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aSLOdonat's avatar
aSLOdonat
Explorer
Dec 16, 2013

5th Wheel Hitch, Aux Fuel, and Air Bag Questions

I recently purchased a 2010 Chevy Silverado 2500HD (50K miles). It is a great truck and I am lucky to have found it. It has an Edge chip, B&W turnover ball, 60 gallon auxiliary fuel tank, and air bags. We are working on selling our 2010 Jayco 26BH which has been awesome, but my dang kids are getting bigger and need more room so this was purchased in preparations to upgrade to a 2014 Jayco 31.5 FBHS. I have just a couple questions I was hoping I could get some guidance on...

Anyone have any feedback on the B&W RVK3000 5th Wheel Hitch? I think it will be great, but just wanted to get feedback. No sense in having something else installed over the to of this when this system is already in.

I filled my auxiliary tank up to the max so I was carrying about 95 gallons of diesel and pulled my Jayco 26BH from SLC to Boise and back for work with no fill-ups. Weird thing was my fuel gauge would drop to empty after driving for a while. Once I turned off the engine it would go back to full. It just has a manual valve that drains directly into my main fuel tank. Any thoughts?

Lastly, I have the airbags and the system is manual so I just have a valve stem like on a tire to fill it or empty it. My question is how do I appropriately adjust the bags? Do I just fill them to level it out or is there a certain pressure I can put in them measured by a tire guage? I think they are Air Ride, but I am not exactly sure.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice!
  • My previous 2009 Chevy 2500HD had a 5th wheel tow rating of 13,900 pounds so your 2010 is either equal to or better than mine. Your new trailer has a GVWR of 10,200 pounds. Your truck will tow it fine.

    I also had air bags and kept them at about 50 pounds. BTW, my trailer is 14,000 GVWR and my 2500HD handled it with ease.
  • You bought a 3/4 ton truck with a 2,000 pound cargo rating to carry growing kids and a fifth wheel? You are probably going to be over the GVWR with the fuel tanks full while the kids are inside, without hitching up to the trailer. Add the 1500 pound or so hitch pin, and you will be way over the GVWR, and probably at the GAWR and tire weight rating.

    I would recommend checking the weight of the truck empty. Then check the weight of the pin on the new trailer.

    Fred.