RAM 1500 towing capacity: 4.5 tonnes can leave 20 kg for the tub

The current Australian range has six RAM 1500s, not three

RAM Australia's live showroom and site navigation list Big Horn HEMI, Express Black Hurricane, Rebel Hurricane, Laramie Sport Hurricane, Laramie Night Hurricane and Limited Hurricane High Output. Big Horn is a separately specified HEMI truck still listed for sale after Australian V8 remanufacture ended in December 2024; it should not be treated as an ordinary current-production Hurricane.

All five live Hurricane pages link to the same July 2026 RAM 1500 Hurricane Specifications document. It supplies one coherent five-column table for Express Black, Laramie Sport, Laramie Night, Rebel and Limited High Output, tying each current model page to its exact mass and towing column rather than a rounded summary.

Express is the payload leader at 1,014 kg and 2,491 kg kerb. Laramie Sport is 863/2,642 kg; Laramie Night 799/2,706; Rebel 881/2,624; and Limited 727/2,778. Every subtraction reconciles to the common 3,505 kg GVM. Earlier Limited figures of 2,722 kg kerb and 782.5 kg payload came from the 2025 launch set; the live July 2026 specification supersedes them for the current range.

The current Hurricane ball limits are 450 kg and 420 kg

The same current table rates Express Black, Laramie Sport, Laramie Night and Rebel to 4,500 kg braked on a 70 mm ball, with 450 kg maximum towball downweight. Limited High Output is 4,200 kg and 420 kg. RAM's accessory catalogue states trailer capacity without vertical load, so use the model-page specification for the current unmodified Hurricane and still verify the installed labels at handover.

The hardware condition still matters. RAM lists the heavy-duty towbar on the vehicle and the 50 mm and 70 mm mounts as accessories. Its Hurricane announcement gives Standard Output grades a 3,500 kg tier with the 50 mm setup and the higher 70 mm tier; Limited is 3,500/4,200 kg. A 50 mm AS 4177 ball coupling remains a 3,500 kg-ATM component, and changing only the truck's ball does not upgrade the trailer coupling, drawbar, chains or plate.

RAM's AU/NZ supplement remains the final check for an individual truck. It excludes the generic US trailer-and-hitch table from Australian use and directs owners to the driver-door or towbar label for maximum braked, unbraked and ball loads. For a current unmodified Hurricane, the grade table now supplies the planning value; at handover, photograph the labels, confirm the genuine mount and measure actual loaded ball mass. Non-genuine equipment can introduce a lower component limit.

At maximum tow, the tub limit bites before the headline payload

For Laramie Sport at maximum trailer and ball load, the vehicle side permits 3,505 minus 450, or 3,055 kg before the ball is attached. The combination side permits 7,711 minus 4,500, or 3,211 kg. The lower ceiling wins, so min(3,055, 3,211) minus 2,642 kg kerb leaves 413 kg for the driver, passengers, accessories and cargo, excluding the already counted 450 kg ball. The same method returns 564 kg for Express, 349 for Laramie Night, 431 for Rebel and 307 for Limited.

Those residuals are real but incomplete because RAM adds a grade-specific maximum combined tub and towball load. The caps are 520 kg for Express, 480 for Laramie Sport, 470 for Laramie Night, 500 for Rebel and 460 for Limited. Subtract each maximum ball and the permitted tub load is only 70, 30, 20, 50 and 40 kg respectively. A driver and passengers do not consume that tub sub-limit, but a canopy, drawer, fridge, tools or generator in the bed can.

That is the practical trap in the 4.5-tonne badge. A Laramie Sport can have 413 kg of broad vehicle-side room yet only 30 kg available in the tub at a 450 kg ball. Moving gear into the cab may avoid the tub cap but does not create GVM or axle capacity, and moving it around can change ball and rear-axle load. RAM also says distribution may require the tub or rear limit to be reduced, particularly away from sealed roads, so the published maximums are not an off-road target.

Big Horn is current-listed run-out with two different mass sets

Big Horn HEMI still appears as one of the six trucks in RAM Australia's live 1500 range, with stock and build-price links. Its model page embeds a different RAM 1500 specification, not the Hurricane table. That document gives a 5-foot-7 tub at 2,519 kg kerb and 931 kg payload, and the long 6-foot-4 at 2,572 kg and 878 kg. Both have 3,450 kg GVM, 7,713 kg GCM, 4,500 kg maximum braked towing, and 1,770/1,860 kg axle limits.

The two Big Horns also have different wheelbases: 3,672 mm for the short tub and 3,898 mm for the long tub. Neither RAM's embedded Big Horn table nor its current page publishes maximum towball downweight. The owner's supplement therefore controls this run-out case: use the specific door/towbar label rather than borrowing 450 kg from the newer Hurricane table. Without that verified ball input, no universal full-tow residual can be stated.

The two tub lengths need separate figures. A 2,617 kg secondary test vehicle matches neither official tub configuration, and 1,770 kg is the front axle limit rather than the rear. RAM's own table gives the two exact kerb masses and a 1,860 kg rear limit; the HEMI remains current-listed run-out rather than current Hurricane production.

