Am I okay?

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Yukon

Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2005
Posts
13
This question must have been asked here hundred times before:? Is my pickup big enough to haul my 37' Montana fifthwheel?? ?In my research prior to the purchase,? I was assured that the 2005 F350 diesel 6.0 tow boss was plenty strong to do the job.? Recently I weighed the entire package,? the pickup and the fiver.? The total weight was recorded at 23,000 lbs.? I still would like to hear opinions of local members about my rig.? It seems awful lot of weight but thus far, it was so easy to tow (to my surprise).? I still have not tested my rig in the mountains, that's why I? have some doubts.? Thanks for any tips or opinions.? Btw, my wife and I, we both enjoy our new fiver very much! Yukon
 
According to the 2005 Ford Towing Guide, your F350 diesel with Tow Boss has a GCWR of 26,000 lbs, so at 23,000 lbs total you are OK on that score. In my opinion the diesel will perrorm well right up to that limit, so performace should not be an issue.

Here are the max towing specs for various F350 configurations - choose the one that matches your truck:
Super Cab 4x2: 16,300 (4.10) or 18,800 (4.30)
Super Cab 4x4: 15,900 (4.10) or 18,400 (4.30)

Crew Cab 4x2: 16,100 (4.10) or 18,600 (4.30)
Crew Cab 4x4: 15,600 (4.10) or 18,100 (4.30)

HOWEVER!  I would be concerned about the rear axle loading. A trailer such as yours is likely to be placing more than 3000 lbs on the hitch (king pin weigt) and may be exceeding the trucks rear GAWR (max axle load). I'd head back to that scale and get a rear axle only weight. See the excellent article in ourt library for instructions on weighing a trailer.  You also need the axle-by-axle weights to correctly inflate the tires.
 
Well if that Montana is the 3475RL it appear to have a GVWR of 14285 lbs.  Since you tow out west, unavoidably it appears, you want a truck that can pull 17,900 lbs allowing a 20% safety factor, tho with a turbo diesel you may be able to get along with a 10% factor and a tow rating of 15,900 lbs.  Use Gary's numbers for tow ratings. 
 
Gary,? thanks for the specs!? ?I drove the whole thing on the scale,? it had several? platforms and each weighed individual axle separately.? Here is the printout I received.? ?Does that tell you anything?? I think I am okay, even though I sometimes wish I had a dually.? As you mentioned, I watch the tires for proper inflation.? I don't know what else to do in order to assure safe towing. Here are the weights.

Steer Axle:? ? ? ? 4,680 lbs
Drive Axle:? ? ? ? ?5,980 lbs
Trailer Axle:? ?  10,580 lbs
Total Weight:?? 21,240 lbs? ?

Do I have any wiggle room?? How do I determine the kingpin weight from that?? I wonder if I do have too much weight on the pin.? ?Thanks for anybody's observation.? Yukon
 
Yukon,

Unless I'm mistaken (someone will let you know), you will need to weigh the truck axles separately (without the trailer) and subtract the rear axle weight from the rear axle weight you already have. That should give you your pin weight.
 
You needed to weigh the truck without the trailer attached to determine the kingpin weight. Or detach the trailer and lets it front legs sit on the scale and weigh it directly.

Based on the numbers I see in the 2005 Ford Towing Guide, I would guess the unladen weight of an F350 SRW is around 7200 lbs. Add to that whatever passengers/gear weigh and you get an estimated GVW for the truck alone and you can subtract that from the sum of the front/rear axle weights on the scale. Your truck with the kingpin on weighed in at 4680 + 5980 = 10660. Guessing at about 7500 lbs for the truck GVW (1 passenger + a bit of gear onboard), that suggests a kingpin weight of 3160, which sounds like the right ball park for a 37 foot Montana.

You need to find out your rear axle GAWR (axle weight rating) and make sure the 10,580 does not exceed it. If its not in your owner manual or on a rating plate (Safety Compliance Label) somewhere (try the driver side door post), get a Ford dealer to check it for you based on your VIN number. They can get the build specs on your vehicle direct from Ford via their computer system.

Your GVWR for the truck is between 11,000 and 11,500, depending on cab style and 2WD vs 4WD (you didn't say which you have). You are slightly under that at 10,580 but don't have a lot of room to spare. If you have a 4x2 Supercab on the 158" wheelbase, your GVWR is 11,000 lbs and you are within a few hundred lbs of that.
 
How do I determine the kingpin weight from that?? I wonder if I do have too much weight on the pin.? ?Thanks for anybody's observation.? Yukon

You don't.? Like Gary said, you need the unhitched trailer weight for that.? ?See the library article you can find by clicking HERE.
 
Unless I'm mistaken, an F350 with Tow Boss is only on a DRW setup with 4.30 Gears. That is what I have and my truck ratings are GVWR 13,000Lbs / GCWR 26,000Lbs. Based on that, and the Montana specs not that much different than my Everest specs, he should be fine. His actual payload may or may not be the same (I have a crew cab 2WD) with a payload of 5400Lbs. My pin weight is 2250Lbs and not that much different than the Montana (both made by Keystone).

Yukon, you can check the specs at www.keystonerv.com. That is for the new trailers, but it will put in the ball park, but still the best indicator is as others have suggested, weigh you trailer or truck separately, you already have the combined weight, then you will know for sure.

Larry
 
That is unloaded weight ... it's much closer to 3200Lbs when we load up for traveling. When packing it sure doesn't seem like we put that much in the trailer, but one would be surprised at just how fast the weight does increase (waddya mean overweight???? ... I only made 25 trips from the house to the trailer loading your stuff? ;D )

Larry
 
2006F350 said:
That is unloaded weight ... it's much closer to 3200Lbs when we load up for traveling. When packing it sure doesn't seem like we put that much in the trailer, but one would be surprised at just how fast the weight does increase (waddya me overweight????

Parkinson's Law -- 4th Corallary

Junk expands so as to fill the space available to stuff it in. ?
 
Ain't it the truth ... almost seem that for every pound you take to the trailer, it magically multiplies by 3 or 4 times the moment you go thru the door. The down side is that the reverse doesn't happen when you unload.  :)

Larry
 
2006F350 said:
Ain't it the truth ... almost seem that for every pound you take to the trailer, it magically multiplies by 3 or 4 times the moment you go thru the door. The down side is that the reverse doesn't happen when you unload. :)

Indeed.? It was just such a phenomenon that lead to the concept of dark matter in theoretical physics.? It was found that when everything astronomers could detect was subtracted from the universe, 80% of stuff was still there.? Any RV owner could have told them this.? ;D

By the way, this why we insist on using gross vehicle weight rating of a trailer in evaluating towability.? Admittedly, GVWR never stopped a junk collector, but we have to use some number.
 
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