:h
Well, Eng208 said a lot there, but failed completely to state the over-riding issue.
Which is, do two tires have the load capacity to carry the planned fifth wheel?????
If so, then by all means get a single rear wheel vehicle. There is absolutely no need for a dually for each and every fifth wheel manufactured.
But, please realize that your carrying capacity for single rear wheel pickups is often down to just ONE tire. And perhaps just a small part of the second tire.
That is because, and this is as simple as can be stated, those two rear tires are already carrying the weight of the pickup itself.
So with a 60/40 split on weight (front to back) an 8,000 pound pickup is already carrying 3,200 pounds on the rear tires. EMPTY!
No passengers, no hitch, no cargo.
So with most 17 or even 18 inch tires, probably 20's too, you are using up almost ALL the capacity of one tire just sitting still.
So depending on tire capacity, one would have a range of from about 3,195 pounds left over for carrying a fifth wheel up to around 3,600 pounds for other tires (17's, 18's, 20's).
So if the fifth wheel hitch weight, loaded stays under those numbers, by all means stay with the single rear wheel vehicle.
Like I said, you don't need the dually for every application.
But if you do the math, and find out your tire capacity will be lacking, then a dually is truly the only choice one can make. And the math is simple, right in front of all of us on the manufacturers advertising for any given unit.
Just divide the advertised hitch weight by the unloaded weight of any fifth wheel to give you a percentage. Say a 12,350 pound fifth wheel has an advertised hitch weight of 2,300 pounds. That is a hitch weight percentage of 18.6 percent.
This same fifth wheel shows a gross weight rating of say 16,500 pounds. So 16,500 times 18.6 percent equals 3,069 pounds.
That 3,069 pounds would be the max hitch weight generated by that trailer, something you as the owner would be in control of by how one loads the trailer also.
To me, it does appear my hypothetical fifth wheel would be well within the range of heavy rated rear tires, single rear tires. Those with a load range in the 3,600 pound range for each tire.
I run dually, but not because of my fifth wheel. Weight wise, I could get by with single rear tires. But I also carry a truck camper that weighs in at 4,500 pounds, and for that, I do need the dual tires in back. At about 2,900 pounds (dual configuration tires each) I have about 8,400 pounds of tire capacity remaining to carry that heavy truck camper. Mind you, then one has to start looking at axle capacity also, but for the topic at hand, does not need to be examined in detail.
