Light 5th Wheels

[ToneDog]

Hi all. Been lurking for a couple of years and researching 5vers and TTs. Probably looking to buy sometime this year. This will be my first towing experience and my girlfriend and I will use it primarily for extended weekend type trips.

I'm looking for suggestions for light 5vers. My tow vehicle is a 2015 F250 6.7L Diesel. Payload will be a limiting factor since it is SRW. I weighed the truck with a full tank and 2 passengers, came in at 8,350. At GVWR of 10,000, that leaves me about 1650 left for kingpin weight and hitch. The truck came with the fifth wheel prep package.

I've been looking at Jayco Eagle HT and Keystone Cougar XLites. Have seen some with hitch weights in the 1200lb dry range, and there are dealers close by which is nice. Any thoughts on these or others that I should consider?

Thanks all!

[starcraft69]

Camper117 wrote:
Went ahead and got the Grand Design 32BHS (hitch weight 1970 lbs). Fully loaded it dropped my F250 truck bed 2'1/2" . This measurement was of the wheel well height at the center of the rear axle. A better outcome than I had hoped for. It is noticeable, but not overly. I am planning to have airbags installed, but it's not something that I believe is necessary. I would just rather have the level look. Hoping for the best.

Look at timbrens much cheaper than airbags and will never fail I love mine and would never go with bags for what we are doing.

[Camper117]

Went ahead and got the Grand Design 32BHS (hitch weight 1970 lbs). Fully loaded it dropped my F250 truck bed 2'1/2" . This measurement was of the wheel well height at the center of the rear axle. A better outcome than I had hoped for. It is noticeable, but not overly. I am planning to have airbags installed, but it's not something that I believe is necessary. I would just rather have the level look. Hoping for the best.

[rmn72]

Ditto on the Open Range Light series. We have a 2016 LF319RLS and we love it. Towing with a 98 Dodge 2500 gasser and no problems at all.

[justafordguy]

goducks10 wrote:

I'm only over the trucks GVW by 200lbs and IMO is nothing. The mods I've done have more than increased the trucks payload capacity they also improved it's towing characteristics.
Just me but I'd have no problem dropping 2500lbs in that F250 and my 12 2500 CTD as well.

I agree, 200lbs over gvw on a way under rated truck is nothing, both of you can carry a 2500lb pin safely. I carry a 2350lb pin in my F250 and it tows awesome.

[justafordguy]

Kevin O. wrote:
OP, I've been in the same boat as you for awhile now. My truck is much older, 2001 F350 with a GVWR of 9900lbs and a rear axle rating of 6830lbs. I have been going back and fourth trying to decide if I should go over my trucks GVWR but staying under all the other ratings. The wife and I finally decided on a Cougar X-Lite 28DBI. It's GVWR is 10,000lbs and dry hitch is only 1390lbs. It has everything we are looking for and is under all my trucks ratings. Best of luck with your decision!

Kevin

Your F350 will safely pull that Cougar, no problem.

[goducks10]

My 12 Ram 2500 is the same as a 3500 except the rear spring pack. I have 1800lbs for pin weight. I throw other stuff in the bed as well. MY GVW is 9600lbs and I usually weigh in at 9800lbs. A 3500 has a 10,000 GVW. I have Timbrens on the rear so even though they don't technically change numbers they do provide the same or more weight carrying that the 3500 springs would. My rear axle weight loaded is 4900lbs. My RAWR on the sticker is 6000lbs and is tire limited because the truck came with 245/70/17 tires rated at 3000lbs each. I have upgraded to 275/65/18 BFG KO2 with 3415lbs each IIRC.
I also tow a 9000lb 5th wheel making my GCVWR around 17,000lbs+.
My trucks GCVWR is 21,000 so I'm under that by 4000lbs.
I'm only over the trucks GVW by 200lbs and IMO is nothing. The mods I've done have more than increased the trucks payload capacity they also improved it's towing characteristics.
Just me but I'd have no problem dropping 2500lbs in that F250 and my 12 2500 CTD as well.

