F350 and Grand Design Reflection Fifth Wheel

I'm looking for some advice in towing a fifth wheel.  We currently are towing a Grand Design Imagine 2800BH with our Yukon XL.  It tows fine, but is at the upper end of our capability, and we are looking to upgrade to a heavy duty truck and camper in the next 6 months to a year.

Currently, I'm looking at a 2017 F350 SRW, CC, SB, Diesel truck and the Grand Design Reflection fifth wheels 311BHS and (maybe) 357BHS.

Specs on the truck

GVWR: 11,400 (optional, but planning on getting the truck with this)
5th Wheel tow rating of 18,000
Rear Axle Rating:  7,280
GCWR:  28,700
Payload (with 11,400 GVWR option):  3,830  (On a side note, if a truck has a GVWR of 11,300 the payload capacity jumps to 4,470, according to the 2017 Ford Superduty brochure)
**the only "cargo" in the truck besides fuel will most likely be myself, my wife, and 2 small kids (less than 400 pounds total)

Specs on the 311 BHS

Dry Weight:  11185
GVWR:  13995
Hitch Weight:  2180
Axle Rating:  6000

Specs on the 357BHS

Dry Weight:  12422
GVWR:  14995
Hitch Weight:  2564
Axle Rating:  not listed on Grand Design's website.


Now my question is, are either of these campers too much for the truck?  Simply looking at weights it appears to be okay, but I'm unfamiliar with calculating how much hitch weighs, weight on axle, etc.

I'm sure the consensus is "get a dually" but I'm really looking to stay with a SRW.  I don't want to overload the truck but still safely pull it with a SRW. 

Thanks in advance for everyone's help!

I have a friend that tows a Reflections 337 RLS that grosses at 13995. He pulls with a 2015 F-250 with the "camper option". That makes his suspension the same as an F-350, it's just his sticker on the door that limits what he can pull and be within specs. He has no problems at all. Your F-350 shouldn't have any problem with the 311BHS, but I don't know about the other.

I wouldn't hesitate to hook onto either of those trailers with a SRW truck. Keep in mind that the actual pin weights of loaded fifth wheels tend to be around 20% of the trailers weight. If you load both of those trailer to their max, you'll have a pin weight around 2,800 lbs for the 311 and around 3,000 lbs for the 357.

And also remember, the truck's payload capacity in the advertisement is not a true reflection of your actual truck's payload capacity, depending on optional equipment over the base truck equipment.  Sometimes those advertised numbers can be several hundred pounds less than they are shown on the Ford website.  Almost no one buys a very stripped down truck with no extra equipment on them.  Realistically, a SRW 1 Ton truck might become very marginal, especially given the pin weight numbers that lone_star_dsl provided.

Are you looking a 2 WD truck or a 4x4?  Stripped down XL truck or Lariat/King Ranch/XLT.  The payload difference between the low end truck and the high end truck will most likely be 600 lbs more or slightly less....that amount of difference could be a deal breaker for either one of those trailers.

Here is an example of my truck.  Ford website lists my 2016 F350 DRW 4x4 Crew Cab truck with the 6.7 Diesel engine payload capacity as ....5710 lbs.  In actuality, the yellow sticker on my loaded up King ranch is 5240 lbs.  So, as you can see, the published number is nowhere near the actual number for payload capacity because of all of the ARC options (Accessory Reserve Capacity)

First, welcome to the Forum and thanks for asking!

Short answer - you should be fine with either FW.

NOTE:  I believe the normal payload for that configuration is 11,500#.  The 11,400# option changes nothing, but lowers the legal max wt by 100# for states who license trucks based on GVWR, and the cost to license 11,500# GVWR is higher than the cost for 11,400# GVWR. If you do not live in one of those states, skip the option.

Long answer - forget all about FW dry wt and published pin wt.  They are useless except for advertising.  As lone star said, the real pin wt will be around 20% of ACTUAL FW weight, which will be much closer to GVWR than dry wt!  This could be 3000# in your case.

As x rated said, that published payload is for the truck configuration with NO OPTIONS.  Check the footnotes.  In my case, my F350 in my sig has a published payload of 3990#, but my yellow label is 3453#.  That difference is the weight of the options, including Lariat trim, on my truck.

