Need some input. I have a 1986 Ramcharger 2WD, 360cu in with the 727 trans. It towed my 24 ft boat (6000lbs ) towed weight well. I now own a 30ft boat, about 10000 lbs loaded. I can buy a crate 360cu in 380HP, for about $3500. Think its worth the trouble? The truck is in decent shape...only 62000 miles on it. With the price of new tow vehiches these days,wondering if I could get by with an old school truck. The truck does have posi rear end. 3.21 to 1 gears. Thanks for any opinions!
Tom

Well.....it is a 1/2 ton chassis plain and simple, and a short wheel base to boot. My buddy had a 91 or something for several years and it was a blast to 4wheel in. I think you will be exceeding the recomended tow weight. But, change the rear end to a 4.56 and see what happens...make sure the hitch is rated for your boat. You should look to trade with somebody who has an older LWB 3/4 ton power wagon.

Brakes, suspension, frame, hitch, everything else are not up to towing 5 tons. Engine and transmission would be the least of your worries. The truck also has way too short of a wheelbase to control that load.

Absolutely no way would that truck safely or legally tow that much weight. Everything from the frame, driveline, suspension and brakes is inadequate. If you replaced all that, it would still be too short to comfortably tow that weight.

I towed a friend's boat several years back- about 6500 lbs with my old (96) 4WD, 2 door Tahoe. Scared the $hit out of me.

Buy an older used dually.

The Ramcharger will scare you to death just before you flip over doing an emergency manuever to avoid the kid in the hopped up Ricer car who cuts you off with his baseball cap on sidewayz.

Wannabe

NO!!!!!!!!!.........my 29 beek wieghs 9500 including the trailer, fuel and all our chit.......used to pull it with a 87 full size Blazer......white knuckels at 70 mph....."ok" at 60......BOTH hands on the wheel AT ALL times.......tire you out on a long trip and never EVER let the trailer wheels drop off the pavement........

sold it bought a 3/4 ton 4x4 Suburban.......eat your burger and fries while towing same boat with that thing......

too bad though old Ramchargers are cool.......

Thanks for all your input.....just an idea...better let it go

I remember the old school ramcharger tv commercials.. " the ramcharger 4 wheel drive..it's even got a cooler inside!". my old firedept had a full size bronco as an offroad rescue vehicle., with 35's stopping that thing hard at 70 was scary enough..I cant imagine it with a 30' boat behind it. you like mustard or salt on your pretzles??

I tow with approx. 9k with a '94 Ram 2500 4X4 with the V10 Magnum, (trailer has brakes), have towed over 6 hours with it on the back in the hilly NY area with no problems. You can come across them cheap, around $4k, dually would be even better. Either way the 2500 and 3500 with the V10's are rated to tow 13,500 lbs. I may be selling mine soon if you are interested, going with a Diesel Ram Dually.