Thanks for this great input. I’ve been trying to find sources of information without a lot of success until now. Regarding the door, we’re looking at one of the Northwoods 27 foot fifth wheels. The specs aren’t listed but copilot AI believes that the door is 36 inches wide by 84 tall and the deck height is 24 inches off the ground. All of those specs would work just fine using the ramp. I have to get her chair through the door. (if copilot knows what it’s talking about.)
Regarding the choice of truck taking a little closer inspection I think I’m gonna need the 3500! Problem comes in the payload, even with the max towing package. If my wife and I brought along two friends (that have much weight to them at all., a GMC 2500 hd with max towing would already be overweight without any other gear in the truck, even if using the 22% pin weight calculation. This is surprising to me.
Regarding the toy haulers, I’m not sure what the ramp slope ratio is, typically 2 : 12 is recommended for safe use with wheelchairs. I have been able to carry the chair in my tundra which has a slight lift on it with the bed about 32 inches off the ground using a 10 foot ramp which is a little bit on the steep side, but if the chair is empty, I can drive it up standing next to the chair successfully. Even at that the ground needs to be totally flat just a slight pitch throws the angles off and the chair can start sliding down the ramp when you drive it out of the bed. Need to be real careful with these chairs to avoid 450 pounds crashing to the ground off the side of a wheelchair ramp. The 24 inch deck height on the North woods trailer, as long as that door is big enough, would be no problem at all for my ramp.
