5th Wheel w/ 1/2 Ton
I literally put the cart before the horse and bought a late 90's 5th wheel trailer before buying a truck to pull it with! I'm not sure if I can get away with a beefy 1/2 ton or should look for some...
Forum Discussion
Hybridhunter wrote:
I am unable to understand the concept of going to a 250 or 350 when a 1/2 ton will do just fine. But, I'm not a nervous driver, and I am conscientious about loading generally speaking. What I am saying is I have access to both heavy and light duty trucks 365 days a year, and my work truck (A well optioned 2013 Ford 350) gets parked in favor of my F150, every time I can.
The point is, a 1/2 ton will not, I repeat NOT, "do just fine."
With just about any 5th wheel, even an extremely light one, just about any 1/2 ton truck will be at or over its payload limit.
Your typical 1/2 ton truck has 1200-1500lbs of payload capacity. For hitch, driver, passengers, dog, firewood, tools, and trailer pin weight.
A 5000lb 5th wheel trailer could easily have a pin weight of 1000lb (20%) empty, and you're going to add more to it when you "move in."
That doesn't leave you a lot of wiggle room on the payload capacity of the truck. You're well under GCWR, but on a 1/2 ton, you're pushing the GVWR and the RAWR.
Overloading a 1/2 ton isn't the same as overloading a 3/4 or 1 ton truck. You've only got about 300lbs of "extra" capacity between GVWR and combined GAWRs on a 1/2 ton, where it's more like 1500lbs on a 3/4 ton, and 2500lbs+ on a 1 ton. A 1/2 ton is squatting pretty low, almost frame-on-axle, long before you get to GVWR, while a 3/4 or 1 ton is barely squatting at all, even at GVWR.
