Small 5th wheel pin weight?

Mine has a DRY weight is 8121lbs and a DRY pin weight of 1170lbs. That's 14.4%

downtheroad wrote:
"short fifth wheels with tandem wheels have proportionately less pin weight than a larger fifth wheel."

Don't you just love what some of these salesmen come up with?.

??
Well it will not have the same 3000# pin as a large fifth wheel.
Often people estimate 20% for the pin... that is directly proportional even if varies a bit.

OP, yes a 22' 5er should have a pin in the 700 to 900 pound zone.
My dry pin is rated 880 and surely is higher when loaded. (26')
And yes 700 to 900 payload + hitch could very well put you over your ratings when you load up all your people and stuff. Depends on your individual ratings. Best to load up your people and take the truck to the scale to compare to truck GVWR and axle ratings.

marquette wrote:
I looked at a 22 ft 2005 Sun Valley 5th wheel today with a dry weight of 3800 lbs. The dealer of course told me it is 1/2 ton tow-able. I quick did the math and said with a 700-900 pin weight it would be close to maxing out a 1/2 ton cargo capacity by the time you added passengers and fuel to the truck. His answer was that short fifth wheels with tandem wheels have proportionately less pin weight than a larger fifth wheel. Any one know if that is true?

If it helps, fuel is not considered "cargo capacity" stated on the sticker. The cargo capacity is calculated based on a full tank of fuel.

Granted my knowledge of 5ers is limited, but from what I have garnered from different forums is that pin weight ranges 15% to 25% of total weight. So if your 5er will weigh in at 3800 pounds fully loaded the pin weight will be 570 pounds at a minimum to a maximum of 950 pounds. If 3800 pounds is the unloaded weight, as you so rightly calculated, the half ton will be over loaded.

Just as a personal opinion, a 3/4 ton truck is the minimum that should be used to pull a 5er and a 1 ton for larger 5ers and an F450 for the biggest 5ers. It is better to have too much truck than just enough.

Yes, I think there could be some truth to that. It would of course depend if the axles were in the center, or more toward the rear.

A later model half ton should be able to handle that size FW. It may be 5K loaded, but still not a heavy pin. Certain model 1/2 tons, could handle much more.

If I was looking to save weight, but wanted to tow a FW with a 1500, I would take a look at the Andersen Ultimate ball hitch. You could save 150 lbs. right over the axle.

Jerry

Ask him to prove it..... Have him get scale weights to prove the pin weight is lower... And agree that IF IT IS IN YOUR SAFE RANGE that you will purchase it... Call it a little persuasion ...

"short fifth wheels with tandem wheels have proportionately less pin weight than a larger fifth wheel."

Don't you just love what some of these salesmen come up with?



Pin weight is pin weight..and a pound of feathers weighs a pound.