opinions (i know this is dangerous :))

[heffnerfam]

We are looking to upgrade to a fifth wheel. We currently have a hybrid travel trailer and have been camping for better then a decade. Last year we bought a Ram 2500 with the 6.7 Cummins diesel. It should tow 17800. I have never towed a 5th wheel and am curious how others feel about towing them.

First we are looking at models between 35 and 40 ft. Is there much of a difference between the sizes for towing? People with 40 ft models, do you have any trouble finding sites? How about maneuvering? I am reasonably competent at towing and driving. Lol

My other concern is about weight. What is a good max weight for a trailer that can be towed without stressing out the truck. I was thinking no more then 15000, but don't really have any idea.

Thanks for any help
Bob

[garyp4951]

A 2500 will handle a 5er up to 10k dry weight and pin weight in the 2k range. Anything heavier than that will need more truck in my opinion.

[mountainsam]

My 2014 Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel is very nearly over weight with my 31' Altra Light 5th wheel, camping items and family. I always travel with empty tanks except for a few gals in the fresh water tank. I don't think you would be able to pull a 40' 5th wheel and be any where close to legal.

[nofish]

We have had 'em all - travel trailer (30 ft), motor homes (30 & 35 ft) and 39 ft 5th wheel. In my opinion the 5th wheel is best but that is based on my uses etc. Much easier to drive w/o sway etc.
I would never consider pulling anything over the limits ! You want a big fiver; get a dually.

[Nicholsfamily05]

We just switched two years ago to our 40' 5th wheel and we love it. My wife doesn't drive the tow vehicle but even she noticed there is no more drag when big rigs pass us or the sway going down the road.
We went from a 34' V-nose travel trailer to the 40' 5th wheel. I had never driven a 5th wheel before and I will say it is so much easier than the travel trailer. Backing up took me a bit to get used to but now no issues.

As far as camp grounds we have not had any bad luck there. Great spots easy in easy out. And while we are there we scout out ones that are big enough and we may want to try our next time around if we were to come back.

[Coach-man]

NC Hauler wrote:

Coach-man wrote:
Hi, I am sure you will love the upgrade to a 5th wheel. Towing, Weights, and all the alphabet soup of ratings, can get very confusing! You wanted opinions? Here is mine, first about 20% of the weight of your 5th wheel will be in the bed of your truck, add to that the 200 or so lbs. For your hitch, then add for you and your passengers, and anything else you put in your truck. Add that up and check to see how that stacks up against your payload capacity. Oh, and did I add that the advertised weight of the 5th wheel does not include the propane, food, clothes, and other things you may want to take along with you? You could add air bags, or helper springs, but that does not fix, axle, wheel, or brake issues.
Now, that I stated all that, I have a 2500, added a helper spring and changed tire and wheels, and I pull a 35' fifth wheel. Is my TV at capacity, yes it is, I will change to a 3500 dually at some point. I beleive you also own a Ram? Dodge boys do not have the money other makers have, so the engine, tranny, and frame are the same on the 2500 and 3500 models. If you have the 11.5" rear end, then tires and wheels will be your area of concern. Also I think you should be looking at some lighter 5th wheels to get you into the ballpark. BTW, my GD Solitude weighed in at 11,300 lbs according to the sticker, so your rig should weigh around the same. Good luck!

..."Dodge boys do not have the money other makers have, so the engine, tranny and frame are the same on the 2500 and 3500 models"

Wow, great dig:R...The 2500 has the same highly rated tensile strength frame, but rear ends can be different...The 3500 also offers the Aisin Transmission...so evidently Ram had enough money to upgrade the transmission in the 3500....The 2500 can come with a 68RFE 6 speed automatic OR a manual transmission, (GM nor Ford offers this....guess Ram has enough money to offer an auto or a manual on the 2500's as well as the 3500's, except with the 3500, you can go manual, 68RFE 6-speed automatic or the medium duty tranny Aisin 6 speed...so you can get THREE different trannys with the 3500 SRW and 2 different one's with the 2500....The 3500 dually offers an 11.8 rear end, three different tranny's and 3 different gearing options...son, Ram must be plum broke after all that...


Nice dig on Ram though.... it didn't go un-noticed:) I didn't notice what truck you have, but will guess it isn't a Dodge/Ram:)

Rest had been covered already with 20% of the GVW, etc.

The point I was trying to convey is with the Dodge 2500, and the heavy duty rear axel, if the OP was close on weights, helper springs and proper tires could make towing the fifth wheel possible and safe. Ford and GM have many models in the 250/2500 catagory and more careful research would have to be done before just adding springs! Not ment as a knock on Ram!

