1/2 Ton Towable Fivers - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Curtis and Rhandi · RV-Dreams Family Member

1/2 Ton Towable Fivers

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

It's a tired thing to say but... it depends. I guess the first thing to establish is the type of experience one would be looking for. There certainly are 5ers out there than can be towed and stopped safely by a 1/2 ton PU. Granted they won't be very big or heavy and will likely not be solidly constructed (relatively speaking). There are many FTers out there doing it with less space and happy with what they are living in. If you want all the bells and whistles... no, a "1/2 ton" towable is not going to be the 5er for your situation. If you are a minimalist... it might do just fine.

JMHO, Brian

-- Edited by biggaRView on Thursday 30th of April 2015 10:05:53 AM

Curtis and Rhandi · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks Brian - I've just been surprised by the "1/2 ton towable" label - but when you do the calculations - it's really not 1/2 ton towable. We had one that we looked at that we liked - although smaller, it would have suited our needs. But by the time we did the calculations there was no way a 1/2 ton would tow that fiver. Not if you calculated weight of vehicle, weight of fiver (fully loaded), etc. then leave yourself a 10% spare in towing capacity. You would have STILL needed a 3/4 ton to tow it. Maybe it was JUST that one particular one we looked at. It was a nice rig, but really not towable full time by a 1/2 ton in our estimation

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

Sounds like your standards are such that the 1/2 ton towables do not suit your particular requirements. I can attest that they are not even in the running for our future rig by any stretch of the imagination. Nothing wrong with them, just not what we want or need from a FTing rig.

Good luck with your search.

Brian

TRAILERKING · RV-Dreams Family Member

A salesman will try sell you anything...

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

We saw one(1/2 ton towable) at the Chicago RV show a couple of years ago that was super-lightweight and only about 26 feet long. 10K GVWR with 4K cargo capacity. (I've seen even lighter ones at that length) Being so short, it looked more like a slide in camper converted into a 5er, if you can imagine that. Full functionality but way too tight for us. Still... it was a novel rig. We are not mininalists when it comes to living quarters, but we don't need all the space a S&B gives us currently either.

Brian

-- Edited by biggaRView on Thursday 30th of April 2015 11:05:58 AM

The Bear II · RV-Dreams Family Member

If the manufacturer of the 5th wheel has labeled it as 1/2 ton towable, to me it means they are accepting the liability should something happen and it is proven the cause was due to the 5th wheel at maximum cargo weight overloaded the 1/2 ton tow vehicle.

If I was a manufacturer I would have done extensive testing before placing a 1/2 ton towable label on the units.

That being said, I would rather have way too much truck than just enough. In the 20+ years I have towed a 5th wheel there have been numerous times when the truck saved the day because it was more than capable of handling our 5th wheel.

And one final point- In the 50's through the 70's many TT up to 35 feet long were towed behind passenger cars. These weren't "lite" trailers but built back when real wood, steel and heavier appliances were used. I remember seeing 4 door sedans towing 35 foot TT
on cross country trips. A friend of my dad's pulled a 25ft Field & Stream trailer with a 1969 Mercury Marquis. His favorite camping spot was in the Western Sierra Mountains At Shaver Lake CA. To get there and back the road went from near sea level to 5000ft elevation in less than 21 miles of switchbacks with 6 to 10 % grades. Just watch the movie "The Long Long Trailer" with Lucy and Desi...

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

I suggest this has nothing to do with a “sticker” on the 5^th wheel but everything to do with the ratings of the truck. Always has been, always will be. Yes, a 5er can be built that is within the axle ratings and tow rating of a “half-ton” truck. But as I’m sure you know a half-ton truck is just a badge on the side of the truck – 1500 / 150, etc. There is no standard for what a "half-ton" truck will do. Each one is different.

Get the numbers and run them for any truck and trailer combination. It’s all about the numbers, not the marketing. The numbers, IMO, also have nothing to do with weekend or full-time. Controlling the rig doesn't have anything to do with how far you are from "home" in so many words.

