Am I Fooling Myself?

We are looking at the Heartland product specifically the BC 3251TS or the BH 3260 Elite or 3070 RL. My TV is a 2009 Dodge Ram 2500 6.25' Bed, 6.7 TD , 6 speed AT, 2WD with 3.73 rear end. Now it shows towing capability 13,400 lbs. I know this can be misleading and much more has to go into matching a 5ver to the TV. Question: Are the 5ver's we are considering able to be SAFELY towed with my truck or Am I fooling myself? Are there any mods I might consider to bring my truck more in line with the job? Thanks, Curtis

Hi Curtis,

I'm sure you will get lots of answers from our other members. This is link to towing guide that is very good, researched and written by one of our Heartlanders.

Jim M

What is the payload for the truck? What are the axles rated at? What are your tires rated at? My guess would be no but you need to give us some info here.

I am towing a Big Country 3250 with my 2010 Ram 2500. Same powertrain same rear axle gears. I am within all the limits, except when I was last weighed I was about 800# over on my rear axle weight. My tanks were about 1/2 full at the time I was weighed and I have pared down my collection of junk so I am guessing I'm pretty close to my limit. The only difference between the current crop of 2500s and 3500s at least on Dodges, is one leaf on the rear spring pack. Tires, brakes, wheels are all the same through 2012. 2013 and up have some changes. Zero problems towing, have been in the mountains, in high winds, winding roads all good. Given the choice I might get a dually next time. I don't think I would want anymore than I have now. Yes, I have airbags on the truck. They are not designed to add any load capacity. Mine only need about 15 PSI to level the truck out and that's all I want them for. If it was me, I'd look at something a little lighter. Dodges have the least amount of load capacity of any of the heavy duty trucks from that era...Don

What I do is take the max GVWR of the RV and multiply it by .20(20% pin weight).Calculate the total weight of you truck including fuel,passengers and cargo.Add the two weights and that value should not exceed the GVWR that is stamped on the door sill of your Dodge.If the weight is greater that the GVWR of your vehicle you are overloading your truck and there are no modifications to your truck that can make it legal

We had a BigCountry 3250 and pulled it with a 2005 dodge ram 2500 diesel with a 3.73 rear end with no problems for many years, even pull another trailer with a golf cart behind the BC. We did upgrade to a 2009 3500 with the same rear end becuz of the exhaust braking. My question is does your truck have an exhaust braking? Even tho the 2005 didn't, having this added braking makes a huge difference.

Nabo said:

We had a BigCountry 3250 and pulled it with a 2005 dodge ram 2500 diesel with a 3.73 rear end with no problems for many years, even pull another trailer with a golf cart behind the BC. We did upgrade to a 2009 3500 with the same rear end becuz of the exhaust braking. My question is does your truck have an exhaust braking? Even tho the 2005 didn't, having this added braking makes a huge difference.

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Yes, I did fail to mention I do have the exhaust brake and what a wonderful thing it is. I have pulled a much lighter 5ver 10k LBs in Kentucky, Tennessee & Arkansas on downhill grades very little need to apply brakes then once decent complete off we go.