Which is easier to drive into a tight site - A vs 5th?

We've had 4 fivers and our first Class A. All the fivers were 39 - 40'. The MH is 42'. I never had problems pulling in the Fiver but there were times it took some backing up and pulling forward to get it lined up. The fiver pivots at the hitch but the truck has to make a wide swing to get the fiver as close to center as possible, causing some possible misalignment.

The MH doesn't have all that truck in front of it and the pivot point ( not really the pivot point but steering) in ours is behind the drivers seat. It has 59 degrees of wheel cut. This allows us to pull forward more than our fiver and pickup and turn into the spot. This allows for the actual pivot point ( rear wheels) to get a lot closer to the centerline. I have yet to have to back up to get lined up.

40' is 40' the difference is our class A has a much more desirable pivot point then our fiver and pickup ever could. The toad isn't a issue as it follows the MH and can be (most the time it is) disconnect before we pull in.

We've had a 5th wheel for 8 years and now the motorhome for 10 years. By far, the motorhome is easier to back into a tight spot. Both of us can do it easily. We have watched many a 5th wheel or trailer going back and forth or circling the campground loop for another try. The motorhome backs in just like a car.

Public parks are always our first choice (narrow roads/trees) and backin sites are preferable over pull-through because usually there's more privacy.

One other point when driving into (and out of) a tight spot-------the tail swing of the MH helps a lot in keeping the toad behind it. My 35' gasser has more tail swing than some of the big DP's---------my toad pretty well tracks behind the MH even in a turn.

As a boy growing up on a farm, I learned to back up both 2 wheel trailers and 4 wheel trailers (a lot tougher), and I would have no problem backing a 5er, but I've seen a lot of people with no skills at all trying to do it. Good time to get the popcorn and a chair out.

all I can tell you is I have had a lot of times campers said you can't get that 41' MH in there or out of there guess what did both no problem. The feightliner chassis has a 60 degree turn and seems to turn on a dime. had times when I thought I would have to pull forward and backup a couple of time and no, made it on first time without backing.

kab449 wrote:
Had both and MH with rear and side cameras is easiest by far. Also easier to set up and tear down.

Second that

jmtandem wrote:

Say both are 40ft, the 5th wheel is being pulled by a long bed dually and the A class is towing a small toad, such as a Honda Fit. Which is easier to drive into a site where you expect tight corners? My common sense says 5th wheel is harder since the overall length is far greater but I see that some claims 5th wheel is easier.

Also, how about backing up into a tight site once you are there?

A toad behind a MH has to be disconnected to back into a site, that is much more work than just carefully backing the still connected fifth wheel into a site. Pull thru's? Perhaps that is another issue. As others have said it takes practice regardless what you are trying to put into a campsite. If you are good at it, they are all easy. If not too good at backing, they all are hard.

toad doesn't have to be disconnected i have back it connected as far as 100 ft but if you can't back it then disconnect takes less than 5 minutes

I do not have any experience with a behemoth 40' FW, but I had a 36' with a Mega Cab. I now have a 41.7' MH with Jeep toads

Good information! A 36 foot fifth with a megacab is plenty long.

I do not have any experience with a behemoth 40' FW, but I had a 36' with a Mega Cab. I now have a 41.7' MH with Jeep toads. Why would anyone ask if a pull through is easier, aren't they both the same? Unhooking the Jeep is a 2 minute job, so that is not an issue. Hooking it up takes a bit longer....3 mins? Now backing in...MH home is a L O T easier than backing a FW, and if I had to choose one or the other in a tight spot it would be a MH. Once you are behind the wheel of a MH for a while it becomes smaller. Trust me, after a while it is just another vehicle on the road and you would be surprised at where you can go......

But you still have to unhook the truck at some point with a 5'er.

Agree! Maybe we are talking about two different things here. The car must be disconnected from the MH to back up more than about ten feet. It is not optional. However, the fifth does not have to disconnected to back up into a site. In fact it has to be connected to back into the site. And if only staying a night and moving on perhaps the fifth does not need to be disconnected at all. In the bigger picture of getting set up in camp for a time more than likely both need to be disconnected. That is one advantage to a 'pull thru' as there may be no disconnecting needed regardless of the RV type.

For us class A is the easiest. The 5th wheel you could get into a tighter space then the same length TT. However the 5th wheel was by far the hardest to get used to. We can back in a class A is 1/4 of the time that it took us with a 5th wheel