U-Haul Manager: 6000lb. tow capacity for 2500???

[Mingoglia]

My trailer loaded is around 10,800 according to the CAT scale. According to my tongue weight scane (for my tag), my tongue weight is as high as 1,800lbs and as low as 1,650 depending on how my trailer is loaded. I towed this load with a stock hitch for about a year... then I had a couple kids and decided I should be safe and upgraded to a Titan hitch.



Depending on the year, your class 4 hitch will be rated at either 1000 or 1200lbs.



I could swear that back when I worked for uhaul their auto trasport was only rated for $5k GTW. That was a long time ago though.



I wouldn't think twice about towing that load without weight distribution. If I owned a trailer with the same weights and used it a lot I would get the distribution just because it tows much better... but to tow a AT temporarily I wouldn't think twice.



Uhaul personnel aren't the wisest folks... unfortunately they usually error on the side of allowing you to tow more weight then you can handle. With a 3/4 ton and a 6k trailer I can't believe this is an issue. Afterall, I'm sure they'll rent that trailer to someone with a half ton up to 5k lbs...

 

[ilovetrains]

I found this to be pretty funny since I had to pull my TJ with my Tahoe last year. One of the reasons I bought CTD. Anyway, UHaul thought my adjustable hitch was a weight equalizing hitch. FYI - they said I could pull 6K with the Tahoe, but they also list the max GTW of the car hauler at 6K. The thing sat so far forward I must have had 1800lbs tongue weight, kind of sucked.

 

[JRhinehart]

I routinely pull 10,140 lbs with my truck and have had nary a problem with the factory hitch without a WDH. I remember when I had my 2000 truck that there was a recall on hitches with a cracking problem. I had mine checked and the date code was not in the window of the hitches they had to replace. I always tell the U-Haul people that I am towing a 67 Volkswagen!

 

[mberry]

Please excuse my ignorance, but is the weight distributor part of the receiver or part of the hitch? In other words, can I put on a weight distributing hitch with no modifications to my existing tow package?



-Ryan

Yes Ryan, no modifications needed to your truck. It's

 

[rbattelle]

This thread has been very educational to people like me who have never towed anything (but who probably will, eventually).



Crunch, can you give me a part number / source for that Hidden Hitch 12k-rated unit you've got?



-Ryan

 

[AlexWV]

You can get them at hitch shops. The thing to look for is if the ball mount is solid rather than a hollow square tube. Then you need a ball to match with a 1 1/4" shank.



Here are some examples. Some of them are 10,000 lbs and some 12,000 lbs. Those are the ratings before using weight distribution and they are 2" square.

http://www.ontheball.com/ball_mounts_c5.htm



Here are some balls.

http://www.ontheball.com/hitch_balls_c5.htm



There are more 12,000 lbs rated ball mounts in 2. 5" square if you have Reese Titan or Draw Tite Tow Beast.

 

[YFZBOB]

U-Haul wouldn't rent me a trailer unless I rented one of their Vans to Tow my other truck 650 miles to it's new owner. Needless to say, my New truck pulled it like a charm! Oo.

#ad

 

[Udaloy]

Those are class II hitches - 350 lbs TW, 3,500 lbs GTW. Go to http://www.draw-tite.com/ and click on hitches and then they have the different classes and what they are rated at listed there. Doesn't your hitch have a sticker on it saying what it's rated to? Usually they do. My factory hitch on my 98 said right on it 500/5,000 weight carrying 1,000/10,000 weight distributing. I believe the U-haul guy was correct that over 6,000 lbs you should have a weight distributing hitch with the stock receiver - it may actually be over 5,000 lbs like mine was.

I don't buy into this one. I've pulled my 18' Corn Pro with a few different vehicles on the factory hitch without weight distribution and without a problem. Hell, my trailer weighs over a ton by itself. I prefer to take Sled Puller's opinion: "look at what the truck pullers have done with their stock hitches. " That's like 30,000 give or take a few thousand.

 

[Crunch]

Crunch, can you give me a part number / source for that Hidden Hitch 12k-rated unit you've got?/QUOTE]



Hidden Hitch, Part #80123. If you do a product search at http://www.hiddenhitch.com you get this information:

**************

Part # 80123

Ballmounts and Drawbars

KOLOSSUS V BALL MOUNT (Zinc, style 1)



Weight: 16 lbs.

Carton Qty. : 1



Description

-4" DROP, 3" RISE

-8 1/2" LONG

-RATING 12,000 WC/1,200 TW



Features & benefits

HEAVY DUTY BALL MOUNT DESIGNED ONLY FOR CLASS V HITCHES.

CONSTRUCTED OF 2" SQUARE SOLID STEEL SHANK AND BALL MOUNTING PLATE THAT IS 3/4" THICK BY 3" WIDE WITH A 1 1/4" BALL HOLE.

