2014 HD 2500 DIESEL Chevy Truck

[reddog7571]

Will the above truck safely handle a 38' 5th wheel?

[Dtank]

reddog7571 wrote:
Will the above truck safely handle a 38' 5th wheel?

On here - try the *Tow Vehicle* forum.

Next - spend some time on the Escapees MDT and HDT forums..;)

.

[Me_Again]

azshooter wrote:

BTW; the tire ratings came off of tires. They are LT265/60R20s.

People that want to tow 5th wheels should opt out of the 20" rim and tire option. The new RAM have 18" standard to get to 7K RGAWR on the SRW 3500 are rated to 3640 each and they leave a little extra capacity on those tires. 20s they use have less capacity and can limit rear axle capacity!!!!

Chris

[BFL13]

azshooter wrote:
I just got back from CAT scale.

Frt axle=4540, RR axle=3380, for total of 7920. No driver, no pax, 5th hitch in place, full tank, my normal tools/etc under RR seat. (Otherwise, when we haul our TT, the cab is almost empty except for us, and I don’t usually have much of anything in bed of truck either). For us I estimate add 215 and 130 to Frt/RR axles respectively, so Frt would be 4755, RR would be 3510.

Against the RR GAWR, leaves 2700 for kingpin wt.

Kinda seems ok.

Sure I’m going to load the 5er up, but the big stuff and junk including the toy will be behind the axle. Water tanks are centered over axle. Storage compartment is forward. Grey and black at end of trip will be the biggest contributors to front weight it seems. Etc.

GS GVWR of 13800 - 9530 dry weight leaves 4270 CCC
Eclipse GVWR of 13500 – 9180 dry weight leaves 4320 CCC

I think I have headroom in these 5er GVWRs. But even if I go back to 20% of the 5er maxed out, that’s right at the 2700 number I have as headroom. Obviously, less load would allow more than 20%, converse, etc.

So I guess I agree with poster saying CLOSE, but I don’t think I’m far off.
No?

BTW; the tire ratings came off of tires. They are LT265/60R20s.

As you know, the two GAWRs add to more than the truck's GVWR. GVWR was posted earlier at 10,000. That 7,920 plus the 215 and 130 = 8,265

10,000 - 8,265 leaves 1,735 for pin wt, which would be 20% of an 8,675 lb trailer.

You can't turn 1,735 into 2,700. You can't turn 8,675 into 13,500 no matter how many times you try.

Same old story. The 2500HD, with the heavy Diesel engine and heavy tranny and heavy 4wd taking up so much of the available GVWR, the truck can hardly carry anything, just pull stuff.

The 2500HD gas 2wd can carry lots of weight but has less pulling power.

That's why they invented 1 ton Diesel duallies that can both pull stuff and carry stuff.

[JIMNLIN]

Rear axle scaled weight was 3380 lbs from 6200 RAWR = 2820 lbs payload.

Keep in mind the difference in your 2500 and the 3500 SRW is the SRW has 7k rear spring pack and higher rated wheels. Same engine/transmission and the big 11.5" AAM rear axle/same front axle/frame/etc.

Thats why many folks that can't afford to take a beating on another truck go with air bags/Timbrens/SuperSprings/rear overload spring pack from the 3500 SRW truck or have a spring shop add another leaf for more carrying ability. That includes a 1500 truck on up to the one ton DRW.
You might check the toy hauler forum out as many truck owners have modded their trucks (all sizes) to safely carry those 4k-6k truck campers.

[azshooter]

I just got back from CAT scale.

Frt axle=4540, RR axle=3380, for total of 7920. No driver, no pax, 5th hitch in place, full tank, my normal tools/etc under RR seat. (Otherwise, when we haul our TT, the cab is almost empty except for us, and I don’t usually have much of anything in bed of truck either). For us I estimate add 215 and 130 to Frt/RR axles respectively, so Frt would be 4755, RR would be 3510.

Against the RR GAWR, leaves 2700 for kingpin wt.

Kinda seems ok.

Sure I’m going to load the 5er up, but the big stuff and junk including the toy will be behind the axle. Water tanks are centered over axle. Storage compartment is forward. Grey and black at end of trip will be the biggest contributors to front weight it seems. Etc.

GS GVWR of 13800 - 9530 dry weight leaves 4270 CCC
Eclipse GVWR of 13500 – 9180 dry weight leaves 4320 CCC

I think I have headroom in these 5er GVWRs. But even if I go back to 20% of the 5er maxed out, that’s right at the 2700 number I have as headroom. Obviously, less load would allow more than 20%, converse, etc.

So I guess I agree with poster saying CLOSE, but I don’t think I’m far off.
No?

BTW; the tire ratings came off of tires. They are LT265/60R20s.

[laknox]

azshooter wrote:
Tires are rated at 3200# ea. at 80psi.

