Moving to a 5th Wheel
The wife and I are looking down the road a little at a time when neither of us will have to go to work. The thought is to buy a new/newer 3/4 ton diesel truck to pull a 5th wheel trailer. We won't ...
Forum Discussion
Lantley wrote:
Buy a 1 ton truck vs. a 3/4 ton truck. You want the additional payload capacity
This is why you find the trailer first...particularly with 5th wheels.
Expect the pin weight to be somewhere on the order of 25% of the trailer GVWR for a 5th wheel (ignore the empty pin weight listed in the brochure as it has nothing to do with real life towing). A 14,000lb GVWR trailer will have around a 3500lb pin weight. Add in 200lb for the hitch and you have already used 3700lb of the trucks payload.
2021 F250 Crew Cab Long Bed (Platinum) only has a payload of around 3000-3600 depending how it's outfitted. Yet the tow rating can be up to 21,700lb.
Even some of the single rear wheel F350's are only in the 3300-4300 range.
If you find one with 4300lb payload, you have 600lb for passengers and other gear in the truck. Your typical family of 4 with 2 teen boys can easily weigh in at 600lb. Firewood, spare gas, generator, grills, etc... in the truck and even with max payload you need to move up to a dually if you want to stay within the specs on the truck.
