RAM 2500 Towing Capacity: What It Can and Can’t Tow
The two engines in the RAM 2500 do not rank the same way on towing and on payload, and the one that tows more carries less. For the 2026 Ram 2500, Ram publishes a maximum of 20,000 lb of towing with the Cummins Turbo Diesel and 3,930 lb of payload with the HEMI V-8. Neither truck does both.
Your own truck's limits are on your driver-door jamb sticker and in your owner's manual, not in any table on the internet. This page gives Ram's published per-engine figures, shows why the diesel is not automatically the right answer, and walks the payload arithmetic that stops most fifth-wheel buyers long before the tow rating does.
Ram's Own Per-Engine Numbers for the 2026 Ram 2500
These figures come from Stellantis's official "What's New for 2026: Ram Heavy Duty" material, checked directly for this page. Each is a maximum available figure for that engine, meaning the best configuration in which the engine appears, not a rating carried by every truck fitted with it.
| 2026 Ram 2500 engine | Max available towing | Max available payload |
|---|---|---|
| 6.4L HEMI V-8 (405 hp, 429 lb-ft) | 17,740 lb | 3,930 lb |
| 6.7L Cummins HO Turbo Diesel I-6 (430 hp, 1,075 lb-ft) | 20,000 lb | 3,600 lb |
Two honest gaps. Ram's heavy-duty lineup has also included a standard-output Cummins alongside the high-output version, and this material does not break out a separate tow or payload figure for it, so none is published here. Ram also states that select heavy-duty models gained gross vehicle weight rating of up to 850 lb for 2026 without naming which models or giving before-and-after figures. This site does not fill gaps like that from spec databases or dealer blogs.
The Trade Nobody Puts on the Window Sticker
Read the table again and notice what the engines actually do to each other.
The Cummins tows 2,260 lb more than the HEMI and carries 330 lb less. The HEMI has the lower tow rating and the higher payload. If you buy the diesel expecting it to be the bigger truck in every direction, you have bought 2,260 lb of towing and paid for it with payload you may need more.
The reason is weight. A 6.7-liter inline-six diesel with its turbocharger, its heavier block, its larger cooling system and its emissions hardware is simply heavier than a gasoline V-8. Payload is whatever is left between curb weight and gross vehicle weight rating, so every pound the factory adds to the truck comes straight out of what you can put in it. The relationship between those two ratings is the whole subject of payload vs towing capacity, and on a three-quarter-ton truck it is not academic.
Which engine is right depends on which limit you hit first, and for a large share of RAM 2500 buyers that is payload.
Why Payload Runs Out Before Tow Rating on a 2500
Here is the arithmetic that surprises people, and it applies hardest to fifth-wheel and gooseneck trailers.
A fifth-wheel trailer does not put its weight behind the truck the way a bumper-pull does. It puts a large share of it directly on the truck's rear axle, through the hitch in the bed. That share is the pin weight, and on fifth-wheels it commonly runs between 15 and 25 percent of the trailer's loaded weight. Use your own trailer's actual pin weight rather than a percentage when you have it.
Take the Cummins 2500 at its 3,600 lb maximum payload and hitch a 15,000 lb fifth-wheel:
| What lands on the truck | Weight |
|---|---|
| Pin weight at 20 percent of 15,000 lb | 3,000 lb |
| Fifth-wheel hitch hardware in the bed | 150 to 250 lb |
| Left for people, fuel in cans, tools, gear, firewood, water | around 400 lb |
That is two adults and almost nothing else, on a truck rated to tow 20,000 lb. The tow rating was never the binding constraint. Payload was, and it ran out at 15,000 lb of trailer, well short of the number on the brochure.
This is why how to calculate real towing capacity starts from payload rather than from the tow rating, and why tongue weight explained matters even more once you move from a bumper-pull to a fifth-wheel. The same trailer that a 2500 tows comfortably on paper can put that truck over its rear axle rating in the bed.
Why Your RAM 2500 Is Probably Not the 20,000 lb Truck
A maximum available rating requires one specific combination, typically all of these at once:
- The engine Ram attributes the figure to
- A specific cab and bed configuration
- A specific drivetrain, two-wheel or four-wheel drive
- A specific rear axle ratio
- The correct hitch type, since gooseneck and fifth-wheel ratings differ from conventional bumper-pull ratings
- The tow package, which is a factory option and often not ordered
- Essentially nothing else added to the truck
Miss any one and your rating drops. This is exactly why the manufacturer's wording is "up to" and "max available," and why a salesperson quoting 20,000 lb about a truck on the lot is describing the model line rather than that vehicle. What that qualifier actually covers is set out in what does "properly equipped" actually mean.
Where Your Truck's Real Number Is
Three places, in order of authority:
- The driver-door jamb sticker. This carries your truck's gross vehicle weight rating and, on most trucks, a payload figure specific to the vehicle as built. It is the only number on this page that describes your truck rather than a model line. Where to find your towing capacity walks through reading it.
- The tire and loading information placard, which gives the combined weight of occupants and cargo the vehicle was built to carry. That is covered in the tire and loading information placard.
- Your owner's manual and Ram's towing guide for your model year and configuration, which is where the gooseneck and fifth-wheel ratings live separately from the conventional ones.
A scale is worth more than all three. Load the truck the way you actually travel, weigh it, and subtract from your gross vehicle weight rating. What is left is your real payload, and it is almost always less than the brochure figure.
When a 2500 Is Not the Right Truck
If the pin-weight arithmetic above leaves you under a few hundred pounds of margin, the honest answer is usually not a bigger hitch or a set of airbags. Airbags level a squatting truck; they do not raise any rating. What is happening when the back end drops is explained in why a truck squats when towing.
The 3500 exists for this. It is the same cab on heavier springs and a heavier rear axle, and its payload figures are in a different class entirely. If your trailer's pin weight is eating your entire payload, that is the conversation to have, not a debate about which 2500 engine to order.
For how the 2500 sits against its direct rivals, see the heavy duty truck towing capacity comparison, and for the two trucks most cross-shopped against it, Ford F-250 and Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD.
If You Are Coming From a 1500
The step up is larger than the model numbers suggest, and not only in capacity. A 2500 rides firmer unloaded, turns wider, and on the diesel carries several hundred pounds more over the front axle. The Ram 1500 towing capacity figures make the comparison concrete: the half-ton's ceiling is set well below where a 2500 starts, and buyers who tow a fifth-wheel usually find the 1500's payload gone before anything else.
The Short Version
- Ram publishes 20,000 lb max towing for the 2026 Ram 2500 with the Cummins, and 17,740 lb with the HEMI.
- The HEMI carries more, at 3,930 lb of payload against the Cummins's 3,600 lb. More towing and more payload are not the same purchase.
- On a fifth-wheel, payload is usually the limit that binds, because pin weight lands on the truck rather than behind it.
- Your door jamb sticker outranks every table, including this one, and a scale outranks the sticker.
- Plan to the 80 percent towing rule rather than to the maximum, because the maximum assumes a truck with nothing in it.