1997 Dodge Ram 1500 for towing...

[AJTorris]

Ok so i have had the truck for a while but i am going to start upgrading it to tow my jeep on a trailer. I towed my jeep with it on a car trailer out to calico and it did great just my brakes got pretty hot. The truck has the 5.9 auto 4x4 and on 33x12.5s its also a 97. If i get the stock tires i think that might help it. I was also thinking of a tranny cooler, different cover for the rear end to help cool it, trailer brakes, I was thinking of upgrading the brakes or upgrading the axles to the 2500 axles. Does anyone know if the frames are thicker on the 2500s vs 1500s? I know on older fords they are but not sure on the dodges.
Either way i am newer to towing a car trailer with the jeep on it.

Either way what would you all do to the 5.9 dodge 1500 to tow a car trailer?

 

[ChiXJeff]

The frames on Dodges differ a lot between half ton and three quarter ton.

Stock size tires will help ease the load on the transmission, and make sure that you have good trailer brakes.

 

[95' heep]

If you still running stock gears, def either get lower gearing or get some stock tires to use to tow.

Trans coolers are no brainer

for the axles, just put in synethic gear lube. like the Mobil 1, royal purple, amsoil, you name it. you will be fine as long as you dont go over the towing capacity of the truck. I know a guy who tow pretty close to 10k trailer with his 1/2 ton chevy, he run synethic oil with stock cover and have 160k miles and no problem so I'd say you will be fine even with stock cover, just run some good synethic oil

IMO the dodges have the worst brakes, but you can upgrade to aftermarket rotors to help to stay much cooler. the ones thats slotted/drilled. also a good set of pads

get a transmission fluid temperature gauge so you can monitor it and stop if it actually get too hot.

Lastly, definatley make sure the trailer have good brakes along the brake controller. and get a levelizer hitch to boot too.

 

[AJTorris]

alright guys thanks. I didnt even think about the synthetic gear oil. When i towed the jeep out to Calico the other weekend the trailer i borrowed from my neighbor and has no brakes on it. When i get my own trailer i want it to have brakes on it most definitely. I was thinking of the drilled and slotted rotors too because i have heated my stock brakes a few times before coming down a windy single lane road at a 7% grade for about 5 miles. Had it in first gear and they still heated up.

Thanks again for the input!!!

 

[Johnnie Walker]

Definitely upgrade brakes, get a brake controller and a trailer with brakes.. that will help for sure. Smaller tires, or lower gears. Or trade it for a Ram with a CTD (=

 

[AJTorris]

I like my truck. The wife is trying to get me to trade it in but i like it too much to do that lol.

 

[AL BUNDY]

They are nice trucks. My brother has a 96' 3/4T V10 that came stock with a Dana 60 front and Dana 70 rear. It's a beast.
Yours probably has the 9.25 rear axle (looks like a stop sign). It's a good axle too.

 

[AJTorris]

yup got the 9.25 and the vacume 44 up front.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

I like my truck. The wife is trying to get me to trade it in but i like it too much to do that lol.

Throw a 6BT into that bad boy then.. a 1/2ton with a CTD?! What?! Ha.