Does it HAVE to be a dually? (5th wheel towing question)

[longhaul]

The trailer in question has a dry weight close to 14000 lbs. A 20 percent hitch weight is 2800 lbs.
The trailer has a gvwr close to 17000 lbs = around 3500 lb pin weight at 20 percent.

  After loading the trailer may weigh in the 15.5k lb range = a 3100 lb pin weight at 20 percent.

Now add a 200 lb hitch and another 100 lbs of stuff in the bed plus a percent of people and stuff in the cab = maybe 400-500 lbs. Now add the 3100 lb pin weight = 3600 lbs which is a conservative estimate.

One ton SRW trucks have 7000 lb to Fords 7230 lb RAWR. These trucks rear axle can weigh in the 3300-3400 lb range  before loading This leaves around 3800 lbs for a max payload in the bed.
Ford/GM and Ram with those high gvwr numbers have up to 4400 lb payloads...however this is a gvwr based payload and has to be spread over FAWR/RAWR.

A one ton SRW will be at max RAWR numbers at 20 percent pin weights. If the trailers hitch weight gets closer to 25 percent it will be over loaded on the RAWR.

I would recommend a one ton DRW with a trailer that size. These trucks can carry up to 7000 lbs in the bed depending on selections and have 20k-30k lb tow ratings.
A 450/4500 isn't needed for that trailer unless you just gotta'
have one.

 

[tarheelgrad98]

Whew! I forget to check in for a day and miss all the action.

Thank you everyone for the comments/advice/info. I really appreciate it!

The short answer is that we decided not to upgrade to the Montana at this time. We figured we'd need and want the dually. But the F-150 we had is not even two years old, and we actually just got a Keystone Outback TT a couple of months ago, so we'd really lose out in a big way on the trade-in value for both the truck and trailer.

We felt like the F-150 wasn't really powerful enough to tow the Outback so we DID upgrade to a F-250 SRW, also diesel. The combined dry/cargo/hitch weights for the Outback we have is about 11,000 lbs (on paper) and the tow rating for our new F-250 is 15,000 lbs so I think we'll be in good shape.

We'll hang on to the new truck and TT for awhile so we won't be at such a disadvantage from a financing perspective.

Thanks again for the input!

 

[grashley]

Anna,

To clarify, the weight of the TT should be on a label inside a cabinet door, giving the GVWR.  The GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) can be estimated by adding the dry weight and the cargo capacity.  The hitch weight is already included in this number.

The hitch weight is a government required number.  The Gross Axle Weight Rating plus the hitch wt must equal or exceed GVWR.  Past that, it is of very little value.  The real hitch weight must be at least 10% of the actual TT weight.

This may reduce your calculated weight, and be more accurate.

 

[RVRAC]

I think you folks made a good decision.

 

[aquadave]

These components are the same between a 350 SRW and a 350 dually which is rated for 40,000 GCWR.

Where did you come up with 40,000?

 

[lone_star_dsl]

Where did you come up with 40,000?

From Ford.

https://www.ford.com/resources/ford/general/pdf/towingguides/17RV&TT_Ford_SuperDtyPU_r2_Sep29.pdf