5th Wheel Qustions

Itching2go wrote:
I tow a 40 foot Grand Design Solitude with a dry pin weight of 12,300 lbs with a Chevy 3500 SRW Duramax. Fully loaded, I'm a hundred lbs or so over my rated maximum payload. You will a bit heavier than that. I've put several thousand miles on this combination with no problems. Would I be better off with a dually? Well, setting aside the hysterics of the 'weight police' who tell me I'm gonna die and take others with me, I'd likely be better off with a dually in strong wind conditions. But I just don't want to make a dually my daily driver when we get to where we're going. So, if stability in strong cross winds is that big a deal, I figure I'd find a place to hole up for a day until the winds calm down. Being retired, we can easily do that. As for the rated capacity versus actual capacity, I do believe that there is some 'fudge factor' in play given our experience. I'm not here to suggest that the rig you are talking about is within this envelope, although I do expect that you will need air bags to offset the squat that you'll have on your rear end. I installed a couple of Air Lift bags on my truck, and was amazed at the improvement in the ride as before, the rear axle was riding on the bump stops. So, do what makes sense to you. I agree with Campinfan's comment above that TV rated capacities are not an actual limit where "...things will bread right off...", if you're a couple of pounds over. If you're too overloaded, you'll know in pretty short order. Good luck...

This post reflects the thinking of many of us. A DRW would be better but the OP decided to go with a SRW do to non towing factors.
For optimum towing performance I strongly recommend a DRW for the 5'ers you are looking at.
A dually will give you ample payload, better braking and more stability.