What Size Truck and Engine

Times 2 the needs of a larger TV. When starting that camping bug, you will find that your first choice of a camper will change over the years, unless you are a di hard tent camper. So that first camper unit will probably grow in size, as your needs ofter increase in a few years. Thus starting with the heavier duty 3/4 ton truck might be your best choice.
When we started camping, we owned a Suburban, a great tow vehicle for our pop up camping years. But when we decided to move up the ladder to the fiver's, a truck was then needed. We chose a Ram Diesel, 3/4 ton HD series, and have not looked back for the last 15 years. Thus if considering a pop up or a TT, a 1/2 ton truck might be your choice, but thinking about a fiver, then chose the 3/4 ton series or larger, you will not regret that decision.

Welcome to the Forum..you are being wise - doing your research BEFORE you buy. (and use GVWR and pin weight/payload when figuring this all out. DON'T just use the towing rating)

Good advice above already...I will add this: Buy a truck for your next RV - there will be a next one and it will be bigger.

Good luck with your new adventure.

Wife and I have NEVER owned an RV but are ready to pull the trigger. Nice thing is, we also don’t have a TV so we get to match our need. We are going to buy a Fifth Wheel with a dry weight between 6500-7500#. Tongue weight will be about 1400#. So, what is the smallest truck we can get WITHOUT putting any undue stress on the TV and having a SAFE pull and of course a SAFE STOP? We do plan on being in the mountains on occasion. Do not want a diesel. Have read about 2007 or newer Tundra 5.7 and Ram 1500 Hemi. We will not be buying new.

I am not sure you are going about this correctly. Instead of looking for the smallest truck that will do the job, why not look at a truck that has some reserve capacity especially if you want to upgrade the fifth in the future? The first RV is always the 'training RV' in that you learn what you want in the next RV so it becomes a progression of RV's to get to that RV that you really want. And in most cases the RV's get bigger not smaller as the progression moves into the future. Purchase the truck for the RV you will want in the future, not the one you want now.

The RV dry weight is almost meaningless, even the fifth you are looking at will weigh somewhere around 8500-9000 ready for camping and the pin weight will be 1800 or more pounds. There are not a lot of half ton trucks that will be able to handle that payload plus all the rest of the stuff, people, dogs, firewood, etc that you will want to carry in the truck.

The cowboys of old said that you cannot have too much horse; good advice for RVers as well. Donn above in his post gave you some good guidelines.

First off, welcome.
Second, you posted this question in Forum Technical Support. I have asked the moderator to move it for you.
Third, this question gets asked a lot. Have you searched the forums for information yet?
Basically FYI
1/2 ton trucks are not really suited for towing a fifth wheel,
3/4 ton truck are OK for fivers up to about 10,000 GVWR
1 ton SRW are good for fivers up to about 12,000 GVWR
Anything heavier and you need at least a 1 ton dually