The real answer is to check the yellow label on the driver door latch pillar.  It gives the payload, or CCC for THAT truck as it left the factory.  It should be 3300 - 3700#, depending on the options.  This is the most weight that truck is designed to carry.

This number must include all passengers, pets, toys, snacks, other cargo, the FW hitch and the FW pin wt.  If you get a loaded truck, you may be slightly above this number.  If you go with XL or XLT, you should be good.  NOTE: Payload includes NO passengers.  Published Max tow capacity does include 2 passengers, but only two, and NO CARGO AT ALL.

I suspect that 11,300# GVWR was a very different configuration to cause that big a jump in Payload.  Maybe the 6.2L gas engine?

I hope this helps clear, rather than muddy the water!

We had a 2008 F350 XLT crewcab, short bed with a 6.4 diesel that we towed first, a Montana 3665, before trading it for a Jayco Pinnacle 38FLFS. The Jayco has a dry hitch weight of 2495 pounds and a max load rating of 15950. I doubt we ever came close to loading it that heavy. We've been to three of the four corners of the country towing approximately 40,000 miles. Never did I feel the truck was not adequate for towing either camper.

I've since traded that pickup in on a 2017 F350 Lariat crewcab, short bed with the 6.7 diesel. The newer truck with the aluminum body is rated higher than the older truck in both towing and load carrying. Also, the newer one has 20 inch wheels and tires versus 18 inch on the older ones. That gives the tires a load rating of 300 pounds over the 3400 the 18 tires listed. I haven't towed with the new one yet, but feel confident it'll do better than the older one.

You should have no problem towing almost any fifth wheel with an single rear wheel F350.

My 3600 payload would fit both of those fine. Yoour truck has more, so for weights sake..should be fine.

X rated..Im jealous of the king ranch trim. Might be in my next truck

jhuxford said:

I'm looking for some advice in towing a fifth wheel.  We currently are towing a Grand Design Imagine 2800BH with our Yukon XL.  It tows fine, but is at the upper end of our capability, and we are looking to upgrade to a heavy duty truck and camper in the next 6 months to a year.

Currently, I'm looking at a 2017 F350 SRW, CC, SB, Diesel truck and the Grand Design Reflection fifth wheels 311BHS and (maybe) 357BHS.

Specs on the truck

GVWR: 11,400 (optional, but planning on getting the truck with this)
5th Wheel tow rating of 18,000
Rear Axle Rating:  7,280
GCWR:  28,700
Payload (with 11,400 GVWR option):  3,830  (On a side note, if a truck has a GVWR of 11,300 the payload capacity jumps to 4,470, according to the 2017 Ford Superduty brochure)
**the only "cargo" in the truck besides fuel will most likely be myself, my wife, and 2 small kids (less than 400 pounds total)

Specs on the 311 BHS

Dry Weight:  11185
GVWR:  13995
Hitch Weight:  2180
Axle Rating:  6000

Specs on the 357BHS

Dry Weight:  12422
GVWR:  14995
Hitch Weight:  2564
Axle Rating:  not listed on Grand Design's website.


Now my question is, are either of these campers too much for the truck?  Simply looking at weights it appears to be okay, but I'm unfamiliar with calculating how much hitch weighs, weight on axle, etc.

I'm sure the consensus is "get a dually" but I'm really looking to stay with a SRW.  I don't want to overload the truck but still safely pull it with a SRW. 

Thanks in advance for everyone's help!

Click to expand...

A 17 F350 would have zero issues towing either of those trailers.
Heck, I was impressed with how my 08 F350 SRW handled my 43' toy hauler, but this 17 makes it almost unfair.  The power and chassis stability are phenomenal.
Your limiting factor is going to be your rear tires.

Stewie Griffin said:

A 17 F350 would have zero issues towing either of those trailers.
Heck, I was impressed with how my 08 F350 SRW handled my 43' toy hauler, but this 17 makes it almost unfair.  The power and chassis stability are phenomenal.
Your limiting factor is going to be your rear tires.

Click to expand...

Totally Agree. Albeit mine is an 012... DRW.