Rear kitchens = porpoising?

A talk show I listen to has a feature called "Stupid or Liar?". It kind of doesn't matter which one it is.

Imagine how much weight is in the rear of a fifth wheel toy hauler. A fridge, sink, stove, etc. can't weigh more than the motorcycles and sand cars loaded inside the toy haulers. And they tow just fine.

Stupid or Liar?

We pulled a rear kitchen 5ver for 10 years and never had any problems.

We had a 28.5 RK Carrilite. We just made sure the doors and drawers stayed latched and left nothing on the counters.

janegowest wrote:
A fifth wheel salesman told us today that rear kitchens cause porposing due to the heavy weight on the back. Is this true?

He's probably never towed one. Maybe never towed anything.

Not to say he is lying. The porpoising and broken dishes thing is a common thing to hear on the internet.

It's a lot like here on RV.net. A lot of people know a lot of stuff that just ain't true.

We love our RK.

Ask what the pin weight is and then ask if it's significantly different from a non-rear bath unit. They created the hook, time to set it.

It's poppy-****..

It's true that anything away from the "lever" of the axles will experience some up/down movement - the farther away, the more extreme the movement. This can shake stuff loose.

5th wheels have thousands of pounds (typically) on the nose. As long as they have pin weight, load the back up.


Another question you might ask them to explain is how the guys in toy-haulers make due when they're hauling 4 x 4-wheelers, which easily weigh more than a bathroom.

Poppycock! We have had two RL rigs and now a RK floor plan. Don't think we would have anything but an RK now!

When loaded for the road, our rear kitchen is very light on the pin, about 12%. It was also built as a 1/2 ton towable. In theory it should not pull well. With over 20k miles of towing I can say that is incorrect. It pulls and tracks great. Before anyone starts a fight, I pull with a 3/4 ton diesel.

Just a heads up. On some trailers (ours) things did move and drawers did fall on the floor.

After about eight or ten trips we got everything tied down and padded so not too much movement.

We still have the spring bars for the frig and stuff to pad with in a box in the shop. The drawer latches to keep them from falling on the floor went with the trailer Not needed now.

It was our first and last rear kitchen. Not all trailers are the same.

Good luck.

It's also possible that the salesman is just not knowledgeable about such things and should be asking other salesman your questions rather than making things up. Regardless, after this thread, he's lost his credibility. I would make sure you let them know why you are going elsewhere. As far as rear kitchens, we've only had them in TT's and I don't recall any issues with broken dishes. We currently have a mid kitchen and rear living.

Never had that problem with our rear kitchen. The salesman as usual knows nothing, just interested in making a sale. :) An old saying "you can tell a salesman is lying when his lips are moving".