Towing Capacities

[Oliver88]

What is the towing capacity of a 2001 quad cab automatic with 3:55 gears. Dealer told a friend of mine he was overloading his truck with a 7,200 pound tractor on a 21 foot 3,500 pound goose neck trailer. They said the towing capacity was 8,000 pounds. Is that correct? He was having trouble with his truck jerking going up hills. It hadn't done this while towing before. They changed the lift pump but it's still doing it.

Greg

 

[FAllen]

The dealer is right on the "published" capacity. Gross combined GCVR is 16,000 I believe for the quad cab auto if its 2 wheel drive, less if its 4 wheel drive.

 

[Oliver88]

It is a 4x4.

Greg

 

[Okie-Go]

I'm not an expert but it sounds like to me the transmission is not shifting properly. I had an auto and it would jerk under a load. The transmission was the problem in mine.

 

[kprice]

GCVW

The dealer is correct. I have the same rig. The towing capacitiy is the combined weight. GCVW or 16000 with the auto and 3. 55. It the same even if it were a dually. If you change to a 4. 10 gear set it will increase the GCVW to 18000 add a 5 speed to get 20k. As you can see by my sig I had a transmission upgrade done and it makes a differance. Especially peace of mind. If this is a full time tow situation you should expect transmission trouble in the future. Some say the avg is about 40-50K. I think its more on how hard you drive when towing. GCVW is based on the weakest link in the drive train. , For Dodge ram its the auto transmission. By the way the rating is on the tag inside the drivers side door.

 

[Oliver88]

He only tows this weight about once a month sometimes twice to an antique tractor pull. It's not a long distance.

Greg

 

[klenger]

http://www.klenger.net/dodge/towing-charts.html