Why a 5th wheel over a tow trailer?

Chuck .. wrote:
Want are the big advantages of the 5th wheel compared to a tow trailer?
I would like to be able to use my bed of my truck to haul things. My brother in-law says he can back up a tow trailer much easier than a 5th wheel and the trailers track with no problem. He has worked for a construction company and has used many tow units and likes tow trailers and owns a 27 footer.

Here is want I have below but, I still wished I could pull more safety, like a used 30 foot Dream Suit 5th wheel or a Alpenlite unit that weights around 11,500 dry weight.

I have a 1999 Dodge diesel 2500, Long bed, auto trans, cub cab, 2 wheel drive. The owner manual on page 148 says that this truck can tow maximum trailer weight of 10,200 with 3.54 axle ratio and 12,000 lbs maximum trailer with 4.10 axle ratio. The GCWR is 16,000.

Most everyone on this forum and others said I can only haul a trailer around 9,000 lbs. "Dry Weight" safety and do not max out my truck! I plan on being safe.

First off, when looking at FWs, it's not what you can TOW, it's what you can CARRY; i.e. PAYLOAD on the truck. Yes, the other weights are important, but not all that critical, compared to the payload numbers. Now, as to why I went with a FW:

1) Stability. FWs are just inherently more stable than TTs. I've towed bumper pull trailers of all kinds, then, when we got a GN, I hated having to use a regular hitch trailer. Yes, you can set up a TT to tow well, but it takes a lot of tweaking and more set up than does a FW.

2) Storage and space. Almost any FW will have a lot more storage and interior per foot of length. Yes, you do lose the truck bed, but in my case, I never really carried all that much in the bed. Some ice chests and tools is about it. Often, I put the ice chests in my FW kitchen anyway, so that's not all that big a deal. Interior space is also more than a comparable TT.

3) Length. A FW "tows shorter" than the same length TT due to the way it hitches. Yes, it will track inside what a TT does, but that's an easy tradeoff to compensate for.

Lyle