[rhagfo]

Here's my story and I am sticking to it!
2001 Ram Quad cab CTD, 8,800 GVWR! We tow a 32' 5er with this TV at 10,000# GVW with the 5er in tow, TV has zero issues for stability or power!
Can't and will not recommend it, well within BOTH axle ratings and super within tire ratings of 3,415# each.
We tow on narrow state highways with no worries!

[kzspree320]

Looks like the RAWR on the Ram 2500 can be 6000, 6200 or 6500 depending on the configuration one has in mind. Some of the models that have the highest RAWR are also the heaviest base weights. You might find a configuration that could handle a 13 to 14K fiver if you put nothing in the truck. In my actual weights above, it is just the wife and I since all our kids are grown. Throw in a few large teenagers and we may have exceeded our RAWR.

[goducks10]

Isn't the RAWR on the 14 2500 SLT and up CTD 6500lbs?

[kzspree320]

My 35 ft 2014 Columbus fivers dry weight is 10,600#. Loaded and weighed on CAT scales it is about 11,800# (1,200# of stuff). TV is 2008 Dodge 2500 Quad Cab with 6.7 CTD. Loaded to go the combined weight is just under 19,000 lbs (18940 to be precise). Front axle weight is exactly 4300 (4750 FAWR). Rear axle is exactly 5520 (6010 RAWR). I pack pretty light. I am over my TV GVWR a few percent but well under both axle ratings. The passengers and cargo in the truck and cargo and pin weight of the fifth wheel add about 675# to the front axle and about 2,700# to the rear axle over what my empty truck weighs.

I am saying this because from my actual loaded experiences at the CAT scales around 12,000 lbs and your Ram 2500 is maxed on RAWR. It may be that your newer truck has 200 lbs more on the RAWR than mine, but my truck is a shorter quad cab that weighs less. The net result should be very similar.

I hope this helps you since it is the actual weights from the CAT scales on a similar truck and fifth wheel combo. You will enjoy pulling the fiver. My truck pulls my fiver well and the exhaust brake is music to your ears when towing in the mountains. Good luck and enjoy the looking.

[NC_Hauler]

Coach-man wrote:
Hi, I am sure you will love the upgrade to a 5th wheel. Towing, Weights, and all the alphabet soup of ratings, can get very confusing! You wanted opinions? Here is mine, first about 20% of the weight of your 5th wheel will be in the bed of your truck, add to that the 200 or so lbs. For your hitch, then add for you and your passengers, and anything else you put in your truck. Add that up and check to see how that stacks up against your payload capacity. Oh, and did I add that the advertised weight of the 5th wheel does not include the propane, food, clothes, and other things you may want to take along with you? You could add air bags, or helper springs, but that does not fix, axle, wheel, or brake issues.
Now, that I stated all that, I have a 2500, added a helper spring and changed tire and wheels, and I pull a 35' fifth wheel. Is my TV at capacity, yes it is, I will change to a 3500 dually at some point. I beleive you also own a Ram? Dodge boys do not have the money other makers have, so the engine, tranny, and frame are the same on the 2500 and 3500 models. If you have the 11.5" rear end, then tires and wheels will be your area of concern. Also I think you should be looking at some lighter 5th wheels to get you into the ballpark. BTW, my GD Solitude weighed in at 11,300 lbs according to the sticker, so your rig should weigh around the same. Good luck!

..."Dodge boys do not have the money other makers have, so the engine, tranny and frame are the same on the 2500 and 3500 models"

Wow, great dig:R...The 2500 has the same highly rated tensile strength frame, but rear ends can be different...The 3500 also offers the Aisin Transmission...so evidently Ram had enough money to upgrade the transmission in the 3500....The 2500 can come with a 68RFE 6 speed automatic OR a manual transmission, (GM nor Ford offers this....guess Ram has enough money to offer an auto or a manual on the 2500's as well as the 3500's, except with the 3500, you can go manual, 68RFE 6-speed automatic or the medium duty tranny Aisin 6 speed...so you can get THREE different trannys with the 3500 SRW and 2 different one's with the 2500....The 3500 dually offers an 11.8 rear end, three different tranny's and 3 different gearing options...son, Ram must be plum broke after all that...


Nice dig on Ram though.... it didn't go un-noticed:) I didn't notice what truck you have, but will guess it isn't a Dodge/Ram:)

Rest had been covered already with 20% of the GVW, etc.

