Extensive Traveling with a 5th Wheel

Only my opinion, but lighter means cutting corners somewhere to get the weight down to where it can be called HT capable. Longer term continuous use might not be best.

My GMC 3500 Duramax is fine with my 14,000# 5er in tow, but set up for us, it is on the line or just over the rear axle weight rating which for me is 7050#.

Power will definitely not be an issue for you, but weight might be. Depends on what you decide to get and how you load it.

You might want to join the Jayco Users Group:
Jayco

As for a better model, Northwood (Arctic Fox etc) makes some of the best but they are not lightweight. See the above.

agesilaus wrote:
You might want to join the Jayco Users Group:
Jayco

As for a better model, Northwood (Arctic Fox etc) makes some of the best but they are not lightweight. See the above.

Thanks agesilaus, I didn't post on the Jayco forum since I didn't want to be limited to Jayco options. We will have to give Artic Fox another look.

-Chuck

We have a Arctic Fox TT right now but we boondocked with a couple of fivers at the south rim last spring and they were very nice. Think they are 35 or 36 ft. And they managed the dirt road back into the area we camped. Not cheap tho.

Our lightweight is inches short of 30' and was fine over 7 states in 4 months last summer. A few mods have made life easier, LFP batteries, generator on a tray, and the usual minor stuff.

Run the 18 till the wheels fall off. We have been running a 12 HT since new. It has been to the lower 48, and parts of Canada. Some stuff has broken over the years, but not structural or the running gear. After all it is light.

If you like it keep it, but if you want a new one, buy it.

So many trailers are sitting on a Lippert frame however all Lippert frames are not the same. The area to check on is where the frame & running gear takes the worst beating.

Specifically, the spring hanger area & the number of spring leafs. Also, if not already installed, shocks.

As for the rest of the trailer it really depends on how well the builder has constructed 'the house'.

We have a 11,500lb dry weight Alpenlite 5er 34 of late 2007 vintage. Lippert frame. Spring areas re engineered completely. Spring packs upgraded from 6 to 7 leaf plus it already had shocks. Wish I knew more precisely but estimate that way more than 100,000 miles have been put on the trailer.

We are multi month long distance travellers seldom being anywhere more than 3-4 days. That is an awful lot of wear & tear on the trailer systems such as the slides. Don't expect trouble free performance with that kind of travel. Being able to take care of the small issues, & some of the big ones, saves lots of money.

I would show for a smaller model.

Todays RV market is totally lopsided. Used RV's are going for a premium and new ones are either in short supply or the MSRP's are off the charts. On top of that the overall QC seems to have dropped for many brands.
If it were me I'd use what you have for this year and or next year and then see about getting a different one if you still think you need a newer one. What you have will work just fine. Extended trips are nothing more than more short trips rolled into one.
Like thomas201 said, "run the wheels off it"

We did an average of 60 ~ nights per year with out previous KZ Durango 1500 series and it was towed approx 50000km's over 6 summers. I would consider that pretty heavy usage and it really wasn't worn out yet, we only upgraded for more room to accomodate our growing family.