How easy/difficult to travel with 14,300 lb dry fifth wheel?

mabynack wrote:
I have a 14,000 lb fifth wheel that I tow with a 6.0 Ford Diesel.

My biggest issue has been tires. The rig has two axles and takes ST235/85R16s, so it's right at the allowable weight for the four E load range tires. I try to keep as little unnecessary weight in the RV as possible. I dump the tanks before starting off in the morning and keep the freshwater tank at about a quarter full. I've blown out four tires on this rig and two of the blowouts did over a thousand dollars in damage.

I check the tire pressure every morning before I start off and I do a walk-around every time I stop; I check for loose fenders, dragging objects, and overheating tires. I drive no more than 65 mph.

Just a side note since tires were brought up. A lot of manufacturers may put E rated tires on their units but you will find that G rated tires are actually needed once you get all your "stuff" loaded. My last two fivers have had Goodyear G614 "G" rated tires installed, plus I have a TPMS so I can monitor my tire's pressure/temp. I have never had a tire failure.

rattleNsmoke wrote:
To the original poster......the writing on the wall is clear, buy the largest TV you can afford and you won't regret it.

I agree 100%. You'll never regret having too much capacity, but you will regret having not enough. My last truck had a 14,000 lb tow capacity and that was the gross weight on my RV. It towed fine as long as I wasn't in the mountains. I was going down the mountain into Gatlinburg TN in stop-and-go traffic and my brakes overheated and failed. Later I tried to back my RV up a hill into a camp site and noticed the transmission blowing fluid out the overflow from overheating. I bought a new truck with an 18,000 lb tow capacity and towed for almost 100,000 miles without an issue.

When I started in '06, I soon discovered that the LDT's of that era were not rated to tow/stop heavy rigs (my rig was 15.6K pounds right off the lot), which led me to use a HDT. One of the many benefits of using a HDT is extra storage space. I was able to de-load my rig by moving cargo to the truck...which I can never overload. Towing I can get 9-10 MPG.

Regards
Gemstone

We fulltime and tow a 41', 17,600 pound Landmark with a 4,200 pound pin weight. We tow with a 2011 Chevy 3500 DRW and get 10-11 mpg....

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Proper TV not a problem! 28K+ combined 9.5 hand calc West Coast average. Dry weight means nothing. Look at combined weight rating then take up to 25% of that to calculate your pin weight. Mine is 4,500#.

You might want o explain what you are taking 25% of to get your weight.

For a typical larger 5th wheel trailer, your loaded pin weight will run around 20% up to maybe 25% of the TRAILERS GVWR...not a combined weight.

25% of your listed combined of 28,000# is 7000#.

Ken

Proper TV not a problem! 28K+ combined 9.5 hand calc West Coast average. Dry weight means nothing. Look at combined weight rating then take up to 25% of that to calculate your pin weight. Mine is 4,500#.

janegowest wrote:

btd35 wrote:
We love ours. There are times when it can be difficult to get it into some camping sights. We plan ahead and have no real difficulty. We have not even come close to filling the storage this trailer has. Weight wise, only in campgrounds with steep hills have we found it necessary to use our 4 wheel drive in low to have the power to get up and down some hills. It works great. You have to have the right truck to haul the weight.

How heavy is yours dry? And how much do you travel?

Stop worrying about the DRY WEIGHT. You need to be looking at the trailers GVWR. Full timing, you will probably be crowding the GVWR.

Once you add all of the supplies, food, clothes, etc, You will be adding 2,0003 to maybe 3,000# and maybe more.

Ken

We are in a similar size rig. A FW that big requires a lot more planning. Pulling into a gas station, restaurant, shopping area, tourist area or whatever requires a lot more planning. Google maps will become a good friend of yours in scoping things out beforehand.

Since parking and navigating tricky areas can be challenging you might find yourself with a mindset of "not stopping here, not stopping there, not stopping anywhere" and that is no fun. If I think we're approaching an interesting area I'll slow down and start looking for places I can park if my wife or kids holler out that they see a place that they want to stop at.

I have an older dually that works very well for me. In almost every one of my posts I encourage folks to look at getting exhaust brakes.

Good luck!

janegowest wrote:
I keep falling for the heavier rigs with lots of storage!! Anyone out there that is not full-timing, traveling with a trailer this heavy dry weight?

Or if you full-timers are traveling with heavy rigs, I would like to hear from you as well.

Oh, and what kind of MPG are you getting with your dually pulling your heavy rigs?

Ask (or browse) over on Escapees MDT and HDT forums.

LOTS of full and part time folks traveling and towing heavy 5ths.
(The 14,300 over there would be considered a lightweight, LOL!)

Lots of info on the Tow Vehicless - and the trailers.

~

To the original poster......the writing on the wall is clear, buy the largest TV you can afford and you won't regret it.