Need Guidance PLEASE!

More info on your truck.

3/4 ton ?
or one ton SRW ?
or one ton DRW ?

RVdjdavid wrote:
I currently own a 2016 Silverado HD Duramax... The Tow Rating, GVWR is so conflicted in all of the literature even so that the dealer couldn't give me the exact specs. I just purchased a 5th wheel with a dry weight of 15,700.

I know I'm near my limits but is anyone else pushing their limits like this... Do you feel safe while driving, I'm not towing but maybe once a month total of 6 to 7 hours one way most of the time it would only be a couple of hours.

Thought of adding airbags etc..

I'm so flipping confused now I don't even know what my question is anymore.

Help,
David

Look at your driver's side door jam "sticker" which has the VIN, RAWR, FAWR, and the GVWR annotated on it. This is your truck's legal GVWR--regardless what the literature or your dealer says.

I hope your truck is a dually. If it's a SRW (single rear wheel) I believe you're going to find yourself over your GCWR or GVWR---maybe both. Your 15.7k empty trailer is very likely going to weigh over 17k loaded.

Your truck has a yellow payload on the drivers door pillar - its specific to your truck. Compare the payload number on the sticker to the 5th wheel pin weight plus 150 pounds for the hitch. If yours is a 2500HD, you might not like what you see

"I know I'm near my limits but is anyone else pushing their limits like this... Do you feel safe while driving, I'm not towing but maybe once a month total of 6 to 7 hours one way most of the time it would only be a couple of hours."

You are either overweight or not whether towing for 6-7 hours or a hundred. What others are doing isn't a basis for making a safe, responsible decision. Hit me when you are overweight and I'll take all your insurance will pay and then come after your assets.

It's not that difficult to determine whether or not you would be overweight.

David, add more truck info, to get further help!

Jerry

15,700 dry weight puts you squarely in MDT territory. Properly equipped Ram 3500 dually has a towing capacity around 30K pounds, but since you have a Chevy max towing capacity is going to be around 20K in dually configuration. But towing is not going to be your problem. Load carrying capacity is your biggest problem. Your fiver is going to scale ready to go at 18-19 thousand pounds. Meaning a pin weight at least 5000 pounds.

Lwiddis wrote:
Hit me when you are overweight and I'll take all your insurance will pay and then come after your assets.

It's not that difficult to determine whether or not you would be overweight.

I have a feeling you would do the same if he hit you being 4K underweight. Or not towing at all for that matter. :R

Well, since you already bought it... What is any of us going to say to change that?

You got what you got. If the dealership sold you that trailer knowing what you had for a vehicle and still said "you'll be fine", then I guess it's hitch it up and see what you think..

My guess is that unless it's a 3500 dually, it'll be a pretty heavy load..

My Dad has a 5th wheel that has a #15,000 GVWR (the most it can weigh all loaded up) and he has a 3500 Dodge Ram dually and he does fine, but it's also under it's ratings on both the truck and the rear axle.

Good luck!

Mitch

OP just joined and asked for guidance in the subject line and gets responses of accidents and lawsuits? We all must remember we started one day not knowing what we needed to know and that's why people come here...not to be chastised.

To the OP in my experience there a 3 groups of trailer haulers. Those that go strictly within the ratings using numbers that they all weighed or calculated accurately. That is the safest method but takes time and diligence. Then there are those that use published and guesstimates to have a rough ideal and can be near or slightly over their limits and then there are those that just hitch and go mostly over all of their limits but since it pulls and stops think that they are okay. I would suggest the first group.

Now on to your scenario the others are saying you are probably close or over your payload rating which typically is the rating that limits the weight of a trailer first. To figure out if you are within the payload specs of your truck you need to know:

1. The payload for your truck

2. The pin weight for the 5th wheel trailer loaded

The pin weight is the weight that the 5th wheel pin exerts on your 5th wheel hitch. I never owned a 5th wheel but towed a bunch of different ones for short trips. My way to calculate was to take 25% of the actual weight of the trailer but that is a rough figure. I don't know if your trailer has the pin weight placarded or can you get it from the manufacturer but those published numbers are for an empty trailer and you have to try to figure out yours loaded if you want to be more accurate.
That pin weight plus the weight of your 5th wheel hitch has or should be less than the available payload for your truck.

The payload of your truck should be stated on the yellow sticker in the door jam but if not if can be calculated by using your GVWR and subtracting the empty weight of your truck. That is the available payload.

I have a scale to measure the tongue weight of my conventional trailers but don't know how others derive their actual pin weight maybe they can share here.

This calculation only addresses the GVWR of the truck or the payload of the truck not necessarily the GCVWR which is another way of limiting the weight of the trailer. With the GCVWR you need:

1. Loaded truck weight
2. Loaded trailer weight

You add those 2 numbers together and they should not exceed the GCVWR of the truck.

Now depending on the weight of your trailer you should make sure you don't exceed the load capacity of your tires. I use 1/2 the actual loaded vehicle weight (weight on rear tires) plus the pin weight and that is the load that is directly on the rear 2 (or 4 for DRW) tires. The trucks load distribution isn't 50% on front and 50% on rear but this is my approximate. You can look on the tire and see what is its maximum load capacity and multiply that number by 2 if you have single rear wheel (SRW) and that will tell you the load capacity for the rear tires.

You should also make sure you don't exceed the axle rating but in my experience that is the last limit you will hit when loading. That is also on the yellow sticker as GAWR for rear axle.

GVWR-Gross vehicle weight rating- the max weight of the vehicle loaded with occupants (and pin weight for trailers)

GCVWR-Gross combination vehicle weight rating- the max weight of the loaded vehicle and loaded trailer

GAWR-Gross axle weight rating-maximum weight the axle can support

Hope this helps

AUwing2 wrote:
Your truck has a yellow payload on the drivers door pillar - its specific to your truck. Compare the payload number on the sticker to the 5th wheel pin weight plus 150 pounds for the hitch. If yours is a 2500HD, you might not like what you see

His truck may not have one.
Trucks prior to '06 weren't required to have the worthless tire placard payload sticker. Now some mfg were using them but '06 was the drop dead date for the sticker compliance.
My '03 2500 or '98 one ton DRW doesn't have one.