towing

[mandolineblu]

I am a newbe to fifth wheel towing, Thinking about purchasing a 2005 River Canyon 36' fifth wheel. Dealer tells me that any "2500" diesel will be okay, but when I look up the TL trailer life towing guide it tells me that it would leave me with only 700# of cargo and fluid capacity. Please let me know your thoughts on what truck I should consider to tow this fifth.

Thanks

Bobl

[RustyJC]

Originally Posted by mandolineblu

Thinking about purchasing a 2005 River Canyon 36' fifth wheel. Dealer tells me that any "2500" diesel will be okay

Impossible to say without knowing the specific GVWR of the 5th wheel you're considering, but extremely doubtful. Take some time to read in the 5th Wheel Towing and Tow Vehicle and 5th Wheel Discussion forums how to work through the numbers for yourself and why you CANNOT go by the manufacturers' brochure payload and trailer tow ratings that are based on the weight of a base model truck with no options, accessories, cargo and only a 150 lb driver.

Rusty

[RVhauler]

Many RV salesmen are second only to used car sales men in that they will tell you whatever you want to hear to make a sales. Buyer beware

[Triker56]

You need at least 1,500# of cargo capacity. more is better.

[RickO]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I have moved your thread here where you'll get far more views.

Rick

[TXiceman]

RV and Tow Vehicle Weights

Read upi on this site to fully understand the terms and weights involved with RVs.

The short coming of a 3/4 ton truck is the limited GVWR and rear axle GAWR. A typical 5er will have somewhere between 18 and 22% of the trailers GVWR for a pin weight.

You truck has to be able to carry this as part of its payload.

basically ignore the typical truck or RV sales person or they have you towing a 40' Teton (heavy trailer) with a Ford Ranger. Educate yourself.

Ken

[SmokeyWren]

Originally Posted by mandolineblu

Thinking about purchasing a 2005 River Canyon 36' fifth wheel. .. Please let me know your thoughts on what truck I should consider to tow this fifth.

Travel Supreme River Canyon is a heavy, luxury RV. GVWR is 14,500, and wet and loaded hitch weight will be about 2,900 to 3,000 pounds.

2005-up F-250 CrewCab diesel 4x4 pickup has a GVWR of 10,000 pounds and a wet and loaded weight of about 8,000 pounds, so that beautiful luxurious RV will overload your three-quarter ton tow vehicle by at least several hundred pounds. And if your F-250 diesel pickup is earlier than a 2005, then it has only 8,800 GVWR, so it will be overloaded by a coupla thousand pounds.

2011-up F-350 SRW has a GVWR of 11,500 pounds. So if the truck weighs 8,500 pounds when wet and loaded for the road, you'd have 3,000 pounds available for hitch weight. GCWR is 23,000 so with 8,000 pound truck, that leaves a bit more than the 14,500 needed for the wet and loaded Travel Supreme.

So the answer is, as a minimum you need a newer F-350 SRW, and if you have to upgrade anyway, you should probably go for an F-350 DRW. Or the Government Motors (GM) or Italian Motors (Dodge) equivalent of the F-350 DRW.

[RustyJC]

Originally Posted by SmokeyWren

Or the Government Motors (GM) or Italian Motors (Dodge) equivalent of the F-350 DRW.

Or the diesel engine experts at Furd.

Rusty