I own a 2007 Tundra with a towing capacity of 10,300 lbs. Currently, I own a bumper pull travel trailer (2016 rockwood mini lite 2506s) that weighs in at 5,100lbs. The wife has us looking at fifth wheels and asking what I can go up to in weight. My rule before was 7,000lbs, but now that it's a fifth wheel, I'm wondering if I can go a little higher, comfortably. I know to factor in tongue weight and cargo weight, I would add air bags just to keep everything level. Models we are looking at are: Jayco Eagle 25.5REOK and KZ Sportsmen 262RLK. I have been told by a couple people I know who own half ton pickups and went from a bumper pull to a fifth wheel that say they pull way better, even if they are heavier and that they get better gas milage. I do plan on a 1600 mile trip this summer and I tow for a living, I drive a semi, for what that's worth. Would I be safe and would this fifth wheel tow better than the bumper pull? Also, does anyone else have any camper suggestions? We are looking for a walk around queen, couch and dinette, decent sized bathroom, black tank flush, and we need an outdoor kitchen. The outdoor kitchen seems to be the kicker for this segment of campers.

What are your axle and tire ratings? You can upgrade tires and add bags but do keep in mind you're dealing with a half ton with a semi-floating 5 lug axle, not a de-rated 3/4 ton. It would also help if you used a lightweight hitch like an Andersen Ultimate. The conservative answer here is always to assume 20-25% of the trailer's GVWR will be on the pin but I don't think that's necessarily an accurate assumption in all cases for all people. If you're going to be pushing the truck with a trailer on the high end weight-wise, I do think you'll get a better towing experience with a fifth wheel versus a bumper pull. Provided you have the axle rating to carry the pin, that is.

Finding a 5er with a light enough pin weight for the Tundra may be your issue. Just googled your model and while the 10,600 tow is what I found the payload cap was between 1350 and 1750. By the time you add yourself and the wife, a 150-200 lb hitch your going to be hard pressed to find a 5er with a loaded pin weight low enough to meet your target with a pin weight approaching 20% of trailer weight.

Nice looking trailer.....butYou are going to have somewhere around 2000 lbs of pin weight ... (2007 Tundra payload 1,350 to 1,750 lbs)My opinion...that's probably going to be too heavy. Air bags will not increase your payload.

Thank you for your responses and advice.Tires are rated at 2833lbs Front axel: 4000Rear axel: 4150

I have seen several Tundra’s towing 5er’s, none looked overloaded, sitting level, tires not flat on the bottom. Didn’t ask weights .

5th wheel for Tundra | Good Sam Community

nal13
Explorer
Jun 04, 2018
PhoneDude 8289 wrote:
Towed 2 different 5th wheels with my 08 Tundra Limited 5.7 purchased new. Both 5th wheels GVWR was 10K. Ready to camp with the Hensley BD3 hitch at the scales they weighed 9500+# with around a 1700+# pin weight. The rear axel of the Tundra is made by Hino and is rated at 5500# by Hino but derated by Toyota maybe for warranty. I had E rated tires @ 70PSI when towing and airbags for level. Yep over payload and a over Toyotas RAWR but under Hinos. Towing over 8 years with the Tundra close to 40K miles never an issue. Trans, Diffs and engine lubes were changed yearly. Tundra is a pulling beast but very hungry for fuel. Sold it 2 years ago with 187K on the clock still running great. I now have a Ram 2500 Cummins. The Tundra was way more comfortable in the seat. The Ram with the Cummins is more impressive in the mountains and the exhaust break is so awesome. 30% to 40% better fuel milage with the diesel doesn't hurt but I do miss the Tundra.

Thank you for the information, that makes me happy to own a Tundra. :)
MFL
Nomad II
May 21, 2018
PhoneDude...yes, you can make a 1/2 ton truck work for many jobs that it was not designed to do, as I also did years ago. About the RAWR...the truck manufacturer is not derating the axle, but is rating by ALL things connected to it, such as the springs, tires/wheels, and brakes. You added air bags to support springs, and higher E rated tires, to bring use able axle load closer to Hino's rating.

Most trucks axle manufacturer rates their axle much higher than the vehicle manufacturer, especially on the 3/4 ton trucks.

The Toyota trucks have been a good choice for many years.

