New member / Fifth Wheel Owner

hi and welcome to the site. I only had long beds so can't answer but plenty of help will come along :)

The 2013 2500 has a GVWR of 10,000# The truck with you, wife, fuel, hitch, etc is probably 7,500-8,000# as someone else recently found out. The trailer your looking at is about 11,500# empty which means loaded around 13,000# at 20% that's a 2,600# pin weight. You might want to look at the 3500 series truck instead.

Ram Truck website

The trucks can pull more than they can carry and pin weight is always the gotcha in the deal. Average 5er pin weight is 20-25% of trailers actual weight. Not uncommon for people to add 1,000 to 1,500# of stuff to their trailer.

The 2012 Forest River Sierra 345RET has a rounded aerodynamic nose which helps with you turning radius. The standard bed appears to be 6'4" so you're probably ok with a short bed. I prefer the long bed so I can put stuff between the cab and the hitch like coolers and toolbox/aux fuel tank in future.

I think I'd rather play it on the safe side. I do have 3500 in mind but it's a short box mega cab.

I can already see that this forum is going to be a great place for us to learn and get feedback moving forward.

THanks

I was gonna say, the trailer is too much for a 2500. I don't want more than 10,000lb loaded behind ours. FWIW 2500's are scarce on the lots here even in srw, 3500 is not much more money and has higher payload.

I'd like to point out that we recently bought our used Everest, and it came with a sidewinder. Our short bed (6.5') came with a slider. We have never needed the slider with the sidewinder. I recently needed to make a u-turn in a cul-de-sac we got into and was able to do it with my steering wheel locked over and nothing touched. Absolutely amazing. You can now get an airborne sidewinder which would be the best of all possible worlds and not need a slider. Just a thought.

I have a slider with my signature short bed Crew Cab and have never used it. Our Cedar Creek Silverback has a tapered front cap. I had the dealer ship demonstrate going up to 90 deg when we picked it up (2/2008), using our truck...they did it easy without using the slider.

I have never had to use the slider and I have had it close to 90 degrees 2 or 3 times.

If your Sierra has the tapered front cap, you will probably be OK.

Good Luck.

Congrats on your 2012 Forest River Sierra 345RET! Make sure you join us over at the Forest River Forum. Link:http://www.forestriverforums.com/forums/

3500 it is. LoL

LvOpnRd wrote:
3500 it is. LoL

Welcome to the forum!

Wise choice on the 3500. You will need it to carry that new FW.

Like mentioned, if it has the rounded front, you should not need a slider. I don't have a slider, and no problem with my short bed rig.

Jerry

This is the nose, hopefully that's rounded enough. :)