How big of 5ver are you pulling?

[wmoguy]

I put this over in the towing thread, but thought maybe it would be better served in this section given it is related to this series pickup and engine:



I sold our lil 22' 5th wheel tonight, and looking at upgrading to something larger. Question is, how large should I go. I'm cheap, so it'll be something around 5k in price, which around these parts will get me an early to mid 90's 5ver. Besides amenity requirements I'm looking to go about as long as I can (and comes the weight) so I don't have to get a longer one again in a year or two for the growing family.

Given my pickup, how much weight do you think I can reasonably handle? For me, handle = being able to run 65 on the Interstate, run A/C in the summer, and not be white knuckled the entire drive. My current 5ver is about 6.5k all loaded up, and the atv trailer and gear (pulling doubles) adds another 3k to the equation. I have no problem pulling that around. I'm guessing my pickup is a good 9k on it's own including full tanks, family, gear, and 115 gallons of fuel in the transfer tank. So all in I'm guessing I'm about 18.5-19k gross.


TIA for your relative input!

 

[SparkandFire]

I tow a 1995 28' Salem fifth wheel, the GVW on the trailer is 8,500. I would suspect fully loaded I am somewhere close to that rating.

I would think you should have no problem towing anything less than 10k. I tow between 60-65, and it handles really well. Biggest problem i've had so far is braking. Thus the reasoning behind the hydroboost. I've found that even with new rotors/pads/calipers/shoes adjusted, etc the vacuum boost system is really marginal at best. I've made panic stops where I am standing fully on the brake pedal and still not slowing down quickly enough.

 

[hesutton]

32ft Forest River Wildcat. About 9K.

My 6.9 IDI did OK hauling that sucker with a blown headgasket. Just had to stop and refill the radiator every 30 miles or so.

It should be a much better experience after the rebuild, the Moose fuel, the intercooler and the Rodney Red radiator.

Heath

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

Our new to us 34' Newmar weighs 11.3k empty, packed it's prolly over 14k for a weeks venture with a family of 4.
It's heavy but Goldie does well with it. No speed records tho.

 

[ocnorb]

Ours is a 30 ft toyhauler. GVWR is 11,000 and we are right at that when we head out. IMHO this is about as heavy as I would want to pull in the Rockies... in the flatlands I'm sure the truck could handle a bit more.

 

[bike-maker]

31' Keystone Cougar. About 9.5k of extra weight with the wife, kids, dog and all of the extra misc. junk on the way to camping.
I'm still NA so it's painful in the hills, but except for the lack of horsepower, the truck handles it great. On the flatter sections, I can maintain 60 mph pretty easily, but a 6% grade will drag me down to about 25mph.
Like said above, the first thing to be overtaxed is the brakes. Last summer, I had to make a panic stop when some ******* decided he had to turn left all of a sudden, and he had to wait for oncoming traffic. I had the trailer beakes backed off a little too much, which didn't help the situation. I lifted myself clear up out of the seat, and nearly broke the steering column from lifting up on it; the VW bus in front of me came about 6" from being shortened a few feet. It actually came to a halt pretty quickly, but once it was stopped, a ********* cloud of brake smoke went rolling by the truck.
Get a good trailer brake controller and you should be fine. And I always adjust the rear drums before I haul the trailer.
I have also done a hydroboost conversion since this happened, but I have yet to haul the trailer with the new braking system.

 

[Russ]

I used to pull a 26' Jayco fiver with mine. It was a perfect match for the IDI, I still miss that combo.

 

[Slade]

32' with 2 slides about 10,000lbs dry so 12 or 13 loaded tows good with my truck

 

[wmoguy]

Thx Guys! I've got to deliver my old 5ver this week to this fella across town. I've got my eye on a few between 32'-35'. I'm not overly sure what they weigh but I'm guessing about 8500# dry. All our high profile vs. my current one would probably be considered low profile.

Side question: In states that do allow you to legally pull doubles, do they really crack down ******* length restrictions? I doubt I'd really ever pull doubles long distances (mostly just for hunting trips) however who knows, down the road we might pull our ski boat (roughly 22' on trailer) behind the 5ver, although I sort of doubt it. Just wondering about the length issue. IIRC in Colorado it's 65' total length, and I'd guess even w/ a 35' trailer, and my atv/snowmobile trailer I might still be right at or under 65'

 

[ocnorb]

Yes, my brother has a CC Superduty, 5er and Jeep trailer that is about 6 inches shy of the limit. He has been pulled over and measured twice in the last 6 years... so it can happen. They usually try to just write him a ticket, then he argues it and out comes the tape measure... he actually finds it entertaining in his own sick way.

 

[stumiister]

Ive got a Mallard 35' loaded down its grosses about 12k, my other Ford F350 truck has a 400cid gaser, It did great pullin the trailer so Im sure my IDI F250 will do fine. I dont think you will have any problems either

 

[RLDSL]

My 5er is 28 ft and weighs in around 10k and we gross over 18k with that setup and I had no trouble crossing the Rockies the hard way ...with a busted fan clutch , even going off teh beaten path up into Leadville over 10k feet. When I'm hooked up to my carhauler loaded I gross around 22k, but it also has a nice pointy nose and a lower roof so it pulls a bit easier even though it is 102" wide.

 

[plywood]

Just picked up a 32ft Carri-lite a few weeks ago. It's Aluminum frame construction so it's only rated at 8600 dry weight. Towed way better than I thought it would. I think I'd rather tow it than a 6000lb pickup on a towbar like I've done for hundreds of miles.

It has a special fifth wheel pintle that swivels left and right so down the highway my truck drove like a Cadillac compared to unloaded with the weight on the axle. If fuel money was nothing I'd drive it all across the country. I only towed it home so far about 60 miles, but I wanted to keep going once I gotta comfortable with it.

 

[performancelaw]

Mine is a 1994 king of the road 34 footer. It's 13k. It's heavy but with the five speef I don't feel it to bad. No speed records. I stay around 60 but have done 70 I just heat up to around 240

 

[performancelaw]

Mine is a 1994 king of the road 34 footer. It's 13k. It's heavy but with the five speef I don't feel it to bad. No speed records. I stay around 60 but have done 70 I just heat up to around 240