Jerry
PhoneDude_8289
Explorer
May 21, 2018
Towed 2 different 5th wheels with my 08 Tundra Limited 5.7 purchased new. Both 5th wheels GVWR was 10K. Ready to camp with the Hensley BD3 hitch at the scales they weighed 9500+# with around a 1700+# pin weight. The rear axel of the Tundra is made by Hino and is rated at 5500# by Hino but derated by Toyota maybe for warranty. I had E rated tires @ 70PSI when towing and airbags for level. Yep over payload and a over Toyotas RAWR but under Hinos. Towing over 8 years with the Tundra close to 40K miles never an issue. Trans, Diffs and engine lubes were changed yearly. Tundra is a pulling beast but very hungry for fuel. Sold it 2 years ago with 187K on the clock still running great. I now have a Ram 2500 Cummins. The Tundra was way more comfortable in the seat. The Ram with the Cummins is more impressive in the mountains and the exhaust break is so awesome. 30% to 40% better fuel milage with the diesel doesn't hurt but I do miss the Tundra.
gmw_photos
Explorer
May 14, 2018

Many folks may not be aware, but the Shuttle was never moved by the Tundra. The dollies underneath the Shuttle are self-propelled units.
....snip...

According to this article, in fact, the Tundra did provide the motive force to move the shuttle across the 405:

https://www.space.com/18052-space-shuttle-endeavour-toyota-truck-tow.html
silverfz
Explorer
May 14, 2018
nal13 wrote:
silverfz wrote:
Saw a massive 5 wheel being towed yesterday on I95 in southern mass by a tundra. It looked scary. My wife was the one to notice and said that does not look safe.

It probably wasn't larger than the space shuttle!!! :D

Well it certainly looked liked it ... I have no idea if its safe. Me and wife will never own one of those high fifth wheels as everything we buy she has to be able to tow and drive comfortably. She is the better driver/tow person between me and her . So i know if i need help she is on the passenger seat all the time. I do tow a bunch but save the hard to park places and questionable areas to my better half.

The tundra is a great platform i just hit 140k and did my first transmission service . I might do the plugs and wires this summer.
already did the pump,belt and coolant at 120. There was a small leak in the radiator so put a non oem one.
goducks10
Explorer
May 09, 2018
DaveF-250SD wrote:
nal13 wrote:
silverfz wrote:
Saw a massive 5 wheel being towed yesterday on I95 in southern mass by a tundra. It looked scary. My wife was the one to notice and said that does not look safe.

It probably wasn't larger than the space shuttle!!! :D

Many folks may not be aware, but the Shuttle was never moved by the Tundra. The dollies underneath the Shuttle are self-propelled units. The truck in front, be it a big rig, tundra, kid on a bicycle etc., does nothing but steer the tow bar, and the dollies follow the tow bar for directional input. Any load that's over 100,000 pounds needing to be moved on any road will use two semis, one pulling, and one pushing. The Shuttle by itself weighs 400,000 pounds.

Fake news. I saw it happen on tv. :)
nal13
Explorer
May 09, 2018
DaveF-250SD wrote:

Many folks may not be aware, but the Shuttle was never moved by the Tundra. The dollies underneath the Shuttle are self-propelled units. The truck in front, be it a big rig, tundra, kid on a bicycle etc., does nothing but steer the tow bar, and the dollies follow the tow bar for directional input. Any load that's over 100,000 pounds needing to be moved on any road will use two semis, one pulling, and one pushing. The Shuttle by itself weighs 400,000 pounds.

Sounds like a conspiracy theory to me.
DaveF-250SD
Explorer
May 09, 2018
nal13 wrote:
silverfz wrote:
Saw a massive 5 wheel being towed yesterday on I95 in southern mass by a tundra. It looked scary. My wife was the one to notice and said that does not look safe.

It probably wasn't larger than the space shuttle!!! :D

Many folks may not be aware, but the Shuttle was never moved by the Tundra. The dollies underneath the Shuttle are self-propelled units. The truck in front, be it a big rig, tundra, kid on a bicycle etc., does nothing but steer the tow bar, and the dollies follow the tow bar for directional input. Any load that's over 100,000 pounds needing to be moved on any road will use two semis, one pulling, and one pushing. The Shuttle by itself weighs 400,000 pounds.
nal13
Explorer
May 07, 2018
silverfz wrote:
Saw a massive 5 wheel being towed yesterday on I95 in southern mass by a tundra. It looked scary. My wife was the one to notice and said that does not look safe.

It probably wasn't larger than the space shuttle!!! :D
silverfz
Explorer
May 07, 2018
Saw a massive 5 wheel being towed yesterday on I95 in southern mass by a tundra. It looked scary. My wife was the one to notice and said that does not look safe.

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