a truck in such a competitive 1/2 ton market. Shoppers are looking at the rated capabilities and factoring that into their buying decision. Would you not take into consideration the towing capacity before buying this truck? Does that rating carry no merit either? Are we to believe all the ratings that these trucks are fighting to win are just general rules of thumb? Someone has to point out how feeble this truck is when it comes to payload, what's Dodge thinking. All that being said, I still want to buy one....![]()