Thinking of buying a 5th wheel

[avalonlane]

I would like to know some info before I purchase a 5th wheel. My truck is rated for 9000 lbs. and the max. load is 1430 lbs. I am looking at a Rockwood 8244ws which has a dry weight of 6600 lbs. and hitch weight of 1181 lbs. Am I too close to the allowable weights to be safe?

[Racine96]

You will have too much weight for your truck. Try a Rockwood TT or a new truck.

[jimandlaurie]

We had same dilemma, when we had our Tundra and TT, but we were ready to go with a fifth wheel and found we were really limited on choices, we hashed it back and forth on what to do. Because I and the DW were fortunate enough, we went with upgraded Tow Rig to fit our 5th wheel choice. No regrets here. Good luck.

[Cummins12V98]

Give your sphincter a break and get a RV that fits your TV or get a TV that fits your RV!

[JEBar]

weight police aside, there are thousands of Rockwood 5ers out there being towed daily with half ton trucks .... Jayco's Eagle HT line is another half ton towable that is well worth considering .... rational recommendations would be easier to make if you could provide more info about the truck and more info on the conditions under which you will be towing (things like mountains/flat land, distance, speed you wish to travel, how often)

Jim

[camp-n-family]

You will definitely be over GVWR and likely the RAWR. Tow ratings are pretty useless when it comes to 1/2t trucks. You will almost always max out on payload well before getting anywhere near the tow rating. This is why fivers don't go well with 1/2t trucks.

At 6600lbs dry you will easily be 8k once loaded up. Using the minimal 20% of that on the pin will be 1600lbs. Add another 200lbs for the hitch in the bed and you are already 400lbs over weight before you or your passengers get in the truck.

If you want a fiver, get a bigger truck. If you want to keep the truck, you'll get much more trailer in a bumper pull.

[Greene728]

Probably so. At the very minimum on the razors edge!

[Fresno_Tundra_D]

Just adding the fifth wheel hitch will get you close and that's unloaded. Do people push their payload limits? All the time. With that setup though it would end up way over.

[newman_fulltime]

You will go over when loaded