I am not 100% on the brakes, I don't believe there is any difference. In addition to an extra spring, you get, "RAM 3500", on your doors. Some people are impressed with that. Seriously, a 3500 is rated at high payload and pulling load. That information on the door jamb could be useful if pulled over due to a heavy or large load. For the little difference in price, I'd get the 3500. Just a little extra piece of mind.
X2, and for the same reasons.
By chance, my Aunt has a 3500 SRW virtually identical to my 2500 (both 06's) and I couln't find any differences except the overload springs.
You will get about 2K more on the sticker which is, in fact, a good thing. My man. GVWR is 9K. With aux fuel tank, hitch, T-box, etc. you can come close to that before you even add the trailer. I worry when I pull 5th wheels that they'll pull me in and hit me for that but it hasn't happened. DOT generally thinks about axles first, vehicles next. You'll have over 6K GAWR, rear, on either truck. The 2500 GVWR is artifically low to keep it in a different class (5200 front, 6010 rear, 9000 gross). I'm fairly sure I'm over 8K empty (no trailer) so 10K and up trailers probably put me over 9K. I just try not to think about it. The truck handles 11-12K 5th's extremely well. Your 14K will probably put you over 9K on the "stock" truck. Both (if they were 06's anyway) will pull and stop exactly the same. Don't worry about brakes on either one. 140K+ miles here, 50% of that pulling something. My pads are still thick and I've probably lost 1-2 mm or so on the rotors... and no, I don't jack up the Prodigy. If anything I leave it low. I do have a Jake Brake though which is highly recommended (by me anyway).
With either SRW truck you'll want to throw on some Ride-Rite air bags. Don't get scientific with pressure or the install. Mine are at about 25psi all the time and I leave them isolated (from each other). Once in a while I'll add press. but then I just fight with unhooking, since the B&W fits so tight. Makes a huge difference staying level w/SRW and those overloads won't do anything for you there.
BTW, the cost difference btwn the 2500 and 3500 SRW should be minimal, but keep in mind that different rules may apply, commercial or not, when you go over 10K
MANUFACTURER gross VEHICLE weight rating, which cannot be changed w/o a complicated adjustment to your title. Registration $$ and other taxes might be a factor too. Depending on the state, you may have to get combination (GCWR vs "carrying capacity") tags when you go over 10K GVWR or "1 ton" "Class".
I have a "carrying capacity", according to my registration, of 19000 lbs. on a 3/4 ton truck. If I ever get pulled over by a Texas trooper, he'll probably slap me for being stupid (before I can explain why I wasted the money... 100% legal, just looks really weird on paper. Had to have 26K Gross to work for this company).
One other thing... if you look close, the Gross
Trailer Weight Rating on both trucks is probably almost the same (see below), and not likely to be more than about 13K on any SRW truck. It's hard to find (2) tires rated high enough to alow an axle to go much over 6K or so. Not significant legally, but you might tell your dealer that your trailer weighs "oh, about twelve thousand or so"... while your under warranty. I think my GTWR is 12900.
To save the hassle and possible errors at the dealer, go to the "
Dodge Body Builders Guide"
website to look up your specs. GTWR is basically a brake rating so it varies with every option that effects the curb weight of the truck... soooo, oddly enough, my aunts truck could have a lower GTWR than my truck... by a hundred or so pounds (the weight of those springs).
One last tip. Make sure you can get the right tags in your state. If you need combo tags and get a 2500 it could get tricky. You can tweak specs all you want but never get anything but a 100% legal registration. They are looking harder every day at commercial AND private RV's. You might even get pulled over one day just to make sure you're not commercial, since so many transporters are leaving their signs off and/or slapping their personal tags on an unregistered trailer. If that happens, the FIRST thing he'll check is BOTH registrations... to make sure one matches the trailer.