"Half Ton Towable"

I have a half ton Dodge 1500 RAM, it does have a tow package and the 3.92 axel, 5.7 hemi engine. The book max tow rating shows a max trailer weight of 8,350, with a max combine GVW of 14,000 for both. With me and the Mrs, her little dogs and a weekends worth of luggage the truck weighed 5,870# (combined the front and rear axel weights on the truck scale) So to be safe side lets just say it's a 6,000# truck when I'm in it.

I'm looking at North Trail 31RED, dry weight shows 5390#. Allowing for 150# of accessories not included in "dry weights", 2 x 20 LPG + water and 700# luggage I figure the trailer will weigh in at about 6,600#. Well within the 8,360 rating on the Dodge, and at 12,600 it is under the 14,000 CGVW, but it is 90% of the CGVW.

I'm worried I may be expecting too much of a half ton.

And fear I'll pay for it at the pumps with poor gas mileage, empty this hemi sucks back gas at a rate of 16 mpg.

Our family is scattered all over Canada and the US of A so this trailer may do a fair bit of travelling.

I'm looked at smaller trailers, and gee they are.... small.

FKD
Fort Kent, Alberta
Canada
 

sailorand

Past British Columbia Chapter Leader
fkd
I don't know about the weights, but the cost of fuel is the cost of hauling a trailer. We just bite the bullet and fill up
 

pmmjarrett

Not just tired..... RETIRED!!!
Owning cool toys has it's price.

I find towing fuel economy is roughly cut in half towing travel trailers and fifth wheels vs running empty. diesels generally do better than gassers. I'd expect about 6 - 8 mpg (US gallons) with your truck, if you do better that's great.

Speed and aerodynamics is the key to good fuel economy. Just because the Trans Canada says you can do 110 kph doesn't mean you have to.

You will need a weight distributing hitch with sway control with this combo.
 

Shadowchek

Well-known member
We Had a 98 dodge 1/2 ton 4wd with a 5.9 and similar weight limits. We pulled a dutchmen 5th wheel that weighed about 1,000 pounds more than the north trail. We got 6.5 miles per gallon pulling the 5ver and 14 without. That wasn't good but just part of rving. I always felt like I was overloading the drive train but we seemed to always get to our destination ok just slowly going up hill. at about 60,000 miles bearings in our rear end started to go out and had to be replaced. The biggest issue was the breaks they just weren't enough to stop this combo. I always worried about what would happen going down hill and had a break failure on the fiver. every time we went somewhere I would be constantly thinking about a bigger truck. All that being said you should be alright with that set up at least within your legal limits. I just hate to pull anything with less than a 3/4 ton. Just my thoughts.

Greg
 

rob hutch

Member
I tow my sundance 3200 in Fla with a 2003 GMC 1500 4x4 qaud steer 5.3 liter 12 m pg when towing 16 mpg when not.BUT when we leave Fla we tow with a 450 Ford 4x4 dually 2008 Great to have extra pulling power and room WHAT a difference but only 8mpg Like someone said earlier just have to bite the bullet I hope you enjoy your new rig.
 
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