acdii

I know what model you are thinking of, and they are much heavier, by at least 1500-2000 pounds. I was looking for similar, but the weights were just too much for most half tons. When I saw the Alpha Wolf, it was just right in many ways even without having a room in the back to stick the noise makers for some quiet time. What I liked most was that it didn't look cheap like most of them do.

marshallr

If your family is only 500 lbs total you have small kids. They grow. And you'll find that you'll want to put some stuff inside the truck, kids bikes, firewood, maybe a generator, chairs etc. Some can go in the trailer and the more the better but you'll probably end up with 200-400 lbs of other "stuff" in the truck.

1869 lbs payload is better than most and technically you could probably tow 8000-9000 lbs. That is just a SWAG, I didn't try to do any math.

But I tend to err on the side of caution. I think you are wise to be looking in the 5K-6K range. You could probably go heavier and still be within the specs. But I wouldn't want to pull much more than about 7K with that truck. Of course I do a lot of driving in mountains.