NEW to 5th wheel, pin weight, towing weight please explain

Take the GVWR of the RV and take 20-25% of that number. That is how much weight will be sitting on the hitch. Of that weight a very small amount will transfer to the front axle. Example my combo is over 28K my pin is 4,500# at 25% pin. Of that weight less than 200# transfers to the front axle. I have my B&W hitch set full forward.

Never look at the unloaded trailer weight. Never just look at what your truck can "tow" because pin weight may overload your rear axle.

3500 RAM/Cummins with the Aisin trans will make a great towing machine. Just don't overload it!

It was mentioned, but maybe not clear, and at least inmy mind the pinweight needs to include the hitch which will be around 200 LBS. You should not have any dificulty in finding a FW to pull with a SRW 3500. But just incase, look for the FW that will fit your needs, check out thefloor plan, spend sometime in the units and imagine what you would bedoing while camping, i.e. If you cook, make sure you have room, and everything will work. Do not sell yourself short, what may be preceived as a minor inconviniance now could turn into a BIG problem down the road. Once you have selected the right FW, then check the numbers for towing, and buy what you need to tow with! Just my $0.02!

I think you need to pick out the FW you want first. You need to know the dry pin wt of this trailer first. Then you need to look at GVW rating on this trailer. By figuring 20% of heaviest possible (GVWR) loaded wt of this trailer, it will give a close estimate of the highest pin wt.

You will likely not load it to the max, being a part time user, rather than a full timer. This means you will be looking at a pin wt, somewhere between the dry pin, and max pin.

Now you will be better prepared, to choose the proper truck, to fit the FW.

You cannot go wrong getting the 3500 Ram diesel. There has been good reviews on the Ram 6.4 gas, which may be a good choice also, if the FW you decide on is less than 12,000#s loaded to go camping.

Jerry

There are 2 schools of thought on which to buy first, truck or trailer. My thought is to find the trailer you want first. There are more choices for trailers than trucks. If you find a trailer you really like make notes of the GVWR of the trailer. Using the mentioned 20% figure out how much pin weight you will have and then match the truck. You said a dually is out so IMHO you should look for under 14k GVWR for the trailer to match to a 1T SRW. (New trucks have higher ratings)

Pin Weight is the weight the hitch will sit on the hitch. How much can I have?

For real world numbers I have a 2009 F350 SRW Diesel. The placard shows my RAWR is 6693 lbs. I know that with myself, 1 grandson, hitch, toolbox, and a full tank of diesel I have 3580 lbs on the rear axle(CAT Scale) and total weight of 8240 lbs. I can put up to 3113 lbs on the hitch (maybe) as long as everything else stays the same. And then the "gotcha" The other info on the placard is Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR), in my case 11k lbs. Since the difference between actual weight and Gross allowed is only 2760 lbs my pin weight shouldn't exceed 2760 lbs although the rear axle can carry 3113.

I hope that didn't cause more confusion. For grins here is all my numbers for the setup in my sig. See how it figures out.

Empty Loaded Rating
Front 4660 4800 5000
Rear 3580 5900 6693
Total 8240 10700 11000 (I know, this is less than the 2 axles???)

The trailer has 8600 on it's axles so my combined weight is 19300 and I'm allowed 23000.

I'm under on all numbers and the combo tows fine.

what is pin weight and how is it determined?

Donn has some good advice.
Pin weight = how much of a trailer hitch load the truck is carrying.

are 5th wheel manufactures really that different in weight compared to size?

You betcha'. Very different. Length means nothing as far as a trailers GVWR.

a dually is not in my cards, but getting a Dodge 3500, Cummings SRW which i assume means single rear drive? is.
appreciate any advice

SRW = single rear wheel configuration or 2 wheels on the rear axle
DRW = dual rear wheels or 4 wheels on the rear axle.

Our new gen 3500 Ram trucks have GVWRs ranging from 10100 lb up to 12300 lbs. However all 3500 SRW trucks are limited to a 7000 RAWR.

The trucks rear axle (RAWR) carries the hitch load so don't exceed that rating as it includes tires/wheels and rear spring pack.

The new Ram 3500 SRW can weigh 3000-3200 lbs on the rear axle which leaves 3800-4000 lb as a payload.


Now your looking at a 5th wheel trailer with approx 3000-3200 lb dry pin weight. As I said above length doesn't matter but the trailers GVWR/dry weight does.

you know, do what 99% of us do, get a 3/4 to 1 ton diesel pickup and go from there.

you can pull really anything out there, so relax and find what you want. Stay under 15K however.
and, I'd suggest a SRW and not a dually.

enjoy.

Wow! Your up early. I thought I was the only one.
Pin weight is the weight on the trailers pin(hitch point). Generally speaking a well designed fifth wheel will have between 18 and 22% of its total weight as pin weight. You will get lots of arguments on this subject, but lacking any factual weight numbers, use 20% of the fivers GVWR number as your pin weight. Depending on brand and size of fiver you pick a dually may not really be necessary. But it sure makes for a better towing vehicle for fivers over about 12,500 GVWR.