Towing report: TomCat behind a 2019 Dodge half ton/V8 gasser

C

Captain Starbucks

Member
This is only a trip report and mild comparison of a modern half ton to a 20 year old 3/4 ton. I'm not saying I do or do not recommend you do this, only it can be legally and seemingly safely done.

My buddy bought the above mentioned truck and offered to tow my boat on a 4 hour trip from Tacoma, WA to LaPush, WA. We normally take my 2001 F250 CC LB 7.3 diesel 6 speed manual. He intentionally sought out a truck that was rated to tow my boat. As far as I can come up with, the loaded weight of the TomCat is around 11k, give or take which is 1k over max on my 22 year old 3/4 ton and 600 lbs under max on his 2019 half ton.

After discovering he did not max out the air pressure in the tires (we got the speed wobbles at 65 mph) we pumped them up to 50 but should have put in the max at 65 psi. After that, the truck towed just fine. Power was good up the minor hills on our route, ride was quite plush, especially compared to my rock-crusher suspension. Overall, I was quite impressed. Fuel economy was horrible, but I'm not sure any gasser can out do a diesel in that regard. My 22 year old truck gets 22 mpg on the highway empty (impressive at 8,200 lbs! but I've done the typical tune/chip/exhaust and turbo mods) and about 13 mpg towing the TomCat. His gets somewhere around 8 mpg with my boat behind it.

I'm not about to rush out and buy a half ton, but overall I would say the modern half ton's are just fine. The Ram half ton configuration we had was a crew cab with a 6'4" box. 395 HP and 410 TQ, 8 speed auto. The tow/haul function locks out gears 7 and 8. Trailer braking was good although for some reason the trucks locks up the rear brakes under heavy braking. The air suspension in the Ram with the boat behind it was not willing to adjust the ride height due to payload per the dash warning.
 
I towed 10k before with a 2009 dodge ram 1500. Same truck, different transmission.

It does do it, it won't be happy. I generally don't recommend it. It really needs weight distribution equipment but that's hard to accommodate on a boat trailer.

I'd have ran the F350 overweight, but YMMV.
 
It really needs weight distribution equipment but that's hard to accommodate on a boat trailer.
Click to expand...


We did not find that setting up and utilizing a weight distribution hitch was difficult on a boat trailer. You may need a "pole tongue adaptor" and the correct weight distribution hitch. Hitch up, then deploy the chains to the weight distribution bars. It might take 5 minutes more than with a normal hitch. There are some weight distribution hitches which will work with surge brakes, but safest to use electric over hydraulic brakes to begin with.

Trailer braking was good although for some reason the trucks locks up the rear brakes under heavy braking. The air suspension in the Ram with the boat behind it was not willing to adjust the ride height due to payload per the dash warning.
Click to expand...
.

What breaking system is being used? Locking up one axle is not good for many reasons. We didn't have any issue increasing air bag pressure on our auxiliary bags I used on the Yukon XL. Bug we increased the pressure "manually" with an external compressor.
 
WA500,

I generally do indeed use my F250, but my buddy wanted to help me out by towing with his truck, so we did. We talked about the weight distributing hitch and I might get that anyways. My truck could benefit from it as well. I already have most of the stuff anyways. Adjustable hitch, bars, etc. Just need the boat trailer attachment that is only a few hundred dollars or so.

Bob,

The braking system in his truck I couldn't tell you but the truck is only a few years old so I assume it's cutting edge/modern. Even if it is a Dodge. The air pump system for the rear suspension bags were also factory installed Dodge. I thought it silly that the truck was rated to tow that weight, but then said it was too heavy to adjust the airbags.
 
In my state, in order for a half ton to legally tow that much it must have been built with the Max Tow component/registrations and its not something to be added aftermarket. I'm just sayin this in case some may want to use their standard 150's or 1500's. My f250 super duty was just sold last week and was a complete beast. Rated to tow 13000lbs. But licensed at 10000lbs. Otherwise it would have been necessary to register it as a commercial truck(nuanced)...at least In the state of PA. So even though the truck was built to tow your boat I could not have done so legally as it was licensed at 10,000.
 
Back
Top