**************​

Interesting that the information states that it is designed only for Class V hitches. Unless somebody lied to me, my hitch is a Class IV, and the 80123 draw bar works just fine. If I had one complaint it would be that there is some play between the receiver and draw bar. I've thought about cutting a section of old inner tube and wrapping it around the draw bar before sliding it in to get rid of the play.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

What you can do and what it's designed and rated for are not necessarily the same thing. On your '02 I guarantee your hitch was only rated for 500/5,000 unless you were using weight distributing bars and 1,000/10,000 with them. I have my factory hitch lying in the garage and my class V (which is rated for 1,000/10,000 weight carrying/1,200/12,000 weight distributing) weighed at LEAST 3 times what the stock hitch weighed, the bolts are upgraded to 5/8" (from 1/2"), there are doubler plates that sandwich the back side of the frame, and there are brackets that also tie it into the bumper bolts (which the stock hitch doesn't). Those things all increase it's carrying capacity which is what allows the higher ratings.



Crunch - I believe the reason they state for class V only is because to get the full 1,200/12,000 out of it you'll need it to be on a class V hitch. If you have a hitch rated at 500/5,000 weight carrying and you put that drop bar in it you still can only put 500/5,000 on it. The thing to remember in towing is that you can only tow whatever the weakest link can carry. Things you need to check are: your ball rating, drop rating, hitch rating (wc or wd), rear axle weight rating, front axle weight rating, GVWR, & GCVWR. If you are over on ANY of those you are running outside of the design parameters. Do people do it? Yes, all the time and most get away with it. Have I towed overweight? Yep, I have but I did it with the knowledge of how much I was overweight and where and took that risk.

 

[Udaloy]

You're absolutely right there Steve. I just don't believe my limit is 6,000 lbs, just because a lawyer says so. I guess I'll just take my chances, however small they are. I do, however, have the kind of mount and ball that Crunch is talking about.

 

[AlexWV]

A couple small notes. My hitch on the 05 does not have a label on it but I have seen lots of hitch labels and have never seen one that has double the capacity for WC vs WD. Usually WD adds a couple thousand pounds as you point out yours does. That 5,000 vs 10,000 for WC vs WD seems off to me.



Crunch described how his factory hitch is mounted in post #20 above. That is how mine is on the 05. I'll take a pic later and post it here. I don't see how an aftermarket one will mount up any better than that but it might well be made heavier.

 

[RustyJC]

I have seen lots of hitch labels and have never seen one that has double the capacity for WC vs WD.

It sounds like you never owned a 2nd generation Ram. Both my 1996 and 2002 3500 duallies had 500/5000 and 1000/10000 labels on the factory hitches.



Rusty

 

[TFucili]

U-Haul wouldn't rent me a trailer unless I rented one of their Vans to Tow my other truck 650 miles to it's new owner. Needless to say, my New truck pulled it like a charm! Oo.

#ad

Hey, that's cheating!! The trailer in that picture has a lift axle :-laf

 

[YFZBOB]

:-laf I wish...

 

[AlexWV]

It sounds like you never owned a 2nd generation Ram. Both my 1996 and 2002 3500 duallies had 500/5000 and 1000/10000 labels on the factory hitches.

Rusty

Very true. I never had a second gen. I stand corrected, thanks for the

clarification. I just find it hard to imagine how one of these things will be

constructed so that they can take twice the load with WD.

 

[Crunch]

Crunch - I believe the reason they state for class V only is because to get the full 1,200/12,000 out of it you'll need it to be on a class V hitch. If you have a hitch rated at 500/5,000 weight carrying and you put that drop bar in it you still can only put 500/5,000 on it. The thing to remember in towing is that you can only tow whatever the weakest link can carry. Things you need to check are: your ball rating, drop rating, hitch rating (wc or wd), rear axle weight rating, front axle weight rating, GVWR, & GCVWR. If you are over on ANY of those you are running outside of the design parameters.

OK, so as we go through the links we should find that the 2500 Ram (with tow package) front and rear axle weight rating, GVWR and GCVWR are rated for 12,000lb towing, which is what is being advertised. With the tow package the stock hitch/receiver on the truck should be rated as a Class IV, with a weight rating of 10,000lbs and a tongue weight of 1000. That leaves the draw/drop bar and the ball--the only part of the setup the owner needs to purchase separately. By my reckoning, my stock truck was well within the limits of the hitch rating, despite what the manager was claiming. My draw bar and ball exceed the rating, so the only question is whether or not weight distribution should have been used. I calculated the load at 6000lbs--4000 for the tuna boat and 2000 for the trailer. As I said before, I can't recall ever seen someone use weight distribution bars, with the possible exception of on a travel trailer. If the recommendations for the use of weight distribution are correct, it seems that the vast majority of towed loads on the road (hey, that's got rhythm!) are improperly set up across the hitch class spectrum, not just for our trucks.

Do people do it? Yes, all the time and most get away with it. Have I towed overweight? Yep, I have but I did it with the knowledge of how much I was overweight and where and took that risk.