The rear axle still needs a scale ticket

RAM's July 2026 Hurricane table publishes 1,770 kg front and 1,860 kg rear maxima across all five grades. It publishes 3,672 mm wheelbase but no rear-overhang dimension, so no article or calculator should pretend it can derive a precise ball-load lever from manufacturer geometry. Ball load acts behind the rear axle: it normally adds more than its own mass to the rear while removing some load from the front. Only paired solo and hitched axle weights show the effect on a particular truck.

Two dated owner-scale records show why. A mobile weigher's 2019 DS record moved from 1,220 to 1,650 kg at the rear when a measured 290 kg ball was attached, while the front fell from 1,530 to 1,410 kg. In April 2021, a Caravaners Forum owner reported roughly 369 kg of rear-axle effect from a 260 kg ball. These are older DS examples, not current Hurricane headroom; their influence here is the weigh-first method and the explicit warning not to transfer the DS's 1,770 kg rear limit to a DT.

Current observations point in the same direction. CarsGuide's May 2025 Laramie Sport payload test put 650 kg in the tub plus its driver and measured 60 mm rear-spring compression. Outback Travel Australia's June 2025 report described about 100 mm of settlement with a 200 kg caravan ball. Neither is a certified axle result, but both influenced the advice to record travel-ready front and rear weights instead of judging capacity from ride height or a headline payload.

Two Laramie Sport examples expose the tub-and-ball cap

CarsGuide's June 2022 HEMI Laramie test towed a 4,475 kg tiny house below 80 km/h, recording 30.0 L/100 km and no drivetrain struggle. RV Daily's March 2022 test is closer to a touring caravan: 2,900 kg with 320 kg on the ball, 21.7 L/100 km and composed behaviour around passing trucks and broken surfaces. They show what those older V8 combinations did, not how a Hurricane behaves at its current maximum.

Community discussions add two checks the brochure cannot. A March 2019 discussion repeatedly noted that above 3.5 tonnes every connection component has to carry an adequate marking, not merely the truck's ball. An April–May 2021 thread repeatedly confused DS and DT axle figures. The practical lessons are to check every connection component, keep DS and DT figures separate and never use an old scale ticket as current capacity evidence.

The 2,500 kg and 3,500 kg figures are therefore comparison points, not a suitability band. On Laramie Sport, an exact 10 per cent ball assumption leaves 613/513 kg of broad allowance and 230/130 kg under the separate tub cap. The upper point is RAM's lower coupling tier and the lower point is one tonne lighter; neither is a safety threshold. A current Hurricane may use its published higher tier only when the exact grade, hardware, labels, tub cap, GVM, GCM and both axles all remain within limit.

Upgrades and software cannot erase the RAM-specific limits

Australian second-stage suppliers publish higher GVM, GCM and rear-axle figures for selected 1500 conversions. Touring Solutions Australia, for example, advertises packages from 3,650 kg GVM and 8,150 kg GCM up to 3,999/8,499 kg with a 2,229 kg rear rating. Those are vendor-certified configurations with their own scope and plate. Its tables retain the original 4,500 kg towing ceiling; springs do not increase the coupling, ball-mount or trailer rating.

The RAM's combined tub-and-ball cap also needs explicit treatment after an upgrade. Do not assume a revised GVM plate automatically replaces the factory 520/480/470/500/460 kg limit: obtain the second-stage approval's written treatment of that sub-limit. A standard 3,450 or 3,505 kg RAM remains within Australia's 4.5-tonne GVM class-C threshold, but an upgrade can change the licence question. Check the revised plate and the authority where the truck is driven.

For used DTs, federal recall REC-006127 covers 13,343 vehicles built in 2023–24 whose ABS software fault may disable electronic stability control; check the VIN and remedy status. The current ROVER register separately records Hurricane-powered DT eligibility in NA and NB1 categories from February 2024. Those entries establish federal pathway and scope, not grade masses: RAM's current embedded specification and the individual vehicle plate remain the numerical sources.

Model the RAM twice: normal limits, then the tub-and-ball cap

Enter the exact grade, GVM, GCM, tow rating, ball limit and axle maxima in Can I Tow It?, then replace catalogue payload with the truck's actual solo axle weights and measured travel ball. For a Hurricane, run the normal GVM/GCM/axle result and separately compare tub cargo plus ball mass with the grade's 520/480/470/500/460 kg cap. That cap is not interchangeable with payload and should remain a visible manual check until a dedicated field models it.

At the weighbridge, capture front and rear truck axles and the trailer axle group in travel trim. A permitted, correctly adjusted weight-distribution hitch may restore some front load, but cannot raise towball, GVM, GCM, axle or tub-and-ball limits. The weighbridge guide gives the sequence, while the Live Rig Score explains how loadmate tracks changing margins rather than treating one green result as permanent.

Different limits can stop the same pairing. A lightly equipped Express may retain 564 kg outside the ball at full tow but still have only 70 kg of tub allowance. A Laramie Night has 349 kg broad residual and 20 kg for the tub. Record both, then use the lower relevant margin for the load you are actually adding. loadmate does not certify an unmarked part or replace the vehicle plate, supplement or a certified scale.