How much are you willing to ?

[fly4fun]

I have an 2011 F250 6.7 4x4 crew cab shortbed. Sold the TT now in the market for a 5th wheel. What is is max load you would pull and still be very very comfortable towing. This ? includes pin weight. It is just me and sometimes my elderly mother. I don't bring a lot of******to clutter things up. I do not care about length just weight. I want to be very comfortable towing in all situations as well as having a very nice home away from home for my mother. So, what should my maxx weights be and be good for me as well as on my truck. Already have a new superglide installed. (18K)

[soling2003]

You can also look at the door sticker and it will tell you the payload capacity of the truck. Use that or the RAWR, both are there. That and GVWR for the truck and if you are under all of those you are good to go. If not........

[avvidclif1]

fly4fun wrote:
Wow! Great info guys. I feel better now.The trailer I really like is a jayco eagle that comes in at 9105lbs dry with a dry pin weight of 2090. I really liked the quality for the price and the layout. Just thought it may be too heavy on the pin weight. I do not want to tax the truck nor myself with an overloaded beast. I may have to go the airbag route since I do not have the camper package.

Don't look at dry weights. Look at the GVWR of the trailer and see how that fits your truck.

[ependydad]

fly4fun wrote:
Wow! Great info guys. I feel better now.The trailer I really like is a jayco eagle that comes in at 9105lbs dry with a dry pin weight of 2090. I really liked the quality for the price and the layout. Just thought it may be too heavy on the pin weight. I do not want to tax the truck nor myself with an overloaded beast. I may have to go the airbag route since I do not have the camper package.

Just bear in mind that the dry truck and dry camper weights are significantly less than what gets added in stuff. You're likely looking at an 11,000 pound trailer once it's ready to go. For instance, my camper has an advertised dry weight of 11,800 and an actual scaled weight of 13,800 (more likely 14,000 or a little more as the season goes on).

I liked donn's suggestion of getting your truck weighed and then do the math from there.

[deleted-2]

Rough2000 wrote:

They will keep you from bouncing as much when loaded as they will stop the rear from dropping as much. Myself as well as several in out Good Sams chapter now have the Timbrens. The big advantage is we are no longer blinding airplane pilots with our headlights shining up, and you don't need an air compressor as you do with air bags.

The thing that originally convinced me about going to Timbrens was one guy on this site reminded me that you have to maintain at least 5 lbs. pressure on the air bags. He said "heck...I can't get my employees to check the oil and water levels on my vehicles...I know they won't check the pressure on the air bags.

Hey thanks for the reply and recommendation...
I think I will order up a set.

That's the problem I had with those Airlift's...constant fiddling with air pressure.

[Rough2000]

Thats_Ok wrote:

Rough2000 wrote:


Instead of air bags, you may want to look at Timbrens. Timbren Source. What I prefer about these is you don't have to worry about air. Also, when you don't have the fiver on it, your truck rides like a 2500.

Hmmmm,

Rough,
Do you think we would benefit from the Timbren kit?
I was wondering if these might help with the hard bounce effect when loaded up.

Our truck doesn't sag...it just feels much stiffer than before with the coach we just bought.

Stands to reason I guess now that we have 600# more over the pin than the previous 5ith wheel.

Had an AirLift system on our Ford F250.
I really didn't love that deal a whole lot.

They will keep you from bouncing as much when loaded as they will stop the rear from dropping as much. Myself as well as several in out Good Sams chapter now have the Timbrens. The big advantage is we are no longer blinding airplane pilots with our headlights shining up, and you don't need an air compressor as you do with air bags.

The thing that originally convinced me about going to Timbrens was one guy on this site reminded me that you have to maintain at least 5 lbs. pressure on the air bags. He said "heck...I can't get my employees to check the oil and water levels on my vehicles...I know they won't check the pressure on the air bags.

[stro1965]

I pull my 38' 5er with a '12 F250 Super Duty 4x4 Diesel. Mine has a dry weight of 10,900 and a pin weight of 1,920. I know I'm probably pushing it but the truck handles it great.

[JIMNLIN]

I wouldn't add a thing to the truck till its hooked up a you make a short trip to see how it carries the load. No bigger than the trailer is I doubt the truck will need any help with carrying weight.

