Anyone pulling a Montana 3120 with a SRW short bed?

MFL wrote:

ACZL wrote:
IMO it's a no go. Truck should weigh in around 8600# +/-. Going by replies from others, the RV's dry weight is 14k and max of 16k. You will be at max capacity all the way around if not over on some. I had same truck, but when we upgraded RV's we were in same situation as you. Yes truck towed it fine and I loved the truck, but didn't like being right at max on everything. Dry weight of new coach was 14k and max was 16k. Fully loaded, pin was 3700, RV 16,000, total weight on truck 12,300, combo 24,600. Ended up getting a DRW 350 and night/day diff in towing. Yes the DRW sux in the snow, but for towing north of 15k max RV weight, you are in DRW territory.

Dry wt is just 12K with a large CCC, loaded GW likely 14-14.5K, kind of reason OP said the numbers fit.

Jerry

You are indeed correct. If however the dry weight is more (say closer to 14k) and figure at least 2,000# of "stuff" then that changes things I figure.Really have to look at dry & max weight of RV and kinda figure the mfr dry weights are not always 100% correct (same as mfr advertised pin weights). Like I mentioned in my 1st post, really thought our '15 SRW not only would be perhaps are last truck and able to tow pretty much anything, we simply ran out of numbers when we got the new RV. I wasn't too concerned about yanking it around here in NY or close by states, but heading to FL in summer and being over on tires just planted a gut feeling of not being comfy. So that's how we ended up w/ the DRW. Don't get me wrong, the DRW is awesome for towing the RV, but it does kinda stink for everyday running around and surely stinks in the winter. That's where our old SRW shined.....especially towing our 4 place V-nose close to 30' sled trailer. DRW, like a farm tractor give you a wider footprint and spreads the weight out on 4 tires rather than 2.

Cummins12V98 wrote:
" If I recall the GVWR was 16,000. That makes for a 3200 pound pin."

So based on your formula I should have 4,200# pin since my GVWR is 21k. But why is my pin 6,000?

My RV actually weighs 24k and my pin percentage is 25%. So just because a number says XYZ that doesn't make it so!!!

Good point. Pin can be higher than 20% It can also depend on tanks. Our 90 gallon fresh tank is behind the axles so a full tank drops pin and empty fresh and full gray and blacks means a big jump in pin. Another reason why it's better to have more truck than less.

I wouldn't do it. Our Mountaineer is 10K dry, loaded just under 12K. The 05 DRW we had went 11K loaded. Now that was 2800# pin. The rest was stuff in truck, firewood, tools, us & the dog. I'm just not going to watch every pound of stuff I haul around. So that's why when bought the 18 truck it was DRW also.

" If I recall the GVWR was 16,000. That makes for a 3200 pound pin."

So based on your formula I should have 4,200# pin since my GVWR is 21k. But why is my pin 6,000?

My RV actually weighs 24k and my pin percentage is 25%. So just because a number says XYZ that doesn't make it so!!!

ACZL wrote:
IMO it's a no go. Truck should weigh in around 8600# +/-. Going by replies from others, the RV's dry weight is 14k and max of 16k. You will be at max capacity all the way around if not over on some. I had same truck, but when we upgraded RV's we were in same situation as you. Yes truck towed it fine and I loved the truck, but didn't like being right at max on everything. Dry weight of new coach was 14k and max was 16k. Fully loaded, pin was 3700, RV 16,000, total weight on truck 12,300, combo 24,600. Ended up getting a DRW 350 and night/day diff in towing. Yes the DRW sux in the snow, but for towing north of 15k max RV weight, you are in DRW territory.

Dry wt is just 12K with a large CCC, loaded GW likely 14-14.5K, kind of reason OP said the numbers fit.

Jerry

The Numbers

IMO it's a no go. Truck should weigh in around 8600# +/-. Going by replies from others, the RV's dry weight is 14k and max of 16k. You will be at max capacity all the way around if not over on some. I had same truck, but when we upgraded RV's we were in same situation as you. Yes truck towed it fine and I loved the truck, but didn't like being right at max on everything. Dry weight of new coach was 14k and max was 16k. Fully loaded, pin was 3700, RV 16,000, total weight on truck 12,300, combo 24,600. Ended up getting a DRW 350 and night/day diff in towing. Yes the DRW sux in the snow, but for towing north of 15k max RV weight, you are in DRW territory.

At 11,500lb GVWR, you should be fine.

Double check the GVWR...I'm coming up with around 16,000lb GVWR for that model when I look online...which would put the hitch weight up around 3500lb...thus no payload left to cover passengers, hitch or anything else in the truck.

I see you are coming from a truck camper, so I'm sure you understand the importance of axle/tire rating. That is a heavy FW, for it's 35' length. It does show a light dry pin wt, less than 20%. Once loaded it will most likely be 20%.

You just need to know your RAWR/tire rating, and if the added wt from a loaded to camp FW pin wt of around 3K-3.5K fits your ratings.

If you don't already know available rear axle wt, you can weigh the truck, full fuel, people, pet, and gear, getting separate axle wts, to see what is left for hitch wt. Don't forget to figure the 200 lb hitch sitting right over rear axle, if not yet installed.

IMO, it will work. You say the numbers work, so I don't see a problem.

Jerry

We looked at the Montana 3120. If I recall the GVWR was 16,000. That makes for a 3200 pound pin. With passengers hitch and fuel it made for over 4000 pounds cargo for the truck.

We ended up with a 5th wheel that has a 15000 GVWR and our pin is a little over 3000 pounds and our total is over 5000 pounds with a transfer tank. about 4000 pounds without the tank.

Originally I wanted to trade the truck for a SRW but the numbers didn't work out so we kept the dually.

It probably boils down to whether you feel comfortable going over the stickered GVWR of the truck or not.