What do you tow the bigger 5ers with?

Its registered as a utility vehicle,not a road tractor. It does a great job

Thanks everyone for all the great replies I am still looking and trying to figure out what will work best for me. I am off tomorrow so going to hit up some truck lots and look around in the frigid air in Pa!

The limitation is with the tires of the truck. Trucks from the factory will usually have at best, tires rated at 3200 lbs. at 80 PSI. At the rear that means 6400 lbs. minus the weight of the truck.

No reason not to replace the factory tires with ones rated for 3750 lbs. and use the same rims to get 7500 minus truck weight at rear load capacity of roughly 4200 lbs. or to go with 19.5 rims and tires that provide 4400 to 4800 lbs. of load capacity at each wheel.

The only 5th wheel trailers I see being towed with DRW trucks are commercial trailers and horse trailers where the load is considerably greater than for a travel 5th wheel trailer.

Of those I know who went to larger and longer and heavier 5th wheel trailers they all regretted making the move and sold their trailers within a few years.

Regardless of the truck the ride for you and your passengers will be much better with a Trailair or similar 5th wheel king pin with its shock absorber.

Towing with what I have in the signature below (3900+lbs) and a 2009 (3607lbs) 3500HD SRW prior to that. Would I like to use a DRW, sure but those don't fit in the car wash. Brochure and website say around 4264lbs for my truck but after adding Z71 package, etc. we lost a few pounds as you can see. Very comfortable towing.

It is not an option with pickups, but a single wheel rig will generally speaking, assuming the same overall width, same gawr, same everything but 4 vs 2 tires, will out perform a dually. BUT, the cavernous area tween the ears, testosterone and a few other items like this still have dullies out doing sw rigs.

I changed out the rear springs of my 96 sw rig to the same ones a dually had. Then bought a duallie, I personally did not find any handling difference etc with the sw rig vs the dually pulling my 12K equipment trailer with 1500 lbs of hw. The wight off the FA went from about 300 lbs to 200 with the sw, same as the dually.

At the end of the day tho, as many have pointed out, you need the proper payload for what you are doing. Otherwise, a duallie with too little payload, is just as bad off as a single. Or the single with proper payload is better than a duallie with too little!

My personal 02 and experience.

Marty

I've towed the same 5er with both a SRW and DRW. The DRW is much more stable, but it is also 9 years newer. Not sure how a new SRW would compare to my DRW, but that isn't the question here.

As stated a number of times, the new 350/3500 SRW trucks have the payload to carry the load you are considering. That said, I think if you shop around, you are likely to find a left over '14 for a similar price to the '10 - '12 models. And, if you are financing, the interest rate will be better than a used truck. Plus you have warranty.

Just saying, make sure you consider all your options before you jump into a used truck.

Just came from NW WA to SoCal bucked head/side winds most of the way 20-40mph. Honestly did not notice the wind much other than the 7.2-8mpg!

My Dually is just rock solid as I am sure any RAM 10 and newer would be.

So unless your "garage is too small" get a dually and truly enjoy the relaxed ride.

I hauled 4000 lbs with a high center gravity using a SRW and now a DRW. I attribute the better handling of my new DRW more to the heavier suspension than the wider stance. My SRW was never unstable, but it required suspension and wheel upgrades to do this safely (especially when I hitched up a 1000 lbs of tongue weight) when my rear axle loads were around 8000 lbs.

You can modify a truck to pull this fifth wheel safely or you can buy a truck that can do this without modification. It depends on what form of truck you want and whether you are comfortable with a modified truck or keeping it OEM.

that weight really isnt too heavy. My 2014 ram 3500 SRW has payload of 4074lbs (loaded laramie with every option). Rear axle rating of 7000lbs. I feeI am good up to about 16500 GVWR and 3k give or take wet pin weight. Now if you were looking at something with 18-20k GVWR, without a doubt a dually at minimum.