[Kevin_O_]

OP, I've been in the same boat as you for awhile now. My truck is much older, 2001 F350 with a GVWR of 9900lbs and a rear axle rating of 6830lbs. I have been going back and fourth trying to decide if I should go over my trucks GVWR but staying under all the other ratings. The wife and I finally decided on a Cougar X-Lite 28DBI. It's GVWR is 10,000lbs and dry hitch is only 1390lbs. It has everything we are looking for and is under all my trucks ratings. Best of luck with your decision!

Kevin

[justafordguy]

Camper117 wrote:
So, what I'm understanding is that because it is called an F250, the most GVWR that will be on the sticker is 10000 lbs,, even if it had a greater capacity than that, right?

And also, since this truck has the same engine, transmission, tires, transmission, ect as an F350 (I'm assuming) the whole issue is about payload. If this is true, would adding some type of auxiliary springs or airbags take care of the problem.

Thanks

You are right that the F250 and F350 srw trucks are the same if the F250 was ordered with the towing package. If not the only difference is an extra single overload spring and taller lift block on the rear axle.

If you stay with a light 5th wheel with a pin weight around 2000lbs you may not need anything extra and have no problems at all. My F250 towed great with 2350lbs pin but I added air bags just to level it out about 1.5"

[jalichty]

We have a Jayco Super Lite 26.5 RLS that we bought in 2012 and pull it with a GMC 2500HD D/A crew cab short-bed. We have now used it for three summers, including taking it on a 3,500 mile trip last spring. Tows beautifully and if very nice for the two of us, and guests when we have them. Only downside I can talk about is the shortage of space at the rear between the back wall and the slide which causes us to have to move one of the swivel chairs out of the way. It's a very small inconvenience with this trailer and perhaps the 27.5 RLS they are now selling rectifies that. When we drop the FW onto the truck the truck "squats" 1", period. I haven't checked the pin weight since there is almost no reason to do so. I would say that your truck could probably take quite a bit more pin weight if you want to go that way. We went with the Jayco for a couple of reasons. One was that we had a Jayco for 18 years and were quite happy with it, the other is that when pricing and warranty were taken into consideration, Jayco was pretty much on top of the heap. Only real downside that I can see is a little lack of fresh water capacity with only 48 gallons, but that usually gets my wife and I through most of a week, unless we take showers in the FW, then we have to get a little more. Good luck on your search.

[avvidclif1]

Camper117 wrote:
So, what I'm understanding is that because it is called an F250, the most GVWR that will be on the sticker is 10000 lbs,, even if it had a greater capacity than that, right?

And also, since this truck has the same engine, transmission, tires, transmission, ect as an F350 (I'm assuming) the whole issue is about payload. If this is true, would adding some type of auxiliary springs or airbags take care of the problem.

Thanks

Go to your local dealer and look at the spring pack on an F350 that is identical to yours except for the badge. It may have 1 more leaf. Also look at the rear tire rating and size, probably different. Now look at the RAWR

Everything else is the same. Any more questions? I know what I would do.

[laknox]

Camper117 wrote:
I too am having a hard time finding a 5th wheel that I am comfortable with. I have a 2014 F250 diesel and would have thought that that could pull just about anything, but that doesn't appear to be the case. I was originally going to go the toy hauler route, but was convinced in that forum that it was too heavy for my truck (hitch weight of 3000 lbs.). Then decided to go with a 5th wheel and like the Grand Design 323BHS, which has a hitch weight of 1970 lbs.

I thought that was doable, but learned about the yellow tire and payload sticker on the door jamb of the truck. It says that the passenger and cargo weight should not exceed 1976 pounds. To me that pretty much rules out that camper.

Do you guys agree, and if so are there any 5th wheels that I could tow safely, or should I just stay with the travel trailer? I've only had the truck for a year, so trading up is not an option now. Guess I should have gotten a 350.

