Community Forums

BigJohn1 · 05-31-2019, 02:20 PM

Silly question. What are the benefits of owning/towing/camping in a 5th wheel over TT? I have a TT and like that 5th wheels are a little bigger but they intimidate the heck out of me. What are the benefits of having a 5th wheel over a TT?

450Donn · 05-31-2019, 02:33 PM

Best bang for the buck. Nice SqFt in a shorter foot print. Downside they take more truck to move them.

Peto · 05-31-2019, 02:41 PM

They tow better as well.

bfisher003 · 05-31-2019, 03:21 PM

Late last Fall we went from a F150 Ecoboost and 31’ travel trailer to a new 2018 F350 diesel and a new 2019 Montana 35’ fiver, so I can give you a good idea of what we think about it. We towed our TT for around 36,000 miles all over the country, including several trips in the western mountains and even to Alaska and back and it was a good handling setup. To date we have pulled the Montana around 6,000 miles with one trip out West.
Our TT, a Keystone Bullet had one big slide. Our Montana has three slides. The fiver seems much roomier (because it is). It also has six point Auto Level hydraulic jacks, so leveling is much easier and faster. Our TT had a 8 cu’ RV fridge and it was an ongoing battle to keep it cold. Our fiver has an 18 cu’ residential fridge with an ice maker. It stays rock solid at the temps we set it at. Hitching the fiver to the truck is easier, faster and less work than a TT. Setup at a campsite seems to be easier and faster. While the towing experience with our previous rig was pretty good, we almost always got a bit of push pull effect when semis blew past us. Towing the fiver experiences none of that and is a very relaxed experience. The fiver is substantially heavier than our previous travel trailer, but the F350 and diesel handle it extremely well. So far (and our diesel only has about 13,000 miles on it) fuel mileage towing is very similar at around 10-12 and that is about what we got with the Ecoboost; however, Ford recommends premium gas when towing with the Ecoboost, so we actually spend a bit less on diesel fuel vs. Premium gas. The galley on the fiver is much nicer and bigger with much more counter space and the fiver has much more storage space overall. Our fiver bedroom is bigger than the TT and has a regular King bed and a large closet and a six drawer chest of drawers. The biggest downside to the fiver to me is the height at 13’ 4” or so, so we’ve become much more cautious of underpasses, etc. So far we have not had a hard time finding campsites to hold the bigger fiver, but then in reality it is only about 4’ longer overall than our previous TT. So, overall, the fiver is roomier, much nicer inside, has more storage and tows much better than our TT.

WYO George · 05-31-2019, 03:27 PM

Mine was simple. I was shopping for a lightly used TT toy hauler and couldn't find anything that I wanted at a price I was willing to pay. Then a friend told me he was upgrading from a toy hauler to a mega large luxury park model with four slideouts and he'd sell me his old one for a song. Since I knew his old one was in immaculate shape I jumped on it and got a 5th wheel even though I really didn't want one.

GoLeafsGo · 05-31-2019, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bfisher003

Late last Fall we went from a F150 Ecoboost and 31’ travel trailer to a new 2018 F350 diesel and a new 2019 Montana 35’ fiver, so I can give you a good idea of what we think about it. We towed our TT for around 36,000 miles all over the country, including several trips in the western mountains and even to Alaska and back and it was a good handling setup. To date we have pulled the Montana around 6,000 miles with one trip out West.
Our TT, a Keystone Bullet had one big slide. Our Montana has three slides. The fiver seems much roomier (because it is). It also has six point Auto Level hydraulic jacks, so leveling is much easier and faster. Our TT had a 8 cu’ RV fridge and it was an ongoing battle to keep it cold. Our fiver has an 18 cu’ residential fridge with an ice maker. It stays rock solid at the temps we set it at. Hitching the fiver to the truck is easier, faster and less work than a TT. Setup at a campsite seems to be easier and faster. While the towing experience with our previous rig was pretty good, we almost always got a bit of push pull effect when semis blew past us. Towing the fiver experiences none of that and is a very relaxed experience. The fiver is substantially heavier than our previous travel trailer, but the F350 and diesel handle it extremely well. So far (and our diesel only has about 13,000 miles on it) fuel mileage towing is very similar at around 10-12 and that is about what we got with the Ecoboost; however, Ford recommends premium gas when towing with the Ecoboost, so we actually spend a bit less on diesel fuel vs. Premium gas. The galley on the fiver is much nicer and bigger with much more counter space and the fiver has much more storage space overall. Our fiver bedroom is bigger than the TT and has a regular King bed and a large closet and a six drawer chest of drawers. The biggest downside to the fiver to me is the height at 13’ 4” or so, so we’ve become much more cautious of underpasses, etc. So far we have not had a hard time finding campsites to hold the bigger fiver, but then in reality it is only about 4’ longer overall than our previous TT. So, overall, the fiver is roomier, much nicer inside, has more storage and tows much better than our TT.

All good points, but comparing towing ANYTHING between an f150 Eco and a 350 diesel is a bit apple-to-orangy.

Old-Biscuit · 05-31-2019, 03:34 PM

For me it was headroom.......able to walk from one end to other w/o banging head or having to crouch

Shorter foot print for the size
STORAGE...cause we were going FT
Better towing vs TT........pivot point over rear axle vs at back of truck

egwilly · 05-31-2019, 03:40 PM

We tend to spend more time at the same spot at campgrounds. The fiver feels more spacious and livable over time spent in it. We had a smaller toy hauler travel trailer that was OK, but always felt small in the living areas. No hallway to separate the bedroom and bathroom areas.

The fiver tows much better.

drdarrin · 05-31-2019, 03:51 PM

I concur with what’s been mentioned about headroom, space, storage, and tow ability. I’ll add that we got a real queen size bed, lots of closet space, more inside food storage space than we really needed, a shower I could actually use, bathroom privacy, room for 4 batteries, a solar system that is actually useable (installed by me).

Were we just weekend warriors, a trailer would have been just fine but we went full time and we’ll keep the 5er until we’re done pulling anything.

bfisher003 · 05-31-2019, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoLeafsGo

All good points, but comparing towing ANYTHING between an f150 Eco and a 350 diesel is a bit apple-to-orangy.

While I pretty much agree with you, consider the fact that I was towing half the weight with the F150 and it was a 4x4 Ecoboost with the Max Tow option and 3.73 rear. I did tow the TT a few times with the F350 and yeah, a huge improvement over the F150. And obviously I could not even think about towing the Montana with the F150. LOL

**Spdracr39** · 05-31-2019, 03:55 PM

We moved up from a TT because we liked the floorplan, setup is so much easier, Lots more storage, and already had the tow vehicle.

mobilemike · 05-31-2019, 06:03 PM

Do they make a 40ft 17,000lb bumper pull?

rollondown · 05-31-2019, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobilemike

Do they make a 40ft 17,000lb bumper pull?

Just a little bit bigger...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y29higGVc4c

grindstone01 · 05-31-2019, 07:06 PM

We had different TT's during our working years and they worked great for weekend get aways and summer vacations. We went with a fifth wheel when we started FT and it has been a great move for us. The fifth wheel is more apartment like and after 7 years, we have no intention to change it.