Ram 2500 over GVW with a FWC Hawk!

[Durango]

OK, so I admit it! We travel heavy! But still...

Sioux and I just finished up our 3 week 40th Anniversary 4200 mile odyssey and had a great time. (Thanks for all your suggestions.) I felt like my 2012 Ram 2500 with the Hemi and the Hawk on back did just fine. The only suspension mod I've made was adding air bags.

Even so, I'm close to selling the Hawk and putting an aluminum flatbed on it with a new Hawk Flatbed model. (More interior room/ more amenities.) So I just weighed my current setup with full tanks and all our gear except (cough, cough) Sioux and it came in at 8900# which is 100# over the GVW! If I go with the Hawk flatbed combo I'll be several hundred pounds heavier!

So can I (should I) do this? (The big benefit of moving up to the flatbed is I can stay with my current Ram 2500 truck.) But I will be 400# or more over the GVW with the missus on board! (Not all due to her.) What say you all?

Steve

 

[ripperj]

I would not even give it a second thought, 400# over is nothing for a HD truck. Not saying I agree with it, but you see dopes with close to 1000 over on Toyotas.
I would be interested in knowing what you carry, that's a pretty light camper, you must have 1200# of "stuff"

Sent from my Passport using Tapatalk 2

 

[PJorgen]

The weight of your rig is in line with mine. I've got a Hawk on a GMC 2500HD and it tips the (truck) scales at about 8800 lbs fully loaded. The GVWR for my truck is 9500 lbs, surprised that yours is so much lower.

 

[Durango]

I would be interested in knowing what you carry, that's a pretty light camper, you must have 1200# of "stuff"...

You have no idea! 2000 watt Yamaha genny, 10,000# winch on a receiver hitch platform, tools, recovery gear, lots of food (love to eat), BBQ grill, spotting scopes, tripods, wine cellar, beer, etc. It adds up.

But I REALLY don't want to buy a new truck. My 2012 has only 16K miles even after our big trip AND it is paid for! (I calculate just the sales tax and registration on a new 350 will set me back 5K!)

But then I also don't want to go through the hassle of buying and mounting a new flatbed/camper and find the vehicle is ridiculously under powered/unsafe. Sigh...

So maybe I need to either A) exercise self control or B) beef up the suspension a bit. Is "B" possible/practical?

 

[Regcabguy]

You have no idea! 2000 watt Yamaha genny, 10,000# winch on a receiver hitch platform, tools, recovery gear, lots of food (love to eat), BBQ grill, spotting scopes, tripods, wine cellar, beer, etc. It adds up.

But I REALLY don't want to buy a new truck. My 2012 has only 16K miles even after our big trip AND it is paid for! (I calculate just the sales tax and registration on a new 350 will set me back 5K!)

But then I also don't want to go through the hassle of buying and mounting a new flatbed/camper and find the vehicle is ridiculously under powered/unsafe. Sigh...

So maybe I need to either A) exercise self control or B) beef up the suspension a bit. Is "B" possible/practical?

Concerning "B", www.thecarlisuspension.com or www.thurenfabrication.com have proven recommendations for your application.
Thuren's site is incomplete and a call will be returned within a day. He's a small operation with great customer service. He can recommend and valve shocks for your application. Ditto Carli.

 

[driller]

Fully loaded ready to go for a week I tip the scales at 9060# almost even between front and rear axles. I'm running Carli front coils with 7100 bilsteins, airbags in the rear running 40 psi and 7100 bilsteins, handles beautiful and offroads very nice. I wouldn't sweat 400#

 

[brian90744]

Maybe you need a small light weigh trailer, I found the same problem =too much supplies, such as Honda 2K gen, LP bar bq, fire in a can,9x7 e z-up awning,tables, cook stove 2 burner,outside mats, ammo/targets ect-ect.=brian

 

[OutbacKamper]

I read the title to this thread and it really grabbed my attention, I thought your truck was 2500lbs over GVW with a 4Wheel Hawk Camper. When I read you are 100lbs over GVW with your 2500 series truck I relaxed a little.

I don't think being 400lb over GVW is all that bad provided you take the necessary precautions (i.e.: drive it as if it is a big heavy truck and not a sports car).

