Hi. New to pulling and camping. Any thoughts to pulling a 30 ft Springfield 5th that weighs 8500 lbs with a hitch weight of 1500 lbs with a f150 3.5 Ecoboost with max tow pakage. I will only be pulling it 50 to 60 miles at a time and will not be pushing it. I will be just under the Max on the 150 and will be using it mostly as a daily drive with maybe towing 500 miles per camping season.
Towing a fifth wheel with a 1/2 ton Pick up
- Thread starter Grob
- Start date
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SeilerBird
Well-known member
No chance of towing a fiver safely with a 1/2 ton. You need at least a 3/4.
Alfa38User
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2007
- Posts
- 6,678
Can you pull it?? Probably! Can you stop it? Maybe! Can you do this safely under all conditions? NO!!! There are about zero 5th wheels at that length that are truly and safely tow-able with a F150/1500 series truck without overloading the truck itself.
The 5th wheel itself puts 20-25% of it loaded weight on the truck. To that you have to add any other load in the truck including the wife, the kids, the dog, etc plus the weight of the hitch itself (about 125lbs) and compare that to the CCC of your particular truck that can usually be found on a sticker on the drivers door post. We usually recommend using the VGWR of the TRAILER for this comparison to provide a safety margin in calculation for the worst case load. As a minimum, have the trailer weighed as it will be loaded for your camping.
Just a note: any trailer weights you find published are 1: inaccurate in many cases and 2: represent an empty trailer. Not many people camp in an empty trailer. Any published capacities for the truck represent the capacity of the base model (stripped) truck. The real capacity for YOUR truck will be found on the label mentioned above (often Yellow in colour ).
The 5th wheel itself puts 20-25% of it loaded weight on the truck. To that you have to add any other load in the truck including the wife, the kids, the dog, etc plus the weight of the hitch itself (about 125lbs) and compare that to the CCC of your particular truck that can usually be found on a sticker on the drivers door post. We usually recommend using the VGWR of the TRAILER for this comparison to provide a safety margin in calculation for the worst case load. As a minimum, have the trailer weighed as it will be loaded for your camping.
Just a note: any trailer weights you find published are 1: inaccurate in many cases and 2: represent an empty trailer. Not many people camp in an empty trailer. Any published capacities for the truck represent the capacity of the base model (stripped) truck. The real capacity for YOUR truck will be found on the label mentioned above (often Yellow in colour ).
grashley
Well-known member
WELCOME TO THE FORUM!
As a new camper, please read this. Why to never trust the salesman.
http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,90933.0.html
To answer your question, in a word NO! In two words, NO WAY!!
As Stu said, that 8500b is DRY WEIGHT. The loaded weight will be closer to 9500b or 10,000 lb. This means a pin weight of around 2000 lb (20%). Now add 200 lb for a FW hitch. Add the weight of you and your better half. Now add any other cargo to be carried in the truck or bed. THIS IS HOW MUCH WEIGHT YOU WILL BE CARRYING WITH THE TRUCK.
Find the yellow placard on the driver door latch pillar which specifies the maximum weight of passengers and cargo shall not exceed XXXX lbs. and compare this to what you plan to carry, calculated above.
Only about 1% of F150 can pull that load - it MUST be an XL or XLT, reg cab, long bed, 2WD with heavy payload option.
The truck CAN pull a decent bumper pull TT. A TT only places 10% - 12% hitch weight on the truck and WD hitches are around 80 lb. While a 10,000 lb FW places 2200 lb + on the truck (2000# pin + 200# hitch), a 10,000 lb TT will only add 1100 lb+ to the truck (1020# hitch wt + 80# WD hitch).
As a new camper, please read this. Why to never trust the salesman.
http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,90933.0.html
To answer your question, in a word NO! In two words, NO WAY!!
As Stu said, that 8500b is DRY WEIGHT. The loaded weight will be closer to 9500b or 10,000 lb. This means a pin weight of around 2000 lb (20%). Now add 200 lb for a FW hitch. Add the weight of you and your better half. Now add any other cargo to be carried in the truck or bed. THIS IS HOW MUCH WEIGHT YOU WILL BE CARRYING WITH THE TRUCK.
Find the yellow placard on the driver door latch pillar which specifies the maximum weight of passengers and cargo shall not exceed XXXX lbs. and compare this to what you plan to carry, calculated above.
Only about 1% of F150 can pull that load - it MUST be an XL or XLT, reg cab, long bed, 2WD with heavy payload option.
The truck CAN pull a decent bumper pull TT. A TT only places 10% - 12% hitch weight on the truck and WD hitches are around 80 lb. While a 10,000 lb FW places 2200 lb + on the truck (2000# pin + 200# hitch), a 10,000 lb TT will only add 1100 lb+ to the truck (1020# hitch wt + 80# WD hitch).
edjunior
Well-known member
Just don't. Get the right tool for the job. The F-150 is a great truck, but it's not the right tool. Especially if you later decide you want to go a little bigger. Do you already have the truck? If so, get something more suited for the truck. If not, get a bigger truck if you are set on a 5th wheel. Believe me, you will not regret it.
Welcome to the site and to RVing.
Welcome to the site and to RVing.
