crash course in 5th wheel hitches?

JeffPritchard wrote:
Some of you are recommending against ANY combination of F-150 and 5th wheel.

I've "done the math", but maybe I'm missing something important. Assuming we can all read the numbers and do simple math, what might I be missing here:
2015 F-150 SuperCrew XLT 4X4 3.5eco Max towing: 11,500 lbs Max payload: 2,020 lbs.
Cougar X-lite 26RLS (one example) Shipping Weight: 6885 CCC: 3070 Hitch weight: 1155

When I do the math, even adding weight for hitch and water and groceries etc. I come out ok.

I am a "party of one", and don't tend to drive great distances with my tanks full. I'm used to the limited space of a TC, so don't bring all my worldly possessions with me when I travel. I reckon the vast cavernous pass-thru storage bays will be stuffed full with air for the most part.

It is certainly true that some of the longer "HT" campers have an empty hitch weight approaching 2000, and also true that a 2015 F-150 differently equipped can have a max payload as low as 1600.

It is also true that a few years ago an F-150 didn't approach the towing capacity and payload of the one I'm planning on, and that a few years ago even a "lite" 5th wheel was heavier than many current HT models.

So, maybe once upon a time it was near impossible to do a 5th wheel on an F-150 without going to "weight police" prison...both sides of the equation have moved over the years. It is certainly still possible (perhaps even easy) to choose poorly, but it appears it is also now possible to choose well.

Then you should be ok....I stated that there are 5th wheels that are 1/2 ton towable. All it takes is some simple math and some common sense for someone to figure out if their "combo" will work, no matter what anyone else say's...It's really ALWAY'S been easy to choose well, again, all it took/takes is getting weights, (not empty weights), and weigh the truck, do the math and use some common sense....Again, if your combo works, that's great..but someone like OP who is asking for information should be informed of all the possibilities...and a lot of us in here have been there, done that, have the T-shirt, spent more money than we needed to just because at one time or another, we've learned the hard way.


There is no "weight police" prison:R..Just an ugly name pinned on some because, like me, they believe in having quite a bit of buffer when towing, some that disagree like to resort to name calling right off the bat....Most use RAWR for pin weights, I use GVWR, though there is nothing wrong whatsoever using RAWR, I just know that I"m not only well under my trucks GVWR, I'm also WAYYY under my trucks RAWR....