However I would caution that the truck and camper will tend to gain weight over time. We all tend to add stuff such as accessories, spares, food, water, beer, souvenirs, etc as we travel. Some years ago, I had a Hawk camper on my 2003 F350 and was outfitting it for a year long trip around Australia. When I was done preparing the truck and camper and had all the camping gear, recovery gear, spare parts, fuel and water loaded, I weighed it at the local land fill. I was 1,000lbs over GVW (GVW is 9,900lb). I reduced the weight as much as possible and trimmed it down to 500lb over GVW at the start of the trip (I removed a rear cargo carrier and the cargo for it as well as the camper jacks, and a PullPal ground anchor). However as the trip progressed I added a second 12v cooler ( I hate warm beer), and carried more beer, wine and groceries, so that I would guess I was averaging at least 750lb over GVW. I guess the message I am trying to convey is be mindful of the extra weight and try not to allow it to creep ever higher as time goes by.

 

[Durango]

I read the title to this thread and it really grabbed my attention, I thought your truck was 2500lbs over GVW with a 4Wheel Hawk Camper. When I read you are 100lbs over GVW with your 2500 series truck I relaxed a little...

Ouch! I can see the confusion now. My apologies!

And thanks for all the suggestions. My preference is to stay with the 2500 Ram. (It IS almost "new", after all!) I'm going to see how much weight an aluminum flatbed adds versus removing the stock bed. And good point on the trailer, Brian. In fact, we're considering flat-towing our 2 door Rubicon (4200# curb weight) at times which could carry some of the heavier items as a "trailer". Of course, this will load up the Hemi pretty good!

Decisions, decisions!

 

[craig333]

Youve got me thinking. I weighed my truck and camper oh, about six years ago. It might be enlightening to go weight it now.

 

[doctorit]

You have no idea! 2000 watt Yamaha genny, 10,000# winch on a receiver hitch platform, tools, recovery gear, lots of food (love to eat), BBQ grill, spotting scopes, tripods, wine cellar, beer, etc. It adds up.

It sure does! I was pretty underwhelmed by the "on paper" capability of our new F250, but in practice, it handles/feels so much better than the F150 did.

What's that saying about buying WAY more truck than you think you need?

 

[Durango]

Fully loaded ready to go for a week I tip the scales at 9060# almost even between front and rear axles...

So I weighed my loaded Hawk/Ram today on both axles. 4320# on the front and 4900# on the back. The rear axle on the Ram is rated at 6010# and the front axle at 5200#. My guess is the new flatbed Hawk will add 400# to the back and maybe 200# to the front. So with E-rated tires I'm guessing this will be worth at least testing?

Too many numbers!

 

[pugslyyy]

OK, so I admit it! We travel heavy! But still...

Sioux and I just finished up our 3 week 40th Anniversary 4200 mile odyssey and had a great time. (Thanks for all your suggestions.) I felt like my 2012 Ram 2500 with the Hemi and the Hawk on back did just fine. The only suspension mod I've made was adding air bags.

Even so, I'm close to selling the Hawk and putting an aluminum flatbed on it with a new Hawk Flatbed model. (More interior room/ more amenities.) So I just weighed my current setup with full tanks and all our gear except (cough, cough) Sioux and it came in at 8900# which is 100# over the GVW! If I go with the Hawk flatbed combo I'll be several hundred pounds heavier!

So can I (should I) do this? (The big benefit of moving up to the flatbed is I can stay with my current Ram 2500 truck.) But I will be 400# or more over the GVW with the missus on board! (Not all due to her.) What say you all?

Steve

This is an issue we wrestle with on MDTs as well.

My thought would be to ensure that as many of the components as possible can handle the additional weight (springs, rims, tires, etc) and understand the impact that higher weight will have on cooling, stopping distance, etc.

1. make sure that the sidewall is stamped for less weight than you have on the tire.

2. Make sure the springs aren't on the bump stops. Suspension is often the weakest point in the system - make that work right under whatever load and if the tires don't pop you can roll down the road.


IANAL.

 

[driller]

You have a truck that works for you. I would not worry about a new truck unless that's something you really want to do. It sounds like you carry a lot of gear with you. One thing I do is completely empty the truck and camper every year. When I repack I ask myself if I really need this in the truck, if not into the garage It goes. I started doing this because my last camper just kept accumulating more and more junk that I thought I needed. I found that I actually enjoy having less to keep track of and keep organized.