Tow rating comparison; 5th wheel vs bumper

Yes, there is a difference. Mainly it has to do with the pin/tongue weight that the different types place on the tow vehicle. A TT will be around 12% of its weight on the TV, where a fifth wheel will place approx 20% of its loaded weight directly over the rear axle. Your best solution would be to figure out exactly what you want first. Then match a TV to fit your needs. Remember no one has even asked if they have too much truck. But there sure are a lot that ask if they have enough truck.

Just my 2 cents......worth about .05 cents

Tow Ratings are a magical number under idea conditions and are misleading in the real world.

A trucks GVWR, RAWR, Rear Tire MAX Load Rating and/or actual payload available will be reached/exceeded long before that magical tow rating is reached.

A truck may have a say 15K tow rating but with a 'wet' pin weight around 3000# available payload will be exceeded.

If you have the truck then you need to pay attention to weight of truck camp ready (fully loaded up ready to go)....then subtract that number from trucks GVWR.....that number is what is available for 5vr pin weight mindful of RAWR and Tire Load

If you don't have truck then get 5vr (the floorplan you like---afford) and then match truck to actual weight of trailer (not 'dry' weights but trailer GVWR and 20% of GVWR for a 'wet' pin number)
This ends up with a better matched combo........but usually ends up with a bigger truck then originally thought would work.

Thanks for the information but… We may need to by the truck first and that will place a limit on how big we can go There are minimum needs we have for our future 5th wheel and we can find the average GVWR of that configuration of 5th and we want to make sure we have enough truck. There are more 3/4 ton trucks available than 1 ton and if we can find the right deal I want to ensure it's going to be big enough. I am a data guy and want to assess the numbers. I agree we want more truck than we need but within limits. I'm seeing that many 3/4 ton and 1 ton units from the same manufacturer with the same engine are very close in tow ratings anyway so it may be a moot point. I also want to look at SRW vs DRW units. I should add I'm retired after 35 years in the trucking business so I agree you can never have too much truck. My wife is a bit concerned about the prospect of parking a long bed, club can, dually.
Barrie

Thanks for the technical info Old-Biscuit

For pulling FW RV trailers completely forget about the manufacturers tow ratings. Due to the high percentage of pin wieght on a FW you will never be able to pull/carry a FW anywhere near the trucks "tow ratings" unless you get a fully heavy duty equiped dually

Use the FW GVWR that you are planning on getting. Approximately 20% of that wieght will be your pin wieght. Get a truck that can carry (payload) that pin wieght plus whatever else you plan on carrying in the truck. You will find that the maximum FW you can carry will be significantly less than the tow rating of the truck.

Did I say Forget About the Manufacturer's Tow Rating. Not kidding.

As already mentioned it's not what the truck can tow it's what it can carry.. My 2011 Dodge 3500 SRW 4X4 SB weighs in all up hitch fuel tools 2 people at 8000lbs, GVWR is 10,100lbs that leaves only 2100 lbs for a hitch weight, my 36 5ver advertise pin weight 1950 lbs empty. I weigh mine often and I have been 700lbs over my truck GVWR so that's a pin weight of 2800lbs, 850lbs above the "advertised" pin weight. I'm about to buy a new truck with a GVWR of 11,100lbs, expensive mistake.

OK, thanks. Message received loud and clear. I was used to dealing with axle weights and ratings when pulling highway rigs. I should have caught this. Duh… :-) my bad.

Is there a resource that lists the various year, make, model of trucks with their net, gross and axle weights? We will not be buying new and I would love to be able to check the specs on a truck listed for sale to see if it fits my needs. Not all ads list the vehicle specs.
Thanks.

ByTheRvr wrote:
OK, thanks. Message received loud and clear. I was used to dealing with axle weights and ratings when pulling highway rigs. I should have caught this. Duh… :-) my bad.

I ran LTL for years so the same axle weights apply for our LDT size trucks.
Some (not all) RV folks get hung up on using GVWR to figure loads on the trucks axles and in particular RAWR. Payloads will be determined by actual scaled front and rear axle weights. A trailer adds little to non hitch weight to a pickup trucks front axle so pay attentions to the trucks RAWR/tire ratings.

3/4 ton trucks run in the 6000-6200 RAWR range and can have up to 3500 lb payload.

One ton SRW run in the 6500-7050 RAWR range and up to 4500 lb payload.

The new gen DRW trucks range from 9375 up to 9800 RAWR and have over 7xxx lb payload. All above numbers depends on choosing the right cab/truck selection for the most payload.

One thing to notice is the 3/4 ton truck is the same as a one ton SRW. The SRW has higher rated tires/wheels and a rear spring pack. The rest of the truck has the same frame/front axles/brakes/engine/tranny/rear axle/etc. These sites separate some of the myth we see posted on RV forums.

Ford specs

GM

Dodge
Play around with these websites as their the actual mfg specs.
The GM site has a weights calculator that figures the truck with all the options chosen for a actual tow rating and axle payloads.
The Ford site and in depth tech stuff like size of brakes/rotors/frames/etc/etc.
The Dodge site has tow rating for the different truck packages and much more. You can spend days looking at the tech info. Good luck huntin' the rig

Thanks JIMNLIN,
We have pretty well decided on a crew cab, long box. We are looking towards a 5th wheel in the 32'-34' range with probably 2 slides. That's starting to look like 1 ton, DRW territory. Right?