3500 truck towing HT 5th wheel - Workable?

Lexx wrote:
We tow an 11k lb GVW fiver with our F450. The truck makes towing the fiver pretty easy.

We were coming back from Salt Lake City to NorCal via I-80 in heavy cross and headwinds. Semis were being moved about in their lanes. Sprinter vans were being blown half a lane over. But we had no issues at all other than poor fuel mileage due to fighting the heavy winds.

At one point we saw over half a dozen dust devils around us. We must have traveled through one because I felt a sudden sharp jolt that felt like it wanted to move us over to the next lane. But we never did move. The truck and trailer were rock solid. At that point I was VERY thankful to be in our F450.

Your story is an excellent reason for more truck than needed.

chevman

We tow an 11k lb GVW fiver with our F450. The truck makes towing the fiver pretty easy.

We were coming back from Salt Lake City to NorCal via I-80 in heavy cross and headwinds. Semis were being moved about in their lanes. Sprinter vans were being blown half a lane over. But we had no issues at all other than poor fuel mileage due to fighting the heavy winds.

At one point we saw over half a dozen dust devils around us. We must have traveled through one because I felt a sudden sharp jolt that felt like it wanted to move us over to the next lane. But we never did move. The truck and trailer were rock solid. At that point I was VERY thankful to be in our F450.

We had a 5er that was advertised as a half ton towable and a 3/4 ton truck. The bed never came down to level so maybe the pin was a little light. The water tank was over the axles so you couldn't really use that to add pin weight.

It still towed OK but could get a little bouncy on occasion but nothing worrisome.

I have a 2007 3500 SRW and tow a 14K 5vr (13,873# scaled weight) with a 3080# pin weight

You have more then enough truck to tow a HT 5th wheel

Howdy!

What’s that saying “You can never have to much truck”. I use to get flax when I towed our 28’ Air Stream trailer with our MDT.

“Happy Trails”
Chiefneon

Dry weights of 8-9000 lbs are high with pins only 1400 lbs. Thats barely 15% for pin weight.
Biggest issue will be the height difference between the 5th over hang and the top of the trucks bed rails. 1/2 ton 5ers tend to have lower front over hangs and 1/2 tons bed rails are lower so they match up well. The issue will be that you won't hardly get any sag when dropping 16-1700 lbs in the bed. So setting up the pin and 5th hitch will be tougher when trying to get the 5er level.
Best thing to do is measure your trucks bed rails and then measure the new 5th wheels front overhang and crunch the numbers.
I did tow a mid profile 1/2 ton style 5er with a 3/4 ton truck and had no issues with clearance. The 5er was 1+" high in the front.

Dry weights of 8,000 lbs. to 9,000 lbs. are not real world weights. Go by the GVWR to get a decent idea of what the loaded weight will actually be. But those trailers would be in the neighborhood of 10,000 lb. loaded and around a 2,000 lb. hitch weight. So I certainly wouldn't see any issues with pulling/carrying it with your truck.

You don't say what year the truck is but if it's an older 3500 it shouldn't be an issue. A 3500 only a couple years old may have bed height concerns and be nose high.

HT = "Half Ton" towable? Should be no problem towing. Only concerns would be the bed height and getting the fiver level as well as possibly the stiff suspension with that light weight causing a rough ride for the fiver. Might need to lift the fiver and consider an air ride type hitch.

fj12ryder wrote:
What is an "HT type 5th wheel trailer"?

X2?
My guess based on the size and weights would be a “Lite” version of a 5er.
So no issue towing with a 3500, even if it is DRW, just plenty of truck.

What is an "HT type 5th wheel trailer"?