Here is the situation -
truck is 07.5 2500 HD 6.6 L D/A long bed 4x4
fifth wheel is 11k empty - truck rated for 12,500
pin wt. 2300 lbs. - truck 3000 lb payload capacity
I have done the math 100 times adding in the weight of passengers, hitch, fuel, and anticipated camping gear. As long as I leave the gold bricks at home when I camp, I always come up with numbers under trailer max wt. and under GCVW of 22k.
Am I asking too much from this truck? Is there something I am not considering? Realistically I will pull this thing 10-12 times a year max. I don't want to rag my truck nor be unsafe. The guys on the rv forums act like I need a semi to pull this thing. Who has some thoughts?

Haha... you are fine ;)

People chime in here all the time about pulling 20k+, some even up to 30k.

Now no way is THAT safe, but what you are doing definately is, and you will be happy you got the dmax!

Many guys on here run 3 car Wedge trailers that frequently see 15-21K depending on the vehicles loaded on.

I dont think it should be a problem either, I have seen 20,000 on a 6.5 many times, I would think the Duramax would be way better!

I dont think it should be a problem either, I have seen 20,000 on a 6.5 many times, I would think the Duramax would be way better!


:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Here is the situation -
truck is 07.5 2500 HD 6.6 L D/A long bed 4x4
fifth wheel is 11k empty - truck rated for 12,500
pin wt. 2300 lbs. - truck 3000 lb payload capacity
I have done the math 100 times adding in the weight of passengers, hitch, fuel, and anticipated camping gear. As long as I leave the gold bricks at home when I camp, I always come up with numbers under trailer max wt. and under GCVW of 22k.
Am I asking too much from this truck? Is there something I am not considering? Realistically I will pull this thing 10-12 times a year max. I don't want to rag my truck nor be unsafe. The guys on the rv forums act like I need a semi to pull this thing. Who has some thoughts?

Hate to burst your bubble, but NO 2500HD with the Duramax has a 3k cargo capacity. You must have been reading GM's literature...which is deceiving at best, dishonest at worse. Here's the ONLY place you can find the cargo capacity for YOUR truck: Look at the Tire and Loading Information sticker on the left rear door panel. It will give you the max cargo for that truck to the nearest one pound. My guess would be about 2,200#. Now do the numbers.

Good luck.

I think esp if you put bags under it and upgrade th tires you should be fine

If you are close on pin weight you might try to load more of the cargo in the camper in the back of it to take a little weight off the pin. May not make much difference but a little bit may be all you need.

Well i got an 08 dually and i have a 39 foot Fuzion look at my av or my garage the weight of my trailer is 12500 i just got havent had time to weight each axle or loads yet be doing it next week but you must think of safety if you got your family in it its one thing to be way overloaded by yourself but with kids in it thats different. IF and thats a big IF something happens and the DOT or state weigh cops get involed could be big trouble . Your decision, obvisouly you asking on here you r having second thoughts.

Man, these trucks would pull the titanic off the ocean floor! I pull an enclosed 24' trailer loaded roughly 12,000 no problem. 85 mph up fancy gap mountain in Virginia, love this truck! tourque tourque torque!!

That's about what I am doing. My trailer is about 14K, overweight for my '98 K2500 7.4L, which I towed about 80,000 miles with a total of 140,000 on the truck. No problems and I managed over 90,000 miles on my Michelins. I have almost 50,000 miles on my Duramax with about 35,000 towing. Hang on, I'm gonna bust your bubble now, the performance is about the same and cost per mile, taking into account the increased cost for fuel is higher for the diesel. Granted the klinker stays in overdrive more but at what a price. At the end of the day I don't think it makes much difference.

you must think of safety if you got your family in it its one thing to be way overloaded by yourself but with kids in it thats different.

I'm going further than that.

Never mind the kids in an overloaded truck, if their parents want to risk harming them that's their problem, BUT to harm kids in ANOTHER vehicle because of your OVERLOADED truck will bring you nothing but life long misery -- at the least, a big fat lawsuit, at worst, jail time. And you'll deserve it.

Laughing about overloaded trucks is STUPID!

It is especially stupid to be bragging about your overloaded truck adventures in an online forum like this one because if you get in just a little fender bender, EVERYTHING you've ever stated in this forum can be used against you in a court of law to prove that you are habitually negilent and reckless.