[Coach-man]

Hi, I am sure you will love the upgrade to a 5th wheel. Towing, Weights, and all the alphabet soup of ratings, can get very confusing! You wanted opinions? Here is mine, first about 20% of the weight of your 5th wheel will be in the bed of your truck, add to that the 200 or so lbs. For your hitch, then add for you and your passengers, and anything else you put in your truck. Add that up and check to see how that stacks up against your payload capacity. Oh, and did I add that the advertised weight of the 5th wheel does not include the propane, food, clothes, and other things you may want to take along with you? You could add air bags, or helper springs, but that does not fix, axle, wheel, or brake issues.
Now, that I stated all that, I have a 2500, added a helper spring and changed tire and wheels, and I pull a 35' fifth wheel. Is my TV at capacity, yes it is, I will change to a 3500 dually at some point. I beleive you also own a Ram? Dodge boys do not have the money other makers have, so the engine, tranny, and frame are the same on the 2500 and 3500 models. If you have the 11.5" rear end, then tires and wheels will be your area of concern. Also I think you should be looking at some lighter 5th wheels to get you into the ballpark. BTW, my GD Solitude weighed in at 11,300 lbs according to the sticker, so your rig should weigh around the same. Good luck!

[NC_Hauler]

SkiSmuggs wrote:

cruz-in wrote:
We have a 2WD Crew Cab F250 with a payload rating of only around 2300 pounds. We had very few 5th wheel to chose from, that is if we wanted to stay within the trucks payload rating. I decided we need a dry in weight of 1300 pounds or less, and pack light, if we wanted to stay within trucks payload rating.

Ended up with a 28 foot 5th wheel. When we decided to go bigger, if we wanted to stay within trucks specs, our only options were TTs. We currently have a 37 foot TT.

Having said that, we are at an RV psrk in Tucson for the winter. It just amazes me what people tow with 250/2500 trucks. Some of the biggest 5th wheels in the park are towed with 250/2500 trucks.

I tow a 34' with a pin weight loaded of 1650 lbs. The rated payload is 1848. I am 500-600 lbs over, and sticker aside, used SuperSprings and Bilstein HD shocks to help out. In over 12,000 miles of towing, I never felt overloaded and with the HD payload package that became available the following model year, I would have been within specs. My dry pin weight was 1410 lbs. Some just like more reserve than others. That said, I have an F350 on order because I know the next fiver will be heavier.
The OP needs to know his payload and add about 300 lbs to the dry pin weight to help choose his fiver. I am going from an F150 to the F350 because the payload of the F250 is about the same as the F150 HD Payload

A MUCH better way to figure pin weight is to take 20% of the GVW of the 5er...that'll give you a MUCH better idea of what pin weight could actually be. To use Dry or empty 5er or pin weight is a bit of a joke...no one tows a 5er dry or empty...much wiser to take 20% of the 5er's GVWR to figure more accurate 'real world' pin weight.

Just because it seems a lot of people are towing larger/heavier 5er's with a 250/2500 truck doesn't make it right, nor safe....but it's there prerogative...I'll choose to do the math and use some common sense when figuring what truck to tow a 5er with.

...So an F250 has the same payload of an F150? Dang, why badge them differently? and you observed a lot of 250's towing heavier 5er's with the same or less payload than an F150...wow...Not sure you're correct in your numbers...if true, why purchase an F250? Of course I did notice you're skipping the F250 and going for a 350...

[larry_barnhart]

Next to us is a couple from Alberta and he has told me on earlier years how the Montana pushes him around at times and of the white knuckle experience going down some mountains.

I have told him he does not have enough truck because of the short box 2500.

Of course he just laughs at my comments and says it pulls the fifth just fine.

However he did call me one summer to ask what trailer tires to buy. He did listen that time.

chevman

[SkiSmuggs]

cruz-in wrote:
We have a 2WD Crew Cab F250 with a payload rating of only around 2300 pounds. We had very few 5th wheel to chose from, that is if we wanted to stay within the trucks payload rating. I decided we need a dry in weight of 1300 pounds or less, and pack light, if we wanted to stay within trucks payload rating.

Ended up with a 28 foot 5th wheel. When we decided to go bigger, if we wanted to stay within trucks specs, our only options were TTs. We currently have a 37 foot TT.

Having said that, we are at an RV psrk in Tucson for the winter. It just amazes me what people tow with 250/2500 trucks. Some of the biggest 5th wheels in the park are towed with 250/2500 trucks.

I tow a 34' with a pin weight loaded of 1650 lbs. The rated payload is 1848. I am 500-600 lbs over, and sticker aside, used SuperSprings and Bilstein HD shocks to help out. In over 12,000 miles of towing, I never felt overloaded and with the HD payload package that became available the following model year, I would have been within specs. My dry pin weight was 1410 lbs. Some just like more reserve than others. That said, I have an F350 on order because I know the next fiver will be heavier.
The OP needs to know his payload and add about 300 lbs to the dry pin weight to help choose his fiver. I am going from an F150 to the F350 because the payload of the F250 is about the same as the F150 HD Payload