TT vs 5th Wheel

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KaysKidz

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May 4, 2016
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We are going to look at trailers this weekend. I am primarily looking at TT, but don't want to discount a 5th wheel if I find the right deal/configuration. I have a 2011 Ford F250 Crew Cab Diesel 4X4. Can I haul a 5th wheel with it, or do I need to stick to TT? I definitely do not want to upgrade my truck. This is what I have to work with. There will be times I take the rig out on my own as my husband travels for work, and for me, a 5th wheel is easier (I have a gooseneck horse trailer). I can back up a 5th wheel, a bumper pull, not so much!

I just need to get an idea of what I can/should be looking at before I go. This is one unit I planned on looking at tomorrow if I can tow it with my truck. https://colawrv.com/rvunits/2015-forest-river-salem-33bhok/
 
Really? Why? My truck should be rated to 12,000lbs for towing. What am I missing here?
 
You should be able to tow that trailer will just have to watch how much weight you put in the trailer. I tow a 35 foot Denali fiver with my 2010 F250 Super Duty 4X4 towing package , air bags, 4:30 rear end and V10 engine. Does a real good job but have to watch how much stuff I load in the trailer and truck. I have towed over 5,000 miles in last 2 years with no problems.
 
The truck has to do two things, it must tow the load, and it must carry the load. The 12,000# number is from a brochure. The trailer weight you stated is for an empty trailer. The GVWR of that trailer is about 11,800#. The pin weight of the trailer should be around 20% of the weight of the loaded trailer. For that trailer fully loaded, that puts it at about 2,360#. Open the driver's door on your truck and look at the infamous yellow sticker. What does it say the maximum payload is? The pin weight of the trailer, the weight of the hitch, the people you carry, everything else the truck is carrying that was not in or on from the factory needs to be subtracted from that number. After subtracting everything, is what's left over a positive, or negative number?
 
There are probably a number of 5th wheels that your truck could tow but you will need to check all the numbers - tow rating, Cargo Carrying Capacity (CCC), RAWR, and GCWR. Most likely, the CCC will be the weak link. My 2010 GMC 2500 has a CCC of just over 2900 lbs but it's a gas engine. The same truck with a diesel engine would have less CCC.


This means that you are limited on the pin weight of the 5th wheel:
  • a 10,000 lb 5th wheel will put 2,000+ lbs in the bed of the truck with 99% of it on the rear axle.
  • a 10,000 lb TT with a weight distributing hitch will put 1,000+ lbs distributed to both axles of the truck


And you are already used to backing goose necks and 5th wheels. You will easily learn the differences in backing a TT.
 
KaysKidz said:
Really? Why? My truck should be rated to 12,000lbs for towing. What am I missing here?
The 12k number is fantasy as the goat explained. Also there is more to towing a fiver than just being able to pull it. I have seen 737 jets being towed by a 1/2 ton. That doesn't mean it is safe. Your truck has to have enough weight and brakes to be able to successfully stop the RV and truck. And you need to have the weight in the truck to be able to handle crosswinds and semis passing you. With that combination you are very close to being overweight if not overweight to begin with. That means that in the mountains you will have very poor performance.
 
KaysKidz said:
We are going to look at trailers this weekend. I am primarily looking at TT, but don't want to discount a 5th wheel if I find the right deal/configuration. I have a 2011 Ford F250 Crew Cab Diesel 4X4. Can I haul a 5th wheel with it, or do I need to stick to TT? I definitely do not want to upgrade my truck. This is what I have to work with. There will be times I take the rig out on my own as my husband travels for work, and for me, a 5th wheel is easier (I have a gooseneck horse trailer). I can back up a 5th wheel, a bumper pull, not so much!

I just need to get an idea of what I can/should be looking at before I go. This is one unit I planned on looking at tomorrow if I can tow it with my truck. https://colawrv.com/rvunits/2015-forest-river-salem-33bho

I had that same exact truck, in an XLT model and you don't have enough truck to tow the trailer that you posted.  You truck is going to have approx. 2100 to 2200 lbs of payload capacity.....maybe less if it's a Lariat or King Ranch.  Mine only had 2148 lbs of payload capacity, and the trailer that you are looking at will be more than that with just the pin weight alone.  Then you have to have a 5ver hitch to tow it....add another 175 lbs or so, then you've got passengers, other cargo, maybe firewood, tools, a grill, whatever.  ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that goes either on or in the truck counts against the payload capacity.  So, unfortunately, your truck isn't up to the task for that 5ver........sorry, but I've been there and done that.....and it won't work.
 
That trailer needs a duelly. At 37' and 12,000 pounds it will have a pin weight of nearly 3000 pounds.
 
I respectfully disagree with Keymastr about needing a dually, however...

Very good advise above.  That max tow rating applies ONLY to a base XL with NO  OPTIONS other than max tow, NO CARGO, ONLY 2 PASSENGERS at 150 lb each and nothing more!  The real requirements have been explained well.

The FW may weigh 9100# sitting on the lot, but it will be 10,000# or more before you are ready to go camping!  That means 2000# or more Pin Wt when you are ready to go camping.  If your yellow placard says 2500# or more cargo carrying capacity, you may be okay if you load light and carefully.  As Joe pointed out, you can carry far more TT than FW.
 
There is a lot more to the TT vs 5ver issue than the truck. Yes there are 5vers that are 3/4 tolerable. At the last RV show they even had  1/2 ton towable 5vers.

You must also consider, how big a barn do you want to pull. We wind through city streets and back roads hunting tourist traps, traveled through some nasty cross winds, and generally tow where we want to go.

Also, there is the cost factor, maintenance, storage etc. All of these are second to floor plan.

The first thing to do is find how much cargo capacity your TV has, subtract the weight of family and stuff you crammed into your TV and what left is the weight you can carry.

Finally dry weight means little. Go with the gross trailer weight.

We rented our first TT to get a better handle on things.
 
That unit has a dry hitch as it left the factory with a pin of about 1700lbs now add propane of 2 30lb bottle and your up tp 1820 add water add another couple hundred add clothes food gear etc and the pin will probably be about 2200-2400lbs ready to roll on your trip your truck may not be up to the task payload wise, however, the used market for F250s is always strong and the difference between a 250 and 350 is only suspension for the most part and a used 350 is not much diffent in cost than a 250
 
KaysKidz said:
Really? Why? My truck should be rated to 12,000lbs for towing. What am I missing here?

Towing is NOT loading.  A 12K fiver is going to drop around 2000+ pounds directly over the rear axle.  Do you have that much capacity available?
 
Thanks everyone. We actually ended up liking a TT better. Now we are just looking for the right deal.
 

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