To the OP ...
In your first post which you have since edited you said - "...we are planning on renting a travel trailer this spring or summer and taking it out for a week. We will then be renting a fifth wheel and also taking it out sometime."
However, in your second post you said - "We are planning on renting a travel trailer and truck this summer just to really see what it is like."
Then you later said - "We will have a full size pickup truck (1500) and believe if we want a travel trailer, we need to test a travel trailer out versus a pop-up."
I'm confused :? ... are we to assume you don't yet have a 1/2 ton truck but definitely have one in your future plans? If so, presumably you do realize a typical 1/2 ton is really only suitable for towing up to ~ 6000 lbs and with little exception not suitable at all for towing anything but the smallest 5th, if that. No doubt some will disagree and claim towing an 8000 lb travel trailer is no problem but the numbers which can be put together with the use of any trailer towing calculator clearly show that with rare exception just how limited the typical 1/2 ton really is. As one who has been 1/2 ton towing for quite a few years now I'd agree with others - if you have any thought of towing a travel trailer exceeding 6000 lbs gross or any 5th you really need to forget about a 1/2 ton and plan on at least a 3/4 ton.
