1/2 ton towing a 5th wheel

OP.
Tires wheels suspension is easy. Slap some good E load tires on any OE or similar quality rims. Suspension, you have multitudes of options.
Any 9.75 axle 150 is good for 5klbs so the afformentioned 2500lbs payload is about right and a practical limit iMO.

I tookalook at the Ford 2019 towing guide.

There is a listing of maximum trailer weights the different vehicle series can be spec'd for. (can be not all are can be not all are can be not all are....)

F-150 can be spec'd for a tick more rear tow trailer max weight than 5th wheel coupled max weight.

That's kind of interesting.

I was careful with the weight rating on my aftermarket wheels to be sure I didn't de-rate my truck. As Shiner says, same goes with tires if you change the size or type.

My take on a half ton with a fifth wheel is you can do it with the right combo but there aren't too many options that will fit the bill in terms of the particular half ton or fifth wheel. That said, beef up the tires and supplement the suspension and you can probably cheat a little on your official payload rating. At the end of the day you'll probably be happier just upgrading to an HD truck, though.

FYI, the sticker on the door jamb is as useless as tits on a bull if you replaced your stock tires/rims with ones that have a lower rating. It also goes out the door if replaced any suspension components with a lift.

Case in point, my nephew replaced his stock rims and tires on his 3500 with 35x12.5x20 BFG T/A KO2's which has a max rating of 3,195 lbs. The 6,390 lb combined rating of the new tires had a lower rating than his stock axle rating of 7,000 lbs which effectively lowered his GAWR making the number on the door sticker worthless. It actually put him below the rear GAWR of my 2500 which is 6,500 lbs.

Louiseintx wrote:
Hello, thank you for all your responses. I am looking at a grand design Reflection fifth wheel-260RD. Specs are UVW 7,225. Hitch-1,325 GVWR-9,495. My F150 is rated at:GVWR-6,750 combined cargo wt and passengers-1,660 Rear GAWR 4,050 Front GAWR-3,300. Base weight-4,696 and it looks like from the Ford website, max conventional towing is 17,900 ( weight of truck and trailer together). I looked up what the hitch will weigh for my truck and it will be about 150 lbs. I don’t want to run out of payload and it looks like my payload is 2,054 (GVW minus curb weight) If I subtract the fifth wheel pin weight -1325 and the hitch weight-150, I’m left with 579 lbs for passengers plus whatever we put in the trailer. Which says to me, this won’t work. Would someone check my math and logic and let me know. I really appreciate all your help. So you know, we don’t currently have a fifth wheel so we cannot weigh it at this point but that would be the logical thing if we could.

Get the payload off the door jam, that will give you the real payload. The 4,696 is a stripped down version XL version. It could easily be 500lb higher.

But let's assume it's correct for the moment (in reality it's worse),
- 9,495 GVWR suggests 2000-2500 pin weight when ready to hit the road. 1,325 might be the pin weight when you take it home from the dealer (actually, it will likely be higher as they don't weigh the trailer as it rolls off the assembly line and it almost always comes out heavier) but once you add propane, water, clothes, food, etc... you are likely going to be much closer to 9,495 GVWR and most of that weight will sit in front of the axles increasing the pin weight.
- 6,750 minus 4,696 is about 2,054 but you also have 150lb hitch plus the wife plus anything else in the truck.

It's not even close...If you were over by 100lb, I might shrug and say it's not ideal but you are looking at being way over.

Save yourself a lot of time and hassle and get a 3/4 or 1 ton truck. It's always better to be towing below the maximum specs. So, if you want to have a fifth wheel trailer, buy a truck that will give you a lot of options as you purchase a fifth wheel now, and later when you may want to upgrade or go with a larger fifth wheel.

My FW UVW is 8100 and dry pin weight of 1170lbs. It weighs 9500lbs loaded, ready to camp and the pin weight is 1500lbs empty tanks.
My 2011 F150 GVWR is 7700 with 2080Lb payload. Your payload is 1660lbs. I'm 200lbs over the 4000Lb rear axle rating (5%). I also upgraded to LT tires.

It tows and stops great, no problem with hills. I have not towed in true mountains and probably never will. Everything is great UNTIL I fill the black and gray tanks. The tanks are forward of the FW axles, putting a lot of extra weight on my trucks rear axle, and I can tell the truck is not happy with it. My guess is with the tanks full I probably have at least 4600lbs on the rear axle.

From my experience and considering the information you provided, I give your idea a thumbs down. The published 1325lb pin weight is unloaded (dry). That will go up by 100's of lbs. You will run out of rear axle payload before you even get in the truck. Your truck can TOW this camper, it just can't CARRY it well.

My 5th wheel is 10000lbs gross. My F150 HDPP w/ max tow has an actual payload rating of 2565 and a rawr of 4800. At the scales with me, wife and dog with a full tank of fuel, it’s at 7980 which is 130 over my 7850 rating which I can live with. Rear axle is 4500.(300 under) Pin weight is 1850 with a total trailer weight of 9600. With your particular version of F150 you’ll be overloaded and I’d strongly advise against it. If it had the HD payload package it would be doable. That’s what makes or breaks this combo.

Sure it will pull it. If you go a couple hundred miles on flat ground, go for it.

The overall problem is it's a half ton. It may tow the load just fine, but the brakes won't last for long, the transmission isn't going to take a lot of miles, you don't have the truck weight to control the 5th in big wind gusts, etc, etc, etc.

Bill

Why are you looking at 'website ratings'? You have the truck, open the drivers door and look. That's what your truck weighs. Not the "curb weight" from the website...

That figure is for a zero option truck.

Anyway, work the numbers anyway you want... Ain't no way a #6750 GVWR truck is going to be comfortable towing a rig like what you want it to..

My F150 has #7700 GVWR and I would not want to tow that rig...

Good luck! Mitch