That's because you be a bad boy, and this will go on your permanent record. It's on mine too, but hey, I'm an outlaw! Your the bossman for a respectable publication and web site. If you ever run for President this will surely come back and bite you on the butt.

 

[rbattelle]

What you can do and what it's designed and rated for are not necessarily the same thing.

The reason most people can exceed the factory rating and never have any problem is because of "factor of safety". As far as I know, every item designed by an engineer includes a factor of safety. All it is is a ratio between the published rating and the yield stress of the component in question (if we're talking about metal or concrete structures). For example, if the yield stress of the weakest point on your hitch is 60000 psi and we employ a factor of safety of 2, then the maximum stress that will be permitted in the ratings will be 30000 psi. That stress value then gets translated into a maximum load rating for the component.



Civil engineers tend to use very large factors of safety - as high as 10 for things like bridges. Aerospace engineers tend to use much much lower factors of safety - sometimes as low as 1. 5 for weight savings.



My point? Exceeding manufacturers ratings simply eats up some safety margin. Choose carefully how much you exceed the ratings, because when that safety factor is gone... BOOM! If I had to guess, the factor of safety on the factory-installed hitches is probably around 3 (that does NOT translate into being able to tow 3 times the rated load).



I can't imagine any engineer yielding a factor of safety determination to a bean counter or lawyer. At least, I hope they wouldn't.



-Ryan

 

[Hercules130]

http://store. uhaul.com/(eu2ujv45intptiq5fkzuoxmq)/products. aspx?id=15

check out the U-HAUL site, you can purchase a solid aluminium ball mount that is rated to tow 13000lbs and a max tongue weight of 2000lbs, for under $50. i think the ball mount is often overlooked when it comes to the hitches, you need a solid forged mount for a class IV and V hitch.

 

[Tim]

I towed 10,500 lbs recently with the factory hitch on my '96 without distribution bars. The hay was loaded so it wouldn't put a lot of weight on the tongue, the trailer bore at least 96-97% of the weight I'd guess. It was stable on the 300 mile trip. If I did it very often I'd definitely upgrade my hitch to a Class V though.



Vaughn

That is very unsafe. Improperly loading your trailer so you can use a hitch that is not rated for the trailer you're pulling is a recipie for disaster. You must have never had a trailer sway if you're loading a trailer with 3% tongue weight and going down the road. Either that or you loaded it with good tongue weight and overloaded your hitch.



There is one thing I can tell all you guys about towing. One day, it's going to be widely regulated by the government. That means inspections, roadside checks, going to the weigh stations, checking your ratings, etc. This is because truck owners can't read. I see 3/4 ton trucks going down the road all the time with 35+ foot fifth wheels. They're WAY over their GVWR, long before they even hit the GCWR, some know it, some don't, but the fact of the matter it's stuff like that, when they're involved in an accident, that is going to make the government come down on us, HARD. My truck weighs 7,025 empty. GVWR is 9900. Subtract my weight, 140 lbs, and the empty truck weight, and you've got 2,735 for payload. 3/4 ton is 8,800. My same truck as a 3/4 ton would have only 1635 lbs payload. When's the last time any of you checked even the DRY hitch weight of a 5th wheel trailer? They're usually really high. Truck campers are another story completely. Some of them are so heavy they shouldn't be installed on ANY pickup. Yet, nobody cares, nobody even checks their ratings, and when they get someone killed as a result, I wouldn't be surprised to see a criminal case in additition to the civil penalties for such stupidity.





I have seen some really scary rigs on the road. I've always thought it was people that didn't know any better. Seeing people that have such a blatent disregard for the ratings of a HITCH really scare me. I have met many people that think that GVWR and GCWR numbers are hogwash and regularly ignore them. You won't ever find me being one of those people, but they're out there.

I routinely pull 10,140 lbs with my truck and have had nary a problem with the factory hitch without a WDH. I remember when I had my 2000 truck that there was a recall on hitches with a cracking problem. I had mine checked and the date code was not in the window of the hitches they had to replace. I always tell the U-Haul people that I am towing a 67 Volkswagen!

These are the kinds of comments that really bother me. Just because it worked successfully once or even several times doesn't mean that it's up to you to go beyond the design limitations of the product. Thank God that it stayed together on your past trips and get WD, or get a hitch rated for that kid of load, weight carrying. I suggest getting the WD bars, you might be shocked what a difference it makes.



The only trailer I tow is my 18+2, 14k GVWR equipment trailer with my 6,000 lb truck on top of it. It weighs 3,080 empty. That puts me a little over 9,000 lbs. I use the weight distributing bars made for 1k lb tongue weight). I have no need for sway control because I don't need it, I load my trailer correctly. I have thousands of miles towing this trailer without a single scary experience. It has worked great for me.



I hope everyone has a safe towing experience. Years ago I did some stupid crap towing trailers that were less than safe. I hope to never do that again, and I wish to spread the word about properly and safely towing trailers.