2500 Dodge Ram with Cummins diesel 5.9

We are seriuously considering purchasing a 2011 Bighorn 3670. Taking into consideration the UVW of the Bighorn unit I have a concern with my tow vehicle a 2006 2500 Dodge with the Cummins engine

Any comments out there on how the Bighorn's tow from folks in my sitation.

Hi Carmichael,

Welcome to the Heartland Owner Forum and hopefully the family. We have a great bunch of people here with lots of information, and all willing to help if needed.

I did move your post to a better area for responses from owners.

Enjoy the forum.

Jim M

Carmichael, welcome to the forum. What is the GVW of the 2011 BH 3670 & also what axel ratio do you have on the '06 RAM 2500?

Well I am not the weight police but I have a 2006 F250 and was looking at the 3670 also but 16,000# is to much for my F250 and I think for a F350. The F250 is rated for a 5th wheel up to 15,500#. In by opinion if a trailer has a GVWR of 16,000# or more you should be looking at a F450/4500 or better.


FWIW
BC

I will state this MAY be the case on "STOCK" trucks. Many things can be added to F250 and F350 rigs that makes the specs change, and in some cases quite a bit. Also I will tell you the gearing and speed/drivability of the F450 is horrible, designed for pulling at lower speeds and milage that borders on rediculous. Our one and only 450 got 6.2 MPG and when not pulling a max speed of 79 MPH. It went away.....

We have a 2011 Bighorn 3670RL and tow it with a Dodge 3500 drw and feel this is right at the limits of the truck. I am going to put disk brakes on the trailer to feel safer. You can tow it with your truck but it will be overloaded. It comes down to if you are comfortable pushing your truck to the limit and beyond.

We have a 3950 Toy Hauler which is pretty heavy also. I pulled it for two years with a 3/4 Ton Chev Duramax with over size tires and air bags and the engine boosted +100 HP and it pulled and handled it well but the tires were still overloaded. I recently went to a Dodge 6.7 L dually megacab 4 x 4 and it has more power (350) hp and handles much much better. It is solid as a rock going down the road and you have the security of dual tires in case one blows. My tire limit is fine now as I have weighed it at a Port of Entry.

Keep in mind you don't have to load the rig to 16,000#! That's nearly 4,000# of additional "stuff" loaded! You've already got the kitchen sink and, unless your married to Lucy Ricardo, sensible loading will help with any towing concern. You may not get to load the Craftsman tool box, and Onan generator, or freezer full of pork ribs, washer, dryer, etc., but if your careful about loading and towing, you are probably alright. The GCWR on my F250 truck is 23,500#, which is the same as the F350 with same final drive, etc.

I tow a 3600rl about the same weight with a 2005 dodge 3/4 ton an it tows just fine

This topic comes up time and time again....yes you can haul anything with any vehicle, its all about how you drive it. Back in the day we used to haul a JD 2940 (10,400 lbs) tractor on a 6,000lb dual tandem gooseneck with 1/2 ton 4x4 Chevy...did it pull it, of course, was it slow ohhhh yeah, max speed 45mph with no trailer brakes (they were vacume on the trailer). Was this a stupid decision, yes, did it work, yes.

Today, we are better equiped with better trucks and technology, however, the way I look at it is from the law or a lawyers perspecitive should something happen. If you are pulling a 16,000# rated trailer with a vehicle that is not rated by the manufactuerer to handle that weight your are negligent. Should something happen such as an accident you can very easily be found responsible irregardless of fault. Can you add items to a truck to up its capabilities, of course. This however will not change what the manufactuerer specs say.

With that said, if you are comfortable with taking on this self responsibility then use what you have.

Basically you add air bags to a 3/4 ton Dodge with a cummins and you have a 1 ton. The drive train is exactly the same on the two. The only difference is the overload springs on each side and of course in the case of the dually two more tires and wheels to bear the weight. I tow a 3600RE, which is about the same weight as the 3670 with a 2005 Dodge 3500 cummins SRW and it does a fine job. I did install the Firestone air bags on it because I wanted to keep it nice and level while towing. I have a 3.73 rearend and have plenty of power. However we are full timers and I know we are no where close to 16000# I would estimate us to be closer to 14000#. But, I know the weight police will get me!

I called my insurance company the other day to find out some minor detail of my policy. The hard sell to increase liability values (based on creating fear of under coverage) was amazing, and had nothing to do with my original question. A hard sell based on fear seems to be commonplace because of our litigious social (read, unsocial legal) environment. We carry this fear with us, whether it be trucks, tires (Chinese-built seem to get the worst rap), frames, springs, on and on and on. A person can't even buy a television without some sales person trying to sell you an insurance policy because "if something happens".

I would rather see this issues (and others, as well) addressed on the technical aspects and personnel experience rather than the unlikely, highly hypothetical, legal issues. Believe me, we all know the legal gorilla could strike at any time. This rant is not aimed at anyone, I hope you all understand, I'm just a little worn out on fear mongering and instead of fear sells, I'd like to go back to sex sells.