[deleted-2]

Rough2000 wrote:


Instead of air bags, you may want to look at Timbrens. Timbren Source. What I prefer about these is you don't have to worry about air. Also, when you don't have the fiver on it, your truck rides like a 2500.

Hmmmm,

Rough,
Do you think we would benefit from the Timbren kit?
I was wondering if these might help with the hard bounce effect when loaded up.
Our truck doesn't sag...it just feels much stiffer than before with the coach we just bought.

Stands to reason I guess now that we have 600# more over the pin than the previous 5ith wheel.

Had an AirLift system on our Ford F250.
I really didn't love that deal a whole lot.

[fla-gypsy]

Keep the truck under the GVWR. It will depend on the curb weight and the GVWR how much pin weight that is. I suspect you will be limited to about 10k.

[Rough2000]

fly4fun wrote:
Wow! Great info guys. I feel better now.The trailer I really like is a jayco eagle that comes in at 9105lbs dry with a dry pin weight of 2090. I really liked the quality for the price and the layout. Just thought it may be too heavy on the pin weight. I do not want to tax the truck nor myself with an overloaded beast. I may have to go the airbag route since I do not have the camper package.

Instead of air bags, you may want to look at Timbrens. Timbren Source. What I prefer about these is you don't have to worry about air. Also, when you don't have the fiver on it, your truck rides like a 2500.

[fly4fun]

Wow! Great info guys. I feel better now.The trailer I really like is a jayco eagle that comes in at 9105lbs dry with a dry pin weight of 2090. I really liked the quality for the price and the layout. Just thought it may be too heavy on the pin weight. I do not want to tax the truck nor myself with an overloaded beast. I may have to go the airbag route since I do not have the camper package.

[JIMNLIN]

What is is max load you would pull and still be very very comfortable towing.

I and my '03 2500 Dodge/Cummins truck are very comfortable pulling its 13350 lb tow rating. My truck and myself are comfortable carrying its full max 6000 RAWR. My trucks front axle doesn't carry any weight from my GN ball or 5th wheel trailers pin loads so its not a player in the carrying game , just stopping
I arrive at my pin weights by weighing front and rear axles seperatly and then subtracting my trucks unladin rear axle weight of 2860 lbs from the trucks 6000 RAWR = 3140 lb of payload.

So, what should my maxx weights be and be good for me as well as on my truck.

You can either subtract your trucks scaled gross weight from its GVWR and use that as a max payload on the trucks rear axles/tires.

Or use your trucks axle/tire RAWR to figure how much loads they can carry.

Ford says your '11 F250 6.7 diesel can tow up to a 15700-16100 lb trailer.
Now what your comfortable with I have no idea as to your capabilities and comfort zone. I've made a living with these size truck for many years so my comfort zone tends to use max capacities of the truck that I paid for. As you see others aren't comfortable with carrying up to max loads. Its your call.

[Ed9824v]

rhagfo wrote:
2011 F250, what is your GVWR?
I tow a 11,000# 5er with a 2001 Ram 2500 Camper special, it can pull hills at speed and hold speed without the service brakes on the down hill, and I only have a 5.9 Cummins. Only suspension enhancement is Bilstien 5100 shocks.

98.5 Dodge about the same weight 5er air bags, exhaust brake trans built and RV275, 4.10 gears but big tires. Bilstiens and works perfect.

[Golden_HVAC]

donn0128 wrote:
Scale your truck ready to travel. Look on the drivers door post and read the manufacturers GVWR. Subtract your scaled weight from that. That is how much pin weight you can handle. Multiply that number by 5 and you will have your answer.

I would have to agree this is the best way to tell what you can tow.

Say your curb weight is about 7,500 pounds with a 10,000 pound GVWR. You can still carry 2,500 pounds of pin weight without exceeding the GVWR of the truck. If 20% of the pin weight is the overall weight of the trailer, then you have a 12,500 pound trailer with 20% - or 2,500 on the hitch. The GVWR of the trailer might be as high as 14,000 pounds, you just need the trailer weight to be below 12,500 pounds.

Fred.