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Dougie123's avatar
Dougie123
Explorer
Jul 20, 2018

Considering 5th wheel - weight check please.

Greetings All.

We are considering upgrading to a FW from our current 23' Hybrid TT (wife is tired of dealing with the tent bunk ends). Anyway, because of a litany of mechanical issues with my older 2011 2500 Ram gasser, we recently traded it in for a newer 2017 Ram 2500 diesel, CC 6.5' bed.

We are considering a 34' FW with 11,000 GVWR and a DRY hitch weight of 1500 lbs.

Truck is spec'd at 17,200 lbs towing, and 2160 lbs payload.

Accounting for 3 passengers, (@150lbs each), that only leaves me with 200lbs remaining on my payload. Ugh.

We live in the Northeast, so mostly flat towing landscape, so I'm asking for humble opinions if you think I'm going to be "pushing it" when it comes to payload numbers? Will I need airbags to level the truck? Will the ride be bouncy, etc? Dry pin weight vs "loaded" pin weight. Do I assume 15% from the trailer to the pin, or 20%...I get different answers.

Upgrading to a 3500 is really out of the question as we just got the newer 2500.

Many thanks in advance for your advice & wisdom.

Best,
Doug

42 Replies

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  • Fulltimer50's avatar
    Fulltimer50
    Explorer
    Jul 20, 2018
    I would consider my plans for the rig. Going fulltime or just camping on summer weekends? Many times we just have to make due with what we have. Your numbers say you can tow 17,200 #, Is that fifth wheel or regular trailer. They are often specd different. Your trailer GVWR is 11K. I dont see the problem.
  • ReneeG's avatar
    ReneeG
    Explorer
    Jul 20, 2018
    That's cutting it close. You can easily go over by loading a generator, firewood, a canopy in your truck bed. Never mind adding a hitch to carry bikes. Look for a smaller FW or larger TT that gives you plenty of extra loading margin. With that said, someone with your exact TV may tell you you're fine. All I know is what we would do. We previously had an F250 V10 6.8L 4.3 rear axle and it towed like crazy, but not our current FW. Traded up for a 1 ton F350 diesel dually and never looked back except to say we can't believe we even tried that!

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