Re: 4.7 sucks for towing

From: M.B. (mailinglists@moparhowto.com)
Date: Sat Jul 02 2011 - 18:45:14 EDT


I honestly think Ma Mopar underrated the Dakota in it's towing capacity
to protect Ram sales.

Considering what I've seen that 4.7L 5 speed Dak with a 3.55 rear end
pull, I'd be surprised if they didn't. We hooked up a flatbed trailer
that was made out of parts of a mobile home frame, I'd be amazed if it
weighed less than 3000lbs, then loaded it with a bunch of stuff from his
garage as he was moving, including a 700lb gun safe, tool chests, etc.
It wasn't fun (2nd gear going up one hill) but it made it and didn't
break anything, other than a stiff neck (it used the axles and tires
from the same mobile home and every time it hit a bump the whole truck
felt it).

If I was going to pull more than 6200lbs I'd probably look into making
sure the bolts on the hitch were grade 8, and maybe investigate the
possibility of adding more attachment points to the frame. That and a
definite yes on a brake controller and load distributing hitch.

M.B.

On 7/2/2011 6:41 AM, Andrew Kelsey wrote:
>
> On 7/2/2011 07:45, M.B. wrote:
>>
>>
>> If you have the 3.92 rear end and the factory tow package, which this
>> did not, you can hit 6200. His truck had the 3.55 rear end with the
>> lighter 1450lb payload leaf springs, which puts it at 5200 max tow with
>> a GCWR of 9500lb per the FSM.
>>
>> This was a full size car trailer and those usually run a couple thousand
>> pounds by themselves, plus the Spirit, plus all his belongings stuffed
>> in the Spirit (there wasn't room to fit another shoebox in the cabin or
>> trunk of the Spirit) plus probably another 750-1000lbs in the bed.
>> Assuming the Spirit weighed 2800lbs bone dry, and the trailer a
>> conservative 1500lbs, with all the stuff inside of the Spirit hopefully
>> being under ~500lb, he might be under the tow rating, barely.
>>
>> Considering the extended cab was stuffed with belongings behind the
>> seats, plus the bed packed full, plus himself and his Dad who co-drove
>> sitting in the front, he'd still be way, way over the GCWR.
>>
>> Let's just say they got flashed a lot by people who thought they had
>> their headlights on high beam when they didn't, because the rear end was
>> so low the headlights were practically signaling passing aircraft. :)
>>
>> M.B.
>>
>
> Hey, you never said he was loaded like Sampson & Son. :) Yeah, when
> you look into any of your mirror and they are all pointed down at the
> road, you may be a bit over capacity. :)
>
> I don't know much about towing, but my memory of when I bought my
> truck was that they were all rated for 6200 lbs (or whatever the
> correct max was) regardless of options. I took a look at the spec
> badge inside my door and it didn't mention the GCVW on their. I took
> a look in the manual to see what it had to say about towing. It
> talked about loading properly, not to exceed the GVWR, and the specs
> of each trailer hitch class. It did mention that the trailer tow
> package included a certain wiring harness and something else. From
> what I remember, the trailer tow package included a hitch and an oil
> cooler or maybe tranny cooler. I would think that if I put the correct
> hitch on my truck along with a harness and electric trailer brakes, I
> should be able to tow 6200 lbs. Is this wrong in my thinking?
>



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