And, as one person’s opinion – never believe a RV Salesman when he talking about tow vehicles and the trailer he is trying to sell you.

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

The Bear II wrote:
And one final point- In the 50's through the 70's many TT up to 35 feet long were towed behind passenger cars. These weren't "lite" trailers but built back when real wood, steel and heavier appliances were used. I remember seeing 4 door sedans towing 35 foot TT
on cross country trips. A friend of my dad's pulled a 25ft Field & Stream trailer with a 1969 Mercury Marquis. His favorite camping spot was in the Western Sierra Mountains At Shaver Lake CA. To get there and back the road went from near sea level to 5000ft elevation in less than 21 miles of switchbacks with 6 to 10 % grades. Just watch the movie "The Long Long Trailer" with Lucy and Desi...

BTW, as I believe you may know, that “Long Trailer” in the movie was pulled by a car using a dolly for the wide shots. For the moving road shots the trailer’s hitch was being supported by a dolly, not the car.

Many of those 50’s and 60’s “house trailers,” as they were call then, weighed in around 8-10K. And the cars – well, they were more capable than some of the “trucks” today. A Buick Electra with a 454cid engine and a transmission cooler was a formidable tow vehicle. I installed those. We had one that went all over the Rockies and Canada with a 34' trailer. But the point is the many of those trailers were not very heavy considering their length. Just like a 34’ Airstream was nominally under 10K. (The wood was pretty thin back in the day.)

Sushidog · RV-Dreams Family Member

There are plenty of mid-sized fivers that are 1/2 ton towable - if you have a modern 1/2 ton with a tow package. How much tongue wt. and total loaded trailer wt. are you limited to with your particular 1/2 ton? However few are suitable for FT use. Most have very limited carrying capacity, for example.

For instance, here's a few Forest River ultra-lites with limited carrying capacity: www.forestriverinc.com/product-details.aspx

Here's a 28.5ft Heartland Sundance with a UVW of only 6778 lbs with 3,100lbs of CCC. www.heartlandrvs.com/%2032TSRE&p=35&sc=ER#!dview=modeldetail&c=midprofile&sc=SDXLT&m=354&ajax=?

Northwood manufacturing (the people who make the Arctic Fox line) has this Fox Mountain 28 ft model with a good carrying capacity, a dry wt. of only 7235 lbs and decent insulation that might be suitable. northwoodmfg.com/index.php This one would be at the top of my short list for a 1/2 ton towable fiver.

I'm not disparaging any particular brand, but I seriously doubt that any this light would hold up well for FT use, and of course with limited insulation they are for warm weather use only. But if you are planning on only staying in warmer climes (as I am) and are with OK upgrading every few years (heck, maybe you only need one for a few years anyway) maybe lighter built units are right for you. The price difference compared to a upgrading to a bigger truck and heavy duty fiver (possibly 3-5 times the cost of a cheaper, lighter trailer using your existing truck) may make it a better value for your unique situation, especially if a barely used, suitable lightweight trailer can be found.

Chip

-- Edited by Sushidog on Thursday 30th of April 2015 05:50:11 PM

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Our previous fifth wheel was a Rockwood Ultra-lite model that was 26-feet long. Our RV dealer, who had been very honest with capabilities in the past, stated that the Rockwood could have been handled with a 1/2 ton (Ford F150) truck. However, we took that same RV on a two week vacation to the Pagosa Springs area in Colorado. While the first week things were just fine, the second week saw us beginning to really complain about the discomfort we had with sitting on the available seating of that Rockwood Ultra-lite.

Ours was similar to this model, but ours was back in around 2005 or 2006. The floor plan is pretty much the same. Oh, and if you look in the bedroom of the floor plan, you will see one closet by the bed labeled as "shirt closet." Trust me, that is about all the size there was to that closet.

Since we were already researching for a full time RV, we certainly learned a lesson about RV furniture. In addition, the Rockwood wouldn't have allowed much in the way of changing the furniture. So, I guess it was an even more of a lesson that we REALLY wanted a 38-foot full time rig, which is what we got.

Terry