Towing capacity question - RV-Dreams Community Forum

felicia · RV-Dreams Community Member

Towing capacity question

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

In my opinion you are pushing the limits. Go here to see for sure.

53 Merc · RV-Dreams Family Member

Like racerguy said, you will be pushing towing limit, not even considering the pin weight of a 5er. Using 20 to 25 percent of a 5th wheel total weight as a guestimate for pin weight, you would be grossly over the carrying capacity of the 1500 chevy. 20 percent would be 1900 lbs. Even though you cite the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, you need to look at the curb weight when loaded with all your stuff as well a propane tanks. Propane comes in at about 6 lb per gallon. If you would be very close to max weight, you would not have ANY water on board. Most people will underestimate the weight of what they put on board. Be very careful, it is your safety at risk.
Just do the math carefully and make your own decisions. Do not rely on what most salesmen tell you. "Sure, your Chevy S10 will tow that 35 ft 5er".:)

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

From previous experience I would suggest at minimum a 3/4 ton Diesel for that trailer.The heavier duty truck won't cost you much more than the 1/2 ton and make your experience much more comfortable.

felicia · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thank you everyone for the responses. I will look at the website link you have provided.

I was getting the weight from 6540 dry axle plus 1415 dry hitch plus 1545 net carrying capacity. Added all together its 9500lb. Please correct me if I'm wrong but that would be the max it could ever weigh, right?

I have no desire to listen to salesmen because they would tell you a little s10 could pull it! I wanted to ask those with the experience. I'm a bit concerned about any passes in the western mountains, I don't want to overheat which is why I wanted to ask this ahead of time.

Currently we have a 2500heavy duty which would more than pull it but we need to trade it for a crew cab for the 4-legged kids.

Please explain pin weight to me if you would.

Felicia

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

felicia wrote:

Currently we have a 2500heavy duty which would more than pull it but we need to trade it for a crew cab for the 4-legged kids.
Please explain pin weight to me if you would.
Felicia

I wouldn't even consider trading down to a 1500 then just get the crew cab.Pin weight is the amount of trailer weight that transfers to the truck when hitched.It's normally around 20 to 25 percent of the weight of the trailer.

felicia · RV-Dreams Community Member

We're looking at both options of either trading to another 2500 w/ the crew cab or the 1500. I was just taking cost into consideration as well but never wanting to put our safety at risk or risk damaging the vehicle.

Felicia

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Felicia,

While "towing weight" is a nice "ball-park" figure, don't use that as your guide for choosing a truck. For that, you need to know three different weights. You need the GVWR of the truck and the GVWR of the trailer or fifth wheel. For the truck, GVWR will be the total weight of the truck (alone) but with full fuel, full of passengers, cargo, and other accessories. With the trailer, GVWR can be limited to some degree by not towing with your holding tanks full of water. Many mention that they only travel with enough water in their fresh water tank to flush the commode. But, GVWR needs to consider onboard water, LPG, groceries, clothes, tools, and everything else you plan on putting in the trailer.

Also, the pin weight mentioned earlier needs to be calculated into your truck's GVWR. Once you have an idea of the GVWR of both the truck and trailer, you need to know what the GCVW (Gross Combined Vehicular Weight) rating is for the truck. You don't want your two GVWR's to be larger than the GCVW for the truck. A number of owners prefer to have a "weight cushion" of at least 15% to 20% of the GCVW. So, your truck's GCVW needs to be more capable than the weight you will be towing plus the weight of the truck.

Considering that you will be full-timing, be careful to not do what a friend of mine did. He was determined to have a specific truck (I won't mention brand) and bought a fifth wheel that the truck was capable of handling. (Handling meaning towing and braking.) Then, once they got to using their RV, they determined that the trailer was too small for their needs. In order to get a larger RV, they also had to get a larger truck.

For that reason, it is alway advisable to choose the fifth wheel first and then get the truck so that you can be sure you don't have a major safety issue traveling down the road.

Terry

Delaine and Lindy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Pin Weight is always the issues for the 3/4 tons and below. You want know your true weight until you are loaded up with everything you will be traveling with. I wouldn't recomend a size Truck, each person travels with different weights. "I will say you can have two much Trailer (5th wheel) but never to much Truck".. I tried the 2500Hd and have also owned the Chevy 1500, I will say I would never pull a 5th wheel of any size with a 1/2 ton Truck. Good Luck with your choice. Happy Trails......

pitbull · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi Felica

I was in the same position as you about 18 months ago. Thanks to Racerguy and a few other members I did not make the mistake of using my 1500 chev quad. You will be so maxed out that not only being underpowered you will not be safe on the road.

This forum has some pretty smart guys ( and girls ) that give you straight answers that you may not want to here.

You can check any truck manufacture websites to get additional information

Pitbull

felicia · RV-Dreams Community Member

HI Pitbull,

Oh trust me I want to hear them! After listening to those on the forum and talking to a couple of dare I say salesmen :) Even they said don't use the 1500. So we have definitely decided on a 2500HD wether it be Ford or Chevy both seem just fine and adequate.

I will say each time I read a forum page new questions come up on everything so I'm hesitating to fire off everything that pops in my head and trying to read more first before asking additional questions on everything from rig to weights to you name it!

Felicia

flyone · RV-Dreams Family Member

Smart girl that Felicia, better to ask and find the answer than to not ask and make an expensive (and potentially dangerous) mistake.

flyone

John & Mandi · RV-Dreams Community Member

We do not own a fifth wheel or truck but when I was researching it I thought payload capacity was also a number to pay close attention to. 20% of a modern fifth wheel's weight can exceed the trucks payload therefore overloading the rear axle. I may be wrong but thought it should be pointed out.

-John

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

jfazio22 wrote:
We do not own a fifth wheel or truck but when I was researching it I thought payload capacity was also a number to pay close attention to. 20% of a modern fifth wheel's weight can exceed the trucks payload therefore overloading the rear axle. I may be wrong but thought it should be pointed out.

-John

Correct,good point.

rvingft · RV-Dreams Family Member

Yes, you are really pushing the limit for that trailer. Don't forget humans, fuel, water and your "stuff" will be more weight than you think.

Trailer Life magazine has published a towing guide for quite a few years now. You can download a .pdf for each year to see what model trucks have what towing capacity.

Heres a link to get you started:
http://www.trailerlife.com/SearchResults/?search=towing%20guide

There is also a good blog about trucks - including MDT and HDT trucks on the forum at rv.net.

Have fun shopping !