Are fifth wheels easier to tow than travel trailers?

late bloomer wrote:
Never towed a fifth wheel, so I was wondering if folks could lend some opinions.

"Are fifth wheels easier to tow than travel trailers?"


In a word....

Yeah

Admittedly I have a long bed 3500, which makes a lot of difference, but when we travel 6 or 8 weeks at a time my bed contains:

A full width truck chest 24" front to rear and bed-rail high containing chairs, grill, tools, air compressor, and extra 50amp cord.

An ABS foot locker size chest with bottled water, spare oil and fuel filters, soft drinks, little propane bottles,etc.

Two 5 gallon pickle buckets: one with leveling boards and one with bricks.

Two 18" traffic cones.

A bunch of 12" cutoffs of 4x4 fence post to put under landing gear and stabs.

An Actionpacker with pull-out straps, ratchet straps, tow chain, and tire changing gear.

Two milk crates: one with chocks and one with the main 50amp cord.

The storage boxes and milk crates are secured to in-bed tie down rings with aircraft grade cable and good master padlocks.

Nothing sticks up above the top of the bed rails and the trailer doesn't even know that it is there.

Quick trip wrote:
One problem with towing a 5er is you can't put much stuff in the back of the truck!
When towing a TT you can load a lot of stuff in the truck!
Good Luck & Drive Safe!

Actually you can put quite a bit of stuff in the back if the pickup truck. YOu just have to be careful where you put stuff. My last FW was a 28' with one slide and very little "basement" storage, so a lot of stuff went in the bed of my truck. Now I have a 35' with 3 slides, and I have side to side basement storage so I won't need the bed of my truck. Lucky me!

I have had both. My last camper was a 37ft fifth wheel and my current camper is 26ft TT. Fifth wheel camper is so much easier to tow and backup. The pivot point is over your rear axle, so it turns better than on the bumper. Also, sway controller or WDH is not needed.

I don't see us going back to a TT. Love our fiver. Ez hook no sway.

Yes

bid_time wrote:
As you asked this question on the 5er forum, I presume you didn't want any objective responses (especially negative). So I won't give any.

Thanks for your help. I posted a question about fifth wheels in the "fifth wheel" sub forum. I guess I should have asked in the pop-up camper section? Geez...

Thank you to the folks who took the time to post a serious reply. For further clarification, I recently got a Ford F250 turbo diesel, and it came with a gooseneck hitch as well as the standard towing package. I'm just looking to see what my options are.

Size the truck appropriately and you will be a long way towards a comfortable tow with either.

I pulled a 32 ft TT and hauled a golf cart in the bed of my F350 Dually...that was a great combo. No sway...zero...it a great.

My dad has an 03 Cummins Ram 2500 "he didn't want no dually" and he pulled a 14k fifth wheel.

He called me once and told me that he hated how much the trailer moves the truck around while pulling...

So I don't buy that ALL fivers pull better than TT's ... From our example it's just not true.

Get more than enough truck...not just barely enough. Please please please.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

Having just ordered our first fiver I can't say which is "better". But I think asking here is absolutely the best place. I think most people start with a tt and then upgrade to a fifth wheel so can compare. Just my opinion. Which is usually wrong...lol. Just saying. Not meant to hijack the thread. Carry on.

Quick trip wrote:
One problem with towing a 5er is you can't put much stuff in the back of the truck!
When towing a TT you can load a lot of stuff in the truck!
Good Luck & Drive Safe!

I have all the stuff that went into the truck in the 5th wheel. Most TT's have really small storage compartments. Most 5ers have two large storage holds.I also put my two bikes on the back of the 5th wheel. When I get home I have hardly anything to unload from the truck. Usually just some leftover firewood.
My CC LB truck has 4' in front of the 5th hitch. That's a lot of room for things if I need more room.

I've done the TT/5er thing and hated coming home from a camping trip having to unload the whole truck.

I suppose if someone has a golf cart/motorcycle or mega amounts of stuff to haul then yes a TT would be better.