Pin Weight Increases

It's not difficult to have good estimates. Look at the distance between the pin and the front axle on the fifth wheel. If you have 600 pounds of stuff, estimate where the center of that would be. It it is the middle of the distance, 300 on the pin, 300 on the fifth axle.

Certainly 2500 trucks can and do pull fifth wheels, but it you have four adults and tons of toys, you might need more capacity. Don't overload those tires.

Ok, well I guess I'll call the dealer tomorrow morning and cancel my order for the new 5th wheel before it's too late. I'm glad I didn't sign any paperwork yet! This is why I started one of the other threads. To specifically ask if I had enough truck for the 5th wheel I was considering buying. Everyone said I had enough truck, More than enough truck for the 5th wheel I was considering! I Could even go with a slightly bigger 5th wheel than what I was considering and that's what I ended up doing. A slightly heavier 5th wheel that weighs about 1,200 pounds more and the pin weight is about 600 pounds more. I thought I was good to go. I guess I should have explained in greater detail that I would have the normal camping gear that most people take with them as well. Now, it appears, my 2500HD isn't capable of towing any kind of 5th wheel (with gear) that weighs over 4,000 pounds dry and has a pin weight of 800 pounds or I'll have too much weight on the axle or too much payload weight. I've never seen anything that light! Maybe they exist but I've never seen one in my neck of the woods. Thanks for all the input everyone. I think I'm just going to give up camping because I can't afford a new truck and since the TT I have is very similar in weight to what I wanted to buy, I've been way overweight with that too apparently.

While the truck max payload is important, and everything in truck/trailer will add to your GCVWR (which is a drive train limitation), your most important number of concern, is your RAWR/tire max load. With a FW, nearly all the pin wt, plus hitch wt, will be over your rear axle.

Agree with Lantley, you are adding 4 6 volts (300#s, plus 60#s propane) likely right behind the pin, so this ups the percentage some. Most cases, a FW pin falls between 20-25 percent when loaded.

If you weighed your rear axle, truck full of fuel, everything in the truck you'll be taking, add 175 for the hitch (don't forget the wt of rails), you'll know how much more pin wt the rear axle can carry.

My guess...adding 2,500 pin wt, will put you close to RAWR, after hitch, and everything else in the truck. With your FW loaded to GVWR 11,700, your pin could be upper 2K, at 25 percent pin. Most likely you should be able to keep pin wt at 2,200 or less.

Jerry

Based on YOUR numbers I would say you will be overloaded. The VAST majority of weight added forward of the axles goes to the pin. My RV's factory DRY weight was 18,075# it now weighs 23,000# with 25% pin of at least 5,800#.

My point is you WILL add WAYYYYYY more weight than you think.

I kinda did the same thing. My 5er came with weight a weight sticker that shows the dry pin. 1385 lbs. I added 4 Costco 6V batteries up front. I have two 30lb propane tanks as well. I carry a lot of stuff in my two front cargo holds and under the bed.
My pin is now 1800 lbs. So roughly 475 lbs added. I also added 1500 lbs to the dry sticker weight and I'm around 9,000 loaded.

4x4ord wrote:
If you guess that half the weight goes on your pin and half on the trailer axles you won't be horribly far off.

Yeah, that sounds good to me too. Basically it's just a WAG, but as good as any for sure, and that's what you asked for.

How close will the added weight be to the pin? The closer the load is placed to the pin the more weight it will add. I'm assuming all of this new weight will be forward of the axles. My guess is 70% will be added to the pin.

If you guess that half the weight goes on your pin and half on the trailer axles you won't be horribly far off.