Towing a small 5th wheel with a 1/2 ton truck

redwingnc wrote:
Please explain dry pin weight -- is that the hitch in the truck?

Here are the specs from the Ram website for my vehicle:

TIRES P265/70R17
ENG 4.7L V8
TRANS TYPE A5
TRANS 545RFE (DGQ) SPD AUTO
AXLE (it lists both 3.55 & 3.92...don't know what mine is)
GVWR 6700
PAYLOAD 1670
BASE WT 5008...Front 2858....Rear 2150
GAWR Front 3700.....Rear 3900
GCWR 12,500
MAX TRAILER 7300

Tell me if my thinking is incorrect:

The 5er I'm looking at is just over 6100 lbs dry; assume 1000 lbs of "stuff", so 7100 lbs. Assuming I stay within the payload with the hitch & other "stuff", + 2 people, am I not within the 7300 max trailer and the 12,500 GCWR?

This is the lightest 5er I can find...if it not a safe situation, I guess I will have to go back to looking at another TT.

Thanks so much for your help...like I said, this is my first attempt at a 5er, and I don't want to start off with a bad move:-)

Let's not just look at tow rating. The main limiting factor for half tons is payload so let's work that math.

You state your trucks payload is 1,670 lbs. If you assume the fifth wheel hitch itself and all install hardware weigh about 200 lbs, then we are down to 1,470 lbs. As a general rule of thumb, fifth wheels have pin weights that are about 20% of loaded weight. Your loaded weight is 7,100, so 20% is about 1,420 lbs. You are now down to about 50 lbs for everything you want to put in the truck plus all people. If your people plus stuff weigh 500 lbs, then you are 450 lbs over GVWR.

My truck loaded ready to camp with fiver (2500 Dodge CTD) is about 200# more than its GVWR, but it's also about 300-400# less than its RAWR. Without working the numbers its hard to know, but I suspect you will be over the RAWR of your truck (given that your rear axle rating is only 200# more than your front axle rating).

You state your RAWR is 3,900 lbs. Subtract the hitch weight 200 and pin weight 1,420 and you have about 2,300 lbs left. Take half of weight of passengers and cargo (if you assume 500 lbs then that's about 250 lbs). Subtract that and you are about 2,050 lbs. Go to the truck scales with your truck and see what the rear axle weight is without any of this stuff listed. Is it less than 2,050#? If its 2,500# empty, then your rear axle weight when loaded should be about 450# more than RAWR. You just have to weigh it and do the math with actual weights.

While I don't mind being several hundred lbs more than the trucks GVWR, I would never exceed the RAWR. Often the RAWR limiting factor is the trucks tires. Exceeding the axle weight ratings is a real safety concern.

I hope this helps. Good luck.