Re: Towing large trailer
I believe that if you do some real checking that you will not find much difference between the 2500 and the 3500 single rear wheel trucks. About the only real difference is in the tires and the spring rates and with the 3500 you can get a deeper rear axle ratio. The engine and trans and all drive line components are actually the same as are the frames in that era of trucks. With the newer trucks there a few more differences but not many. If you truly want to go that big on a trailer you should really go to dual rear wheels and probably move away from the Dodge trucks because of several drive line and electrical problems. Most of the campers of the that 2003 age era didn't weigh that much and the trucks weren't really engineered to handle that much weight. Also with the short bed you need to mount the 5th wheel plate differently that in an 8 foot bed. With the long bed you can, and should mount that plate ahead of the axle so that it distributes the weight more towards the front axle. With the short bed the plate is actually mounted either over, or depending on your trailer requirements, a little behind the axle putting virtually all the weight on the back axle, springs, and tires. The standard figure is 15% to 20% of the total trailer weight is the pin weight, or hitch weight, and that would mean that you would be putting between 2100 to almost 3000 pounds directly on or behind the rear axle. Not a safe thing to do even with out talking about the brakes that you would need. Bottom line is if you want to get a trailer that big and heavy then also get a newer model truck that can handle both pulling the load from a power stand point, carrying the load and stopping the load from a safety stand point.
But then, I like the redundancy of two extra tires in the event of a blowout. And less straight line sway...and more stable cornering...more braking surface, etc, etc.
