Excessive Butt Sag?

[Dr Cube]

I have a Ranger Tug 27OB on a 3 axle Float-On trailer on the way and I'm about to buy a truck to tug the tug around. I've selected a Diesel Ram 2500, but since I don't know the trailer tongue weight I'm worried about how much the truck rear end will sag. There's a load leveling option but it's expensive. Anyone have advice/insight?

 

[venajeff]

I have a R27OB on a triple float-on trailer that I tow with a F250. I have airbags installed on the rear axle that I run at around 50 psi to keep the truck level. I installed a fairly inexpensive airlift kit. I would assume the Ram will need something similar if you want it to ride level.

 

[scross]

I tow our C-28 on a triple EZ Loader trailer. Gross towed weight about 12,600 pounds. Calculated tongue weight is 1,050 pounds or about 8.4% of gross towed weight.
My 2022 Ram 2500 4x4 with tow package tows the C-28 just fine. I have an adjustable height ball mount. I can adjust that height of the ball to keep the trailer frame level to the ground.
To your question about sag. I have almost none. For me, no need for airbags. I imagine if you really loaded up the truck bed too you might need the airbags.

 

[Mark512]

I tow our C-28 on a triple EZ Loader trailer. Gross towed weight about 12,600 pounds. Calculated tongue weight is 1,050 pounds or about 8.4% of gross towed weight.
My 2022 Ram 2500 4x4 with tow package tows the C-28 just fine. I have an adjustable height ball mount. I can adjust that height of the ball to keep the trailer frame level to the ground.
To your question about sag. I have almost none. For me, no need for airbags. I imagine if you really loaded up the truck bed too you might need the airbags.

 

[Mark512]

I just sold my Ram 2500 diesel with the self leveling air suspension. I had this when I had a R27 and trailer as well as a heavy dump trailer and often had a heavy load in the bed.

It is a great feature and money well spent. It lowers for hitch up and automatically raises to a level state once weight is applied to the hitch or a load in the bed. Never need to worry about riding nose high or the rear dragging while backing down a ramp. If you are spending that much in a truck and plan on towing you should select this feature.

I now have an R31 without a trailer and no longer have a dump trailer so I went back down to a 1500 series.

Mark

 

[S. Todd]

It is not all that difficult to measure tongue weight even with a bathroom scale if you don't have access to a tongue weight scale (you should be able to find videos on-line to see how to do this with a board set up as a lever to avoid overloading the bathroom scale). My experience is that with a triple axle trailer your tongue weight may be much closer to 5% (as opposed to 7% to 10% for tandem or single axle trailers) and still tow perfectly. For example, the tongue weight for our R29S (triple axle) was within ten lbs of the tongue weight on our prior R25SC (tandem axle), when both were on custom built aluminum Integrity trailers. We towed our R25SC tongue weight of 640 lbs with a stock F250 with no noticeable rear end sag. We tow the R29SC with a F350 diesel dually and it likes the tongue weight to soften down the rear end ride on bumpy roads.

 

[Dr Cube]

It is not all that difficult to measure tongue weight even with a bathroom scale if you don't have access to a tongue weight scale (you should be able to find videos on-line to see how to do this with a board set up as a lever to avoid overloading the bathroom scale). My experience is that with a triple axle trailer your tongue weight may be much closer to 5% (as opposed to 7% to 10% for tandem or single axle trailers) and still tow perfectly. For example, the tongue weight for our R29S (triple axle) was within ten lbs of the tongue weight on our prior R25SC (tandem axle), when both were on custom built aluminum Integrity trailers. We towed our R25SC tongue weight of 640 lbs with a stock F250 with no noticeable rear end sag. We tow the R29SC with a F350 diesel dually and it likes the tongue weight to soften down the rear end ride on bumpy roads.

Thanks, that's true, but I don't have the boat and trailer yet.

 

[Rebel112r]

I tow my R27OB, with a 2014 Ram 1500 Reg cab short bed, with hemi. Less than a mile to launch from home. I have measured the bed drop at rear axle and it is right at 4 inches. It is a load for a 1500. Power wise it is not a problem.

 

[S. Todd]

My experience is only with Ford trucks, but unless you are going to put a significant amount of weight in the bed of the truck at the same time, I would think a Ram 2500 would have plenty of tongue weight capacity for your boat. Do you know what the hitch is rated for? Can you have the seller of the boat put a tongue weight scale under it and give you that figure? My guess is that with the diesel up front, your 3/4 ton rear end will need to drop 2 to 3 inches before it even sits level. You can always add after-market air bags if for some reason the Dodge doesn't have the needed rear end suspension to keep from sagging.

 

[Dr Cube]

Thanks folks for the replies! I went ahead and bought one with the air suspension option. I have a tractor and a skidsteer I'd like to be able to haul too at some point so It seemed like a good option.

 

[sfladgard]

I tow my R27OB, with a 2014 Ram 1500 Reg cab short bed, with hemi. Less than a mile to launch from home. I have measured the bed drop at rear axle and it is right at 4 inches. It is a load for a 1500. Power wise it is not a problem.

2021 Silverado 1500, tow my 27ob 3 miles to the ramp, sometimes 15-20 miles for canvas, etc. No problem with torque (weemax 3.0) but added remote controlled airbags and it handles better.