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  1. #1
    Seasoned Camper zadiemay's Avatar
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    2970RL with 1/2 Ton (w/numbers) -- enough truck?

    Quote Originally Posted by Country Campers View Post
    J

    You may just need to raise the hitch ball height if you can , or even go to higher weight distribution bars to transfer a little more weight to the front of the truck. I am guessing with the lift on your truck you may be set up for a "softer riding truck". Even just adding airbags to the rear of the truck may help. Just spitballing ideas here.

    Brian
    Brian,
    We too recently purchased a 2970RL we weighted it at CAT scale & found the truck axles were 3060/4260 and trailer was 7680, for gross weight of 15,000. All of the numbers look good except for rear axle. How are you suggesting to be able to distribute more weight to our front axles (truck says 3900 for both front & back under GVW with the trailer)? Air bags or is it an actual adjustment to the weight distribution hitch? We have an Equalizer that we got with the trailer from our dealer. or do we have to be part of the XXX timers club? (please say no)
    Last edited by howson; 04-06-2019 at 05:54 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by zadiemay View Post
    Brian,
    We too recently purchased a 2970RL we weighted it at CAT scale & found the truck axles were 3060/4260 and trailer was 7680, for gross weight of 15,000. All of the numbers look good except for rear axle. How are you suggesting to be able to distribute more weight to our front axles (truck says 3900 for both front & back under GVW with the trailer)? Air bags or is it an actual adjustment to the weight distribution hitch? We have an Equalizer that we got with the trailer from our dealer. or do we have to be part of the XXX timers club? (please say no)
    I guess this depends on what truck you have now. Also what weight are the weight distribution bars , you may need to increase these to a higher weight rating.
    Going to need a little more info to make any suggestions.

    Brian

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    Seasoned Camper zadiemay's Avatar
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    We have a 2015 Ram 1500, 5.7L engine 3.92 rear end, towing max 10,160 (which I thought would be sufficient!) The equalizer hitch is MAX GTW 14,000 tongue 1,400 lb.

    THANKS~
    Lorna

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    Long Hauler howson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zadiemay View Post
    We have a 2015 Ram 1500, 5.7L engine 3.92 rear end, towing max 10,160 (which I thought would be sufficient!) The equalizer hitch is MAX GTW 14,000 tongue 1,400 lb.

    THANKS~
    Lorna
    Lorna--I moved your posts (and Brian's responses) to its own thread so we don't inadvertently "hijack" the other OP's thread.

    Have you seen the How To Determine Your Truck's Trailer Towing Capability thread in the Reference Library? If not, please take a few moments to review the information (there's a lot!).

    https://www.mygrandrv.com/fo...ing-Capability

    -Howard
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  5. #5
    Site Sponsor Steven@147's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zadiemay View Post
    We have a 2015 Ram 1500, 5.7L engine 3.92 rear end, towing max 10,160 (which I thought would be sufficient!) The equalizer hitch is MAX GTW 14,000 tongue 1,400 lb.

    THANKS~
    Lorna
    Lornal, The wife and I had an Imagine 2950RL which is the older version of the 2970RL. The equalizer 1400 hitch is a good one for the 2970RL, with the right rating. The 2970RL is a very heavy trailer for a 1/2 ton truck.

    The payload numbers for your truck are far more important than the max tow number or the axle weight rating. Looking at the Ram web site for a 2015 Ram, 1500, 6 foot bed standard cab, 5.7L gas Hemi engine, with 3.92 axle gear ratio - if your truck is a 4 wheel drive truck your payload number is @ 1,430#. If it is a 2 wheel drive truck the payload number is @ 1,600#. The transmission that is in your truck will also make a slight difference in its payload number. Also if your truck has a longer bed the payload numbers are a little higher.

    The 2970RL with the fresh water holding tank full and your minimal stuff loaded in the RV, the tongue weight will approach 1,400#. The added weight in your truck such as passengers weight, anything in the bed of the truck, and a full tank of fuel will most likely put you over the trucks payload capacity. Your truck receiver hitch is probably only rated at 1,000# tongue weight max.

    the short answer is - your truck is right at the limits of its towing capacity or over the limit. We had a 3/4 ton Dodge Ram Diesel when we pulled our 2950RL, the 3/4 ton was at its payload limit for towing such a heavy trailer.
    Last edited by Steven@147; 04-06-2019 at 09:46 AM.
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  6. #6
    Seasoned Camper zadiemay's Avatar
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    Steve, thanks for the response. My DH says payload is about 1600. Yes, we realized way after the fact, that there is more to truck ratings than just how much it can tow....which makes us SAD.... I have been looking at other trucks trying to figure out if we need ¾ or just jump to a 1ton... When we started this journey we had a Dakota and bought a Jayco Jayflight 22FB... though we were good when we upgraded to the Ram 1500 for a bigger trailer... Obviously there is more to a truck than just tow rating or we would be clear sailing.... When we weighed the trailer it was 0 water, but everything else is what we would normally need. We were hoping there MAYBE some way of distributing more of the weight to the front axle based on a previous post. But it looks more and more like we are going to be in the XX timers club....

