Please help me figure out your capacity
I'm trying to buy a truck to tow my 5th wheel. I don't want to be one of those idiots trying to tow 20k with a ford ranger or something but I cannot get a clear understanding of how to figure out if ...
Forum Discussion
Trying to keep this as simple as possible:
As a rule of thumb, the fifth wheel capacity of a pickup truck is roughly 5 times its payload capacity, after you've loaded yourself, your family, and anything else in the truck.
You will *NEVER* be able to tow the maximum amount stated in the towing guide. It is a theoretical maximum based on ideal conditions. The truck has to be empty except maybe one passenger. The trailer has to be balanced perfectly with just the right amount of pin weight. That *NEVER* happens in the real world.
Quick Example: The F-250 you were originally looking at typically has a payload capacity of around 2300lbs. A 5th wheel hitch weighs about 250lbs. So you'd have about 2000lbs of payload to work with. 5 times 2000 is 10,000lbs. That's roughly the heaviest trailer you can tow with that F250.
As a rule of thumb, the fifth wheel capacity of a pickup truck is roughly 5 times its payload capacity, after you've loaded yourself, your family, and anything else in the truck.
You will *NEVER* be able to tow the maximum amount stated in the towing guide. It is a theoretical maximum based on ideal conditions. The truck has to be empty except maybe one passenger. The trailer has to be balanced perfectly with just the right amount of pin weight. That *NEVER* happens in the real world.
Quick Example: The F-250 you were originally looking at typically has a payload capacity of around 2300lbs. A 5th wheel hitch weighs about 250lbs. So you'd have about 2000lbs of payload to work with. 5 times 2000 is 10,000lbs. That's roughly the heaviest trailer you can tow with that F250.
