Advice on Light weight 5th wheel

goducks10 wrote:

Mootpoint wrote:
I towed a 30' all over North America with my '01 with no problems.

To make any rig lighter and still have the features you want you have to think "where did the extra weight go?" Has to be in the quality and structure.

No it doesn't. Light weight materials, lighter slide mechanisms, less bling, aluminum framing, etc. The frame and suspension can still be strong. The heavier ones have more features but that doesn't make them built better. Just because a 5'er has real Corian counter tops as opposed to lighter LG brand doesn't make it built better. After looking at 5'ers several months ago at an RV show I couldn't see any difference in construction qualities between shorter $40,000 units or $60-70,000 units. Only thing was you get high gloss finish, maybe more insulation, fancier window treatments, better docking compartments and bigger TV's. All the drawers and doors were made the same way. Same latches, same stapled drawers, same tables, chairs etc.

My 28' 5'er has an UVW 7185lbs with a CCC of 4315lbs. That's an 11,500 GVW.

I have all the features of most 5'ers and more than some that are definitely heavier.

I will agree with you to some degree that some makers are definitely pushing the limits. When you have a 37' 5'er that only weighs 10,000lbs dry there could be some issues. IMO the key to determining structural integrity is to look at the 5'ers CCC. The ones that only have 1200-1500lbs are probably not as well built as the ones that carry in excess of 2500-3000lbs of CCC.

Following your thought process makes me think that with 3,400 lbs. of CCC, my light weight 5th wheel may be a pretty well built unit. Just shows that there are some high quality, light weight 5th wheels on the market. While some may not measure up, the same can be said of some of the more expensive, heavy weight 5'ers.
Just FYI, My XLT has a dry weight of 6,5xx lbs. with a max of 9,999 lbs.