5th Wheel with no dually truck

[rieltime]

Greetings, my wife and I are in the early stage of being Seniors and are in the planning stage and intend on purchasing a RV (5th Wheel?) by spring of '21. We do intend on traveling across country and beyond when we retire and could travel about 4 months out of the year. Our budget is approximately $125k including truck. I stopped in a local RV dealer and looked at the Cedar Creek Silverback and liked the 31IK floor plan. This unit has a UVW of 11,244, GVWR of 14,435 and hitch weigh of 2,435. After digging in to see what type of truck is preferred, I noticed and came to the conclusion that I really should have a 350/3500 series, diesel with a dually. I really would prefer not to go the dually route as it limits the use of the truck as it would be my daily driver when not towing. So I need to shrink my 5th Wheeler requirement to accommodate. I intend on purchasing a turbo diesel truck and am leaning on the Chevy 3500HD double cab. I looking for my best option in a 5th wheeler to tow with it or equivalent. What size rig and weight of an RV should I be looking for and assured of being safe and confident? Would I be better off looking at TT's instead? Thanks all and be safe out there.

[kennethwooster]

I went from SRwTo DRW about 4 years ago. I didn’t need the capacity but knew we would get a larger trailer. 1st year I towed with DRW it was a huge diff. The DRW just holds road better. Today I’m pulling a Beacon. It’s heavy but DRW handles it like a charm. My DRW is a daily driver. Both trucks are Ford.

[Njmurvin]

As mentioned above, when shopping trucks, look at the door jamb sticker for payload. They'll vary within manufacturer depending on options and trim. Since you mentioned Chevy 3500, I have an SRW 4x4 LT trim Silverado Duramax 3500 crew cab with standard bed and, per the sticker, it has a 3895 lb payload rating. The trailer you mentioned should be just fine with this truck.

[rhagfo]

handsome51 wrote:
Their is a lot of things a person can do to his truck to make it do what he wants it to. Even though the sticker in the door saids it won't. I have a 2006 carriage 5th wheel I bought new. It is 35ft 11in long. On a truck scale fully loaded it weighs a little over 14,700lbs.Of that, the hitch weight is a little over 3,100 lbs. That leaves 11,600 lbs on the tires.
I pull it with a 2001 ford F250 4x4 extended cab, 8ft bed with a 7.3 diesel, 3:73 rear end. The only difference between it and a F350 SRW is the suspension. I put Helwing helper springs on the rear and heavy duty shocks on the truck. I have a 25K airsafe hitch in the bed. A 37 gallon fuel tank between the tailgate and 5th wheel hitch. And a generator between the 5th wheel hitch and the cab. When the truck is hitched up, and you look at the side of the truck. It is still sitting up just a little in the rear. The truck pulls my 5th wheel great. And the first time we made a trip. The wife said you don't even know the 5th wheel is back their. And when we get to where we are going nothing moves in the 5th wheel. No plates, bowls etc. And that includes at the back of the 5th wheel. Only time something might move is if you have to slam on the brakes. The air hitch is not cheap. But it keeps the 5th wheel out of a bind and from jerking you around in the truck. Even though the sticker in the door said the truck would not handle it . I made it to where it will handle more than a F350 single wheel will. So if you know what to do ,sometimes you can make what you have work.

Yep, you sure can but nothing you do/add changeS the GVWR or GAWR. Get in a crash, and the other driver gets a good lawyer you could see your life changed!
I didn’t need any extra springs on the 2001 Ram 2500, but towing at 1,700# over my GVWR, would open me up for a lawsuit. So now have peace of mind.

[MikeRP]

Very well said. Although the weight police won’t like you. I agree with you. Safety is much more than the sticker on the door.

Assured clear distance
Driver Fatigue
Speed
Truck setup for sure
Weather conditions
Driver Experience
Defensive Driving
Tire condition
Coach Condition
Truck condition
Many others

We focus on weights and they are important but many of the other things I listed actually end up causing accidents.

[handsome51]

Their is a lot of things a person can do to his truck to make it do what he wants it to. Even though the sticker in the door saids it won't. I have a 2006 carriage 5th wheel I bought new. It is 35ft 11in long. On a truck scale fully loaded it weighs a little over 14,700lbs.Of that, the hitch weight is a little over 3,100 lbs. That leaves 11,600 lbs on the tires.
I pull it with a 2001 ford F250 4x4 extended cab, 8ft bed with a 7.3 diesel, 3:73 rear end. The only difference between it and a F350 SRW is the suspension. I put Helwing helper springs on the rear and heavy duty shocks on the truck. I have a 25K airsafe hitch in the bed. A 37 gallon fuel tank between the tailgate and 5th wheel hitch. And a generator between the 5th wheel hitch and the cab. When the truck is hitched up, and you look at the side of the truck. It is still sitting up just a little in the rear. The truck pulls my 5th wheel great. And the first time we made a trip. The wife said you don't even know the 5th wheel is back their. And when we get to where we are going nothing moves in the 5th wheel. No plates, bowls etc. And that includes at the back of the 5th wheel. Only time something might move is if you have to slam on the brakes. The air hitch is not cheap. But it keeps the 5th wheel out of a bind and from jerking you around in the truck. Even though the sticker in the door said the truck would not handle it . I made it to where it will handle more than a F350 single wheel will. So if you know what to do ,sometimes you can make what you have work.

[MikeRP]

I have a 2019.5 Cedar Creek Hathaway 34IK. We love it. It weighs around 14,500lbs fully loaded for extended camping. My truck is a 2018 Ram Bighorn CC SRW Cummins HO with the B&W Companion Slider, Flex Air Pin Box and an ATI 46 gallon aux diesel tank.

