Today went to the RV show in Keizer, OR at the Baseball Stadium and we were looking at the 35-40 triple axle toy haulers. My truck is a 2005 Dodge, 4*4 Dually CTD, with Auto and with the 3.73 gears. Trailer limit is suppose to be 13,450 but all the toyhaulers we were looking at will be around 15,000 maybe up to 18,000lbs fully loaded. With only 34,000 miles on my truck I do not want to mess around with getting into trouble with my warranty. Has anyone had any issues towing a large trailer and getting denied coverage on anything? My truck is completely stock. has anyone ever had a dealer ask about trailer weight? P.S. now I am kicking myself for not getting the 4.10 gears could have towed another 2,000 with them.
Yes your truck will tow 15,000-18,000lbs I just hope you have a GREAT set of brakes. Towing is not the problem, but stoping (safely) is. I think you need a jake brake and oversized pads & roters. Even then you will need to be very carefull.
With an exhaust brake and the triple axle trailer brakes you will be just fine. Your truck can handle it. Have you ever towed something this heavy before? A yellow light can be the scariest thing out there with some weight on a trailer, huge brakes or not. As for warranty, don't bring it in for a repair with the trailer in tow and you will be fine.
I'm not worried about driving with a big trailer, I did farm work for several summers in High School and College, pulling lots of trailers with no brakes, pipe trailers, gooseneck equipment trailers etc...scary to think about what could have happened with the crap trucks we had back then. And currently tow a 20 foot enclosed trailer with atv's inside and also a heavy 18 foot deckover trailer with a '77 K5 Blazer on it. I will cover myself with good trailers brakes etc... my only concern is if I blow a tranny or something in the motor and they findout I was towing an 18,000 pound 5th wheel toy hauler. The only issue I'm concerned about is warranties by Dodge or Cummins.
I have never had them to ask me anything about what kind of trailer I have. If you can buy the new trailer with disk brakes on it that should be real nice. Love the disk brakes on my 2004 HitchHiker 35 footer.
I hear ya on the tranny issue. Two biggest mistakes I see in my shop are programmers with no gauges and oversized tires with no gear change. In stock form you will be fine. If you have modded the engine you will need to watch it more closely. This is the same with the manual guys. They can slip a stock clutch at will with a simple programmer.
I would not consider towing that load without and exhaust brake. Check us all out we have alot to offer
My friend works at a dealership and they havent pulled the warranty of a customer who pulls 15K with his Titan, of course they have rebuild the rear end twice now figure he would have gotten a clue the first time, but Titans do have a odd break in heck Four Wheeler Mag roasted one its first trip out.
Get the BD exhaust brake and upgrade to front pads and 4 piston rotors from www.thebrakeman.com. If you're concerned about the 3.73 gears look at www.gearvendors.com. Expensive yes but the extra low gears are worth it. Don't forget your transmission as it will not hold up to those weights very long. The 5 band Viskus torque converter from ATS is a good place to start. Invest in a tranny cooler as well. You'll need an EGT gauge too. For the trailer I would get electric/hydraulic brakes and torsion axle suspension.