NEVER use the dry pin weight to figure loaded pin weight, except as a very rough estimate. You can divide the dry pin by the total dry weight and multiply by the GVW of the FW to get a VERY ROUGH estimate of the max pin weight. Also, if you take 20% of the GVW, you should be in the same ballpark, as that's a fairly common pin weight %. I've read numerous times here that both Ford and Dodge 250's and 350's share virtually identical parts in certain configurations, but only the placard is changed to show a lighter GVW for the 250/2500 class. I'm not a Ford or Dodge guy, so don't know for sure. Personally, I'm with the guys who say that if you stay within the RAWR and the tire ratings, you're OK. My own truck has 265 tires instead of the OEM 245 tires, which gives me about 900 lbs higher tire rating, and puts me =over= the RAWR instead of about 600 lbs =under=, with the OEM tires.

Lyle

[newk]

Camper117 wrote:
So, what I'm understanding is that because it is called an F250, the most GVWR that will be on the sticker is 10000 lbs,, even if it had a greater capacity than that, right?

And also, since this truck has the same engine, transmission, tires, transmission, ect as an F350 (I'm assuming) the whole issue is about payload. If this is true, would adding some type of auxiliary springs or airbags take care of the problem.

Thanks

I don't know about the first paragraph. I've never before heard that statement but can't say it's not true. My old (2000) F250 PSD with camper package had an 8,800 pound GVWR. They've been inching upward since (and before) then.

However, I'm fairly certain that your assumption is wrong about an F250 having the same wheels and tires as an F350. That's one place you can beef up fairly easily, however. I installed slightly larger tires on my old F250, as I drove it the last few years considering to buy a larger 5er and wanted the highest load-carrying capacity I could get for a few bucks -- so if I found one I could carefully tow it home and park it until I got the bigger truck. You can also switch wheels to get even heftier tires. And add a spring leaf for stability. I'm not positive, but I think that would give you the added capacity that you'd get with an F350 (wheels, tires, leaf).

A neighbor of mine "converted" his F250 to an F350 dually by getting a wrecked F350 and switching out the bed, axels/wheels/tires/differential/springs. I kept driving past it seeing the "F250" on the side of it and "F350" on the tailgate. Then he put a for sale sign on it, and I had to stop and ask about it. I think he said it only cost him about $2000 for the upgrade, doing it all himself. I think he found a bargain for the upgrades.

The last (3rd) 5er I towed with my 2000 F250 had a GVWR of 10K pounds, and I thought it was about perfect (at 8-9K pounds loaded). It was small enough to get me into most FS campgrounds and large enough that we never wanted for more room during weekend and 1-2 week vacations. It was 27' long with a small slide-out. I was slightly over the truck's GVWR but only by a couple hundred pounds. I started with a smaller one, then got a larger one, then got one "just the right size." 🙂

[rhagfo]

Camper117 wrote:
So, what I'm understanding is that because it is called an F250, the most GVWR that will be on the sticker is 10000 lbs,, even if it had a greater capacity than that, right?

And also, since this truck has the same engine, transmission, tires, transmission, ect as an F350 (I'm assuming) the whole issue is about payload. If this is true, would adding some type of auxiliary springs or airbags take care of the problem.

Thanks

You may not need any of that. With our Ram I am well over the GVWR, but still under axle ratings (stock). I also have a camper package which included 3500 springs, rear axle sway bar, and larger tires with 331# ea. more capacity. Seeing how the stock axle rating is the sum of the two tires, I could assume I have a 662# more in rear axle capacity, but I don't! The stock capacity is 6,084# and that is all I need to carry our 32' 5er at 11,000#+!

[Camper117]

So, what I'm understanding is that because it is called an F250, the most GVWR that will be on the sticker is 10000 lbs,, even if it had a greater capacity than that, right?

And also, since this truck has the same engine, transmission, tires, transmission, ect as an F350 (I'm assuming) the whole issue is about payload. If this is true, would adding some type of auxiliary springs or airbags take care of the problem.

Thanks