Dollars to donuts that's for 245 tires. Jump up to 265 tires and you'll have 3400+ lbs each; more than enough to cover the RAWR. You're going to be =very= close on that truck.

Lyle

[JIMNLIN]

op wrote:
CWSWine has a similar truck and same RR axle rating, and weighed his truck at 3220 on RR axle without hitch? or other cargo. This would indicate a real world 3000# kingpin weight limit, vs the rating of 3500#.

Your on the right track here but the 3000 lb number would be the remaining "payload" and not a king pin weight limit.
I doubt any 2500 Dmax/A has a 3500 lb payload. Most 2500 trucks rear axle weigh in the 3000 lb range from the factory which leaves around 3200 lb for a payload.

Now once the truck owner loads his necessary junk in the truck then those figures will change. Some guys load the truck down heavy and others may carry a small 25 lb bag of tools.

I would concentrate on the trailers dry weights/CCC/ GVWRs and forget about posting lengths. Some folks have it in their heads a certain size truck can only pull a certain length trailer.

At 13500 GVWR and a 9180 dry gross means around 4320 lb CCC. Most folks don't pull around a empty trailer not will you load 4300 lb of stuff in the trailer. Generally folks that just RV may add 1500 lbs to this size trailer = around a 11000-11500 lb trailer. With a 20 percent hitch weight may have around a 2200-2400 lb wet pin weight.

looks like a good match if the trailers brochure weights are correct.

I pull a 11200 lb trailer with a 2500 Dodge/Cummins. My hitch weight runs in the 2200-2400 lb range depending on how we load the trailer = 5100-5200 load on the trucks 6000 RAWR. No problems there.

[BFL13]

azshooter wrote:
Hmm. Weight keeps going up? I guess I gotta think about this.
thanks

Why not just read the sticker under the door on the truck and do what it says? That brochure spec at 3,500 is totally ridiculous.

It helps if you use the same language too. That other guy says his sticker shows a "cargo weight". The stickers I have seen say more like "passengers and cargo should not exceed xxxx" Usually the seating spec is 150lbs each.

So if the sticker says, eg, 3,000lbs max, and you have a 5 seater, your "cargo" limit is 750 less than that for 2,250 (and that will be in the glove box as the "camper weight" or the "Cargo Weight Rating") and the hitch is 250 leaving 2,000 for pin wt. (which means a 5er with GVWR of 10,000) For instance.

It is what it is.

[Wood_chip]

azshooter wrote:
Hmm. Weight keeps going up? I guess I gotta think about this.
thanks

In my opinion, keep your pin to 2200-2300lbs and you will be fine with your truck

[azshooter]

Hmm. Weight keeps going up? I guess I gotta think about this.
thanks

[Cummins12V98]

I can tell you from personal experience that the 20% pin weight is not accurate if you full time or have used your RV for a while. The weight just keeps going up and up and up!!!!!

Started out at around a 4K pin and now have moved up to 5K that is exactly 25% of my 5er's weight.

[azshooter]

Tires are rated at 3200# ea. at 80psi.

[Me_Again]

azshooter wrote:
You guys are scaring me.
I am looking at two 5th wheel toy haulers that I thought would not be a problem for my truck.

I have a 2011 GMC Denali, crew cab, 6.5’ bed.
From truck sticker:
GVWR 10,000lb
GAWR Frt 5,200
GAWR RR 6,200

From Duramax owner’s manual supplement for my configuration:
GCWR 24,500
Max Trailer wt 15,600
Max kingpin wt 3,500

The trailers are:
Eclipse Attitude 32SAG specs: GVWR 13,500, 9180 dry weight, 2160 kingpin, actual overall length 35’6”
Genesis Supreme 32CR specs: GVWR 13,800, 9530 dry weight, 2260 kingpin, actual overall length 34’10”
(GS 32CR 2016 specs as above, the 2015 specs had a much higher kingpin spec of 3,040 which makes me wonder…)

CWSWine has a similar truck and same RR axle rating, and weighed his truck at 3220 on RR axle without hitch? or other cargo. This would indicate a real world 3000# kingpin weight limit, vs the rating of 3500#.

So if I load trailer to max and have 20% on kingpin, I would be at ~2750# kingpin, add 250# for hitch and I’m at real world limit (and below spec.) And below spec for max trailer weight.

Seemed ok to me.

Is prevailing wisdom here that I’m overloading my truck?

BTW, I’ve never owner/towed a 5th wheel before.

Thanks for advice.

You are going to be in trouble with the rear axle. Are tires rated to 3100???? Is how they set the rear GAWR to 6200?

Chris

[blofgren]

TXiceman wrote:
38' 5er = DRW 1 ton truck....end of discussion.


Ken

X2. If you want the unit buy the proper truck for it!