2016 Ram 1500 ecodiesel

[Oyekim]

Hello, I'm a newbie on the forum and I don't have any experience towing a camper. Plenty of experience towing boats but this would be my first time towing a camper so any advice is appreciated.

I'm currently looking at a 27 Classic International and I'm concerned that this would be the max weight my truck can handle. The GVWR weight of the AS is 9k pounds. Anyone have the RAM with issues towing this amount of weight?

[BayouBiker]

1/2 ton trucks (nearly all of them) generally don't do their best towing over a 25' Airstream unless you travel with not much gear (but why have a truck then....) and you take some steps to shore up the combination. They tend to have issues with sway and oversteer instabilities. Some have brake and drivetrain performance issues out west. Many people make the 1/2 ton 27' combinations work, but there are better choices.

[Daquenzer]

Don’t know much about the 2016 RAM diesel. The dealer I bought my Airstream from in 2017 used that configuration to tow all their Airstreams. It will depend upon your hitch set up and how much stuff you are going to carry. I tow a 28’ with 2020 F150 ecoboost and have no issues.
Before that had a 2017. Do use a propride hitch and modified some suspension for minimal cost. The weight diffrence between a 25’ and 28’ is minimal. The length of the trailer may cause a bit more wind catching and sway, which can easily be taken care of with a good hitch set up.

I know as a daily driver the ecodiesels get great mileage. I do think the new ecodiesel has a significant power upgrade.

So ask these questions:
1) How often are you going to tow?
2) Where are you going to tow?
3) How much stuff do you plan on taking?

I went with a F150 Ecoboost because 1) Maybe 5 times a year. 2) Pretty much within a 9 hour radius from Wisconsin 3) We aren’t gone for more than a week at a time and travel light. Buying a 3/4 ton didn’t make any sense for my use. If your answers are similar I don’t see why your truck couldn’t work. Having said that my International Serenity has a 7600lb max weight. And typically I am well below that.

Your answers may be different. My suggestion is talk to a well versed Airstream dealer and get their recommendation. You will get all kinds of answers on this forum. It probably is the least objective place to go. All you have to do is search the threads and you will get opinions from A to Z and everything in between.

[BayouBiker]

I find that with a broader set of perspectives one gets all sides of the issue and is best prepared to find the better answer. I see a forum like this as bringing all considerations together in one place. Sure you get a lot of uninformed and downright misguided opinion here too, but that seems easy to navigate around.

[Wazbro]

The biggest thing you need to find out about is payload. The tongue weight will need to be deducted from your payload. Some 1/2 tons have less then 1300 lbs payload deduct 900-1200 lbs from that and you don't have much left for people and gear.


EDIT; This fact is something that many dealers ignore.

[new2trailer]

Ask people who have done it. I haven't so take this for what it is worth.

I met a guy who towed the same trailer with the dodge 1500 hundred diesel. He called the engine a euro diesel, not eco. Same? Don't know.

He was a retired truck driver who towed on the ball, no special hitches. He thought the truck was a perfect match for the trailer.

For me stopping distance is key. Beyond that, I feel golden. I'm not, a first to the top sort of guy which may suffer from the small diesel. I have a feeling the truck driver was, but again don't know. He talked about how fast he got from one place to another.

So buy your ticket and I hope it is a winner.

Mike