I’ve towed it to Key Largo and many smaller trips. The Truck weighs just shy of 9000 lbs loaded. It’s definitely in charge of the trailer. The brakes on the Cedar Creek work very well. I have changed the tires to 295/70R18 with 4080 lbs per tire capacity to reduce wear on the tires. The Firestone’s just did not hold up well. But I got 40,000 miles out of them. My Coopers are much wider and only 1 inch taller.

Like others have said 15,000 lbs is no problem for a late model truck 16,000 lbs is very doable but somewhere there, you are at entry level for a dually.

Cedar Creeks are awesome don’t give up on one.

[Cougarnewbie]

I have a Ceder Creek 33ik. Just traded an F-350 SRW gas for 2019 F-350 SRW diesel. Both two wheel drive. All of my weights are within guidelines Single rear wheel for pretty much the same reason as yours. With both trucks I have pulled from Illinois to Yellowstone and from Illinois to Florida. Mostly on interstates. I have never felt that I didn't have the highway stability or the stopping ability I needed. In the mountains I go down as slow as I went up. At highway speeds I watch for ANY reason to slow down. I've been pulling 5ers since 2008. I haven't yet and hope I never have reason to regret my choices. BTW if you are looking at a new 5er go to a large dealer and take one third off of retail. We bought two brand new 5ers (including the Cedar Creek) using those numbers. The smaller dealers can't make the deal.

[Crabbypatty]

There are lighter fifth wheel alternatives. We pull a Heritage Glen Lite 324 res with a F250 gasser. 6.2l with a 6 speed. Perfect match truck and camper. True diesel has more torque, but for the few times we need that going up a hill, wasn't worth the extra $10$15k. To make the f250 a f350 you can just add a spring as the drive train is the same. We also pull with a short bed using the pullrite 16k slide hitch and love it. A CG that we go to alot the owner is the one who pulled a fiver with a short bed half ton and informed me about the lite series. Changed my thinking and after pulling this around for two years, 37 feet is long enough for me as we are 52 feet nose to tail.

PS my wife drives the f250 everyday, so the short bed easy to park. Long beds much harder to get around in.

Take your time and shop until you find the right fit for you.

[rhagfo]

rieltime wrote:
Greetings, my wife and I are in the early stage of being Seniors and are in the planning stage and intend on purchasing a RV (5th Wheel?) by spring of '21. We do intend on traveling across country and beyond when we retire and could travel about 4 months out of the year. Our budget is approximately $125k including truck. I stopped in a local RV dealer and looked at the Cedar Creek Silverback and liked the 31IK floor plan. This unit has a UVW of 11,244, GVWR of 14,435 and hitch weigh of 2,435. After digging in to see what type of truck is preferred, I noticed and came to the conclusion that I really should have a 350/3500 series, diesel with a dually. I really would prefer not to go the dually route as it limits the use of the truck as it would be my daily driver when not towing. So I need to shrink my 5th Wheeler requirement to accommodate. I intend on purchasing a turbo diesel truck and am leaning on the Chevy 3500HD double cab. I looking for my best option in a 5th wheeler to tow with it or equivalent. What size rig and weight of an RV should I be looking for and assured of being safe and confident? Would I be better off looking at TT's instead? Thanks all and be safe out there.

Well $125K is close if you are looking to buy new. If you start looking at used trucks, keep in mind until the last couple model years Ford and GM SRW 350/3500's lacked big payloads both were about 3,300#. Only Ram had the big 12,300# GVWR with 4,200#=/- payloads in a SRW, Ram made the move in 2013.

We tow a 5er at 13,000# with a 2016 Ram 3500 DRW, looking to go to a larger 5er in the future. As I stated before when looking at Payload numbers that DOESN'T all go to pin weight, it includes everything added to the TV over full fuel and DEF tanks, and a 150# driver. Last time I weighed 150# was about 30 years ago. As I stated before we lost 1,400# of payload to us, hitch, and stuff. Our 13,000# 5er has a pin of 2,700#, if we had lost that 1,400# from a 4,200# payload, we would only have 2,800# left for pin weight.

We are full timers, and our Ram is our only vehicle, there are not too many places I will not take it, most are tight turn drive thru.

[Lexx]

We tow a relative "light" fifth wheel with our F450. The overbuilt nature of the truck combined with the DRW really makes towing a breeze. That being stated, a SRW 3500 series will likely certainly have enough payload for a fifth wheel less than 15k lbs GVW.

[rhagfo]

Lwiddis wrote:
You could pull and carry a pretty big TT with a SRW 3500 plus you have the truck bed for gear.

I have not lost the use of my truck bed, true I can put as much in it as with a TT, but I have the 5er basement for that. If I put stuff in the 5er basement I only carry a percentage of that weight with the tow vehicle. In addition 5er's tow much better than a TT naturally, add to that a 5er of the same length tows 3' to 6' shorter than a TT.

[klr650goldwing]

We started RVing with a 10,000 pound 5er and a SRW f350 V10 truck. All was well. Then we bought a 12,700 pound 5er and the same truck wasn't as much fun. It lacked adequate power on the steeper grades and the trailer seemed to push the truck around some. So we bought a F350 DRW 6.7 and the difference is miraculous. This truck makes towing a breeze. By the way, the new trailer is a Grand Design. We absolutely love it.

[cummins2014]

4x4ord wrote:
^^^^ or many of us ignore the payload number and detetmine the maximum pin weight by subtracting the truck's approximate rear axle weight beore hooking up the trailer from the rear axle weight rating.

The determining factor for me would be the tire ratings . No idea what the newer 1 ton SRW trucks come with these days ,but mine came with tires rated for 3640 Lbs. in 2014

[4x4ord]

^^^^ or many of us ignore the payload number and detetmine the maximum pin weight by subtracting the truck's approximate rear axle weight beore hooking up the trailer from the rear axle weight rating.