How Legit is FifthWheelSt's Calculator?
i'm looking to purchase a new truck and 5th wheel. The 3 trailers we've narrowed it down to are all very similar in terms of GVWR: roughly 15,500 lbs. The frustrating thing is that I've entered ...
Forum Discussion
hopeisnotastrategy wrote:golf_bears wrote:
Any one of those trucks will pull those RVs. That is not the problem. The real issues to be concerned about are:
1--- Will the TV rear axle carry the load? What's the TV rear axle rating.
2--- Will the TV tires carry the load? What are they rated for?
3--- Will the truck stop the load?
As suggested, you can change the gear ratio and/or go to a dually.
Personally, I would get a dually with at least a 4.1 gear ratio.
The FifthWheelSt calculator doesn't account for gear ratio. I was always told it impacted your towing, so I'm not sure how to determine how much more (or less) I tow going from the standard 3.42 gear ratio to the 4.1 gear ratio.
Also, how do you determine if the axle will carry the load and if the tires will carry the load?
Though not many care, but one could use the GCWR ratings that the manufacture assigned to said vehicle...That is what is effected by the gearing.
You weigh the truck at a CAT scale, full of fuel, DEF, people, pets,hitch etc....just like you're going camping...Let's say drive axle weight is 3,000# and RAWR is 7,000#, subtract 3,000# from the 7,000# and you have 4,000# left to put toward pin weight. I don't do it this way, but almost everyone else does, and the Law looks at axle ratings/tire weight ratings
I've never seen, ( in my case) A truck sold at a dealership, that didn't have high enough weight rated tires to cover rear axle weight rating...but guess there could be:h...I never owned one that came with tires that couldn't handle RAWR.