Harm MY kids with your overloaded truck, you're DEAD MEAT.


I suggest the owner(s) of the forum adopt new rules to restrict any discussion suggesting exceeding vehicle weight restrictions. Do we really want to naive newbies to come here and thinks its okay to routinely exceed weight restrictions? I think not. Besides, I wonder how dieselplace would appreciate being dragged into a lawsuit because of the behavior of a naive member on our highways.

I wouldn't do it. Our fiver is a bit heavier than yours and we towed it for 18 months with a 2500HD ExtCab, 4X2 short bed. We had way more cargo capacity than your truck and were still overweight by at least 500 lbs. It only took one incident last summer on the PA Turnpike that almost resulted in a total wipe out to convince us not to do that again.

Your truck, as nice as it is, has about the lowest cargo capacity of the 2500HD series. Your truck will be overweight as soon as you hitch the thing up - and that doesn't count any passengers in the truck. Time for a smaller trailer or a larger truck. If you don't believe any of this, load your truck up like you would be taking a trip (full tank, passengers, stuff you would normally put in the bed) and take it to your local CAT scale. I think you are going to be really surprised about how much your truck weighs and how little cargo capacity (pin weight) you actually have.

take it to your local CAT scale. I think you are going to be really surprised about how much your truck weighs and how little cargo capacity (pin weight) you actually have.
This is the correct way to see if your overloaded or not. Start by weighing your truck with what ever you plan on having in it while towing, even the hitch. This gives you available pin wieght.
I bet you run out of availble pin capacity before towing capacity. Trailer companys are optimistic about what their trailers weigh.

Another thought on this subject is does your current drivers licence allow you to pull that much weight. Up here in Ontario if you pull more then 10,000 #'s you need a class A licence. No if's and or Buts. RV's r not exempt which most people think. They r exempt from having to register the weight with the truck thats it. I got my class A this week no big deal. The city cops up here dont have a clue, The OPP like your state police 50/50 chance but if the MTO grab ya your beat and they r everywhere in the city highways behind trees. If your get caught up here you will get a 750$ out of class and being out of class your insurance is void well that ones $5000.00. I think with these RV's no adays getting so big they r really going to start cracking down, when a couple of these big Rv's start getting into big wrecks and people r getting killed and making the news thats when the shits going to hit the fan.

I don't like to burst anyone's bubble but I agree with everyone who posted that you will end up overweight. I weighed my old 2500HD on a trip back from south Texas. I had just fueled up, had everything in the truck that we travel with and of course the family was in the truck, I weighed in at 7600 lbs. Doesn't leave a lot of room for pin weight on a 9200lb GVWR truck. Now add my 34' 9800lbs TT to that, with a hitch weight of almost 1300lbs and I was very close to being at max GVWR, although I was over 6000lbs shy of the GCWR of truck. With that kind of weight on and behind my 2500HD, it was never a comfortable ride. I never knew what I weighed until a few months ago and had always thought the truck didn't handle the weight as well as it should. After finding out what I weighed I knew why. I had considered towing the 5er we currently have with my old truck and I am glad I did not. Adding in an extra 1000-1200 lbs of weight to the 1300 lbs I was used to having on the a** end of my truck made me cringe. I decided that before we could upgrade to a 5er, I needed a bigger truck.
On the way to the dealer to trade our TT behind my 3500DRW was a night and day difference. Yes it was fully loaded (we full-time) and actually had about 1000lbs more in it than when I weighed it last. The DRW handled it 100 times better. The 5er behind the DRW was a no brainer, felt great and it was the most comfortable tow. The best decision I made was buying the DRW truck to tow with. Not saying it is for everyone, but if you are considering a 5er of any size near 10k lbs GVWR, it should be thought about. Consider that most 5ers put 15-25% of the weight on the pin and with a 10k lbs trailer you are looking at 1500-2500 lbs, you'll be overweight quick. 12k lbs is a heck of a lot more than that. FWIW.

I was afraid of not having enough truck. I appreciate all of the responses and I am currently in the market for a new 1 ton dually. Cannot put a price on safety and piece of mind.

I was afraid of not having enough truck. I appreciate all of the responses and I am currently in the market for a new 1 ton dually. Cannot put a price on safety and piece of mind.

Get that D/A dually...you'll love it. Then come over to the Dually thread and join the Dually Club.