So I'm in the market for a new truck, largely to put a FWC (or similar) pop-up on for trips out west. I'm looking at diesel Rams, but the 2500 shortbed Ram with the Cummins only has about a 2400# payload capacity.
A FWC Hawk is 895# base weight; that can easily go up to 1200# just by adding some modest options. Now the available payload of the truck is down to 1200#. A full tank of fuel is over 200# and a full tank of DEF is probably pushing 50#, so now we are down to 950# available. I weigh 260, my wife is 130, my girls are about 120 and 100. The dog is 50. That leaves less than 300# for water, food, tools & recovery gear, clothing, outdoor gear, etc (not to mention if I ever want to install a bumper & winch). That's probably enough weight if we are careful with what we bring.....but I kind of feel like if I'm going to spend all this money on a heavy duty rig and camper, I don't want to have to worry about weight at all, and I want to be able to drive it confidently in some rough places. It's amazing how quickly you get close to capacity, even with a lightweight camper on a heavy-duty truck. Makes me wonder how anyone hauls a big old Lance with a 4000# dry weight.
Now, I have no doubt that a Cummins-powered Ram 2500 can easily handle the weight of a lightweight camper plus my family, even if it does take some minor suspension mods or airbags to handle it really well. I'm more concerned with how keeping it close to or a little over capacity will affect my capability off-road, my warranty, even the unlikely but potentially realistic scenario of being found at fault in an accident because my truck was overloaded.
I'm starting to think it's probably worth spending just a little more on the 1-ton for the extra 1000#+ of payload capacity, and if I get tired of the rough ride when I'm unloaded, just get some softer springs installed. That seems like a better solution than buying the coil-spring 2500 and potentially modding it to handle the weight a little better, but still being really close to capacity on paper.
Thoughts?
A FWC Hawk is 895# base weight; that can easily go up to 1200# just by adding some modest options. Now the available payload of the truck is down to 1200#. A full tank of fuel is over 200# and a full tank of DEF is probably pushing 50#, so now we are down to 950# available. I weigh 260, my wife is 130, my girls are about 120 and 100. The dog is 50. That leaves less than 300# for water, food, tools & recovery gear, clothing, outdoor gear, etc (not to mention if I ever want to install a bumper & winch). That's probably enough weight if we are careful with what we bring.....but I kind of feel like if I'm going to spend all this money on a heavy duty rig and camper, I don't want to have to worry about weight at all, and I want to be able to drive it confidently in some rough places. It's amazing how quickly you get close to capacity, even with a lightweight camper on a heavy-duty truck. Makes me wonder how anyone hauls a big old Lance with a 4000# dry weight.
Now, I have no doubt that a Cummins-powered Ram 2500 can easily handle the weight of a lightweight camper plus my family, even if it does take some minor suspension mods or airbags to handle it really well. I'm more concerned with how keeping it close to or a little over capacity will affect my capability off-road, my warranty, even the unlikely but potentially realistic scenario of being found at fault in an accident because my truck was overloaded.
I'm starting to think it's probably worth spending just a little more on the 1-ton for the extra 1000#+ of payload capacity, and if I get tired of the rough ride when I'm unloaded, just get some softer springs installed. That seems like a better solution than buying the coil-spring 2500 and potentially modding it to handle the weight a little better, but still being really close to capacity on paper.
Thoughts?
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