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    Big Traveler Txfivver's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steven@147 View Post
    Lornal, The wife and I had an Imagine 2950RL which is the older version of the 2970RL. The equalizer 1400 hitch is a good one for the 2970RL, with the right rating. The 2970RL is a very heavy trailer for a 1/2 ton truck.

    The payload numbers for your truck are far more important than the max tow number or the axle weight rating. Looking at the Ram web site for a 2015 Ram, 1500, 6 foot bed standard cab, 5.7L gas Hemi engine, with 3.92 axle gear ratio - if your truck is a 4 wheel drive truck your payload number is @ 1,430#. If it is a 2 wheel drive truck the payload number is @ 1,600#. The transmission that is in your truck will also make a slight difference in its payload number. Also if your truck has a longer bed the payload numbers are a little higher.

    The 2970RL with the fresh water holding tank full and your minimal stuff loaded in the RV, the tongue weight will approach 1,400#. The added weight in your truck such as passengers weight, anything in the bed of the truck, and a full tank of fuel will most likely put you over the trucks payload capacity. Your truck receiver hitch is probably only rated at 1,000# tongue weight max.

    the short answer is - your truck is right at the limits of its towing capacity or over the limit. We had a 3/4 ton Dodge Ram Diesel when we pulled our 2950RL, the 3/4 ton was at its payload limit for towing such a heavy trailer.
    I second this as well I too pulled a 2017 Imagine 2950RL with a 2017 F250 diesel with 2200 pound payload rating. My tongue weight was little over 1400 pounds and with BW Companion hitch, me and all the coolers and junk in bed I was at max payload. Truck pulled it fine but that's way too much trailer for a gas 1/2 ton, better safe than sorry.
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    Site Sponsor Steven@147's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zadiemay View Post
    Steve, thanks for the response. My DH says payload is about 1600. Yes, we realized way after the fact, that there is more to truck ratings than just how much it can tow....which makes us SAD.... I have been looking at other trucks trying to figure out if we need ¾ or just jump to a 1ton... When we started this journey we had a Dakota and bought a Jayco Jayflight 22FB... though we were good when we upgraded to the Ram 1500 for a bigger trailer... Obviously there is more to a truck than just tow rating or we would be clear sailing.... When we weighed the trailer it was 0 water, but everything else is what we would normally need. We were hoping there MAYBE some way of distributing more of the weight to the front axle based on a previous post. But it looks more and more like we are going to be in the XX timers club....
    Lorna, my apologies for misspelling your name. The thing about the 2970RL and fresh water is the fresh water holding tank is right in front of the coach. The weight of that water will be on the hitch. If you don't expect to use the whole fresh water capacity and will mostly use city water then that can save you some weight on the tongue and payload off the truck. With the weight distributed hitch like the equalizer, it really is not meant to transfer a lot of weight to the front axle, rather it is to transfer a little weight to the front axle for better steering of the truck. In the end the truck front tire to fender clearance should be the same with the trailer hooked up, as it was unhooked or very, very close. You can accomplish this by adding more washers to the rivet pin on the equalizer head unit. It is detailed in the equalizer hitch manual.

    As for joining the 2X club. well a lot of folks are members. Seems we all join the camping club in the beginning, then find we love it so much that we get bigger and bigger RVs, by the way that translates to heavier and heavier RV units which in turn requires a more capable truck. I don't know how you all like camping but in our case we love it. So I told the wife, anticipating getting a bigger RV, if we are going to buy a new truck (suckers are expensive) we are going to a very high capacity truck, way over what we need. So we got the 1 ton dually. We ended up with a heavy Solitude 5er, the truck is more than capable to handle it.

    Good luck in your future, go out and make some memories!
    Steve & Tami Cass - Escapee's, FMCA Members, Texas Fulltimers Since July 2020
    2019 Solitude 3350RL S-Class, 2018 Ram 3500 DRW, Laramie Longhorn, B&W Companion, Texas Class A Non-CDL Drivers License
    Sharing the Fulltime Lifestyle - www.youtube.com/@tsrvadventures3219/videos, Nonprofit Channel

  9. #9
    Site Sponsor jasonl78's Avatar
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    Lorna,

    Can you confirm what your payload sticker is on your truck? It's the yellow sticker on the driver's side door jamb. 1600 lbs isn't out of the question but it's easy to verify.

    The other thing to consider is that a Class IV hitch that's on the truck is only rated to something like 1,100 lbs. Using a WD may have an impact on that.

    An Imagine 2970 has a GVWR of 9K. You said yours weighed 7680 lbs at the CAT scale. Typical hitch weight is 10-12%. That's 768 - 930 lbs. It's a lot but within spec.

    Not sure what the correct answer is to getting more weight to steer axle. Check to ensure WD hitch is set correctly? Let us know what you find out.
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  10. #10
    Seasoned Camper zadiemay's Avatar
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    I will try to do this after work today. As it is DH vehicle. My little Subaru Outback just won’t tow the trailer in any safe manor [emoji2957]


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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