What size 5th Wheel?

[Wundertaker]

Don't need a dry. Go with one ton diesel srw from Chevy Ford or dodge. Keep fiver under 37 feet and you'll be great....it'll give you more power than you need.

[jimcumminsw]

Your question was what size 5th wheel? And than the thread gets off track as usually.

OK, first you need to consider what your budget is! You than need to construct a list of your needs and wants. Such as two A/C units VS one A/C unit, does one of the A/C units required a heat pump, king bed or queen bed, washer/dryer, residential refrigerator and will you be taking anyone with you such as grand kids! Are roller day night shades required instead of the pleated day night shades with strings through the pleated shades. Do you want automatic levelers, 50AMP service, a minimum of 10" frame with a 2" channel on top, self adjusting brakes and so forth.

With that in mind which is what we have done when looking for a new 5er. We found that a 35' to 37' 5th wheel met our needs. This is enough room to move around in and be comfortable living in the unit. This also was in the mid $50,000 price point when we were done negotiating for our trailer. The GCVW is 16,400LBS but the trailer never sees this much weight. I have weighed the trailer twice as setup for 3 week trips and my trailer comes in at 10,000 LBS, as scaled on a certified CAT scale. We don't carry waste water nor potable water in the holding tanks. We also do not have the optional washer/dryer less weight that way.

I do not tend to go to state parks since my unit is 13'-6" tall with both A/C's on the roof and 37' long. we tend to go to private RV parks.

[Jeff6146]

No i was jus letting him know what I pull.

[sbpierce]

I am finding that state parks are adapting at an amazing speed to the longer RV'S. I am at 62 feet with 5th wheel and truck and are finding state parks with pull thrus to 100 ft time after time. Mines a toy hauler, so my 44 ft trailer is really not a factor in the rest of this thread.

[Dave-R]

I have an Arctic Fox 27-5L which is close to 29'. It has all the room we need, fits in most camping spots. And it is easy to park and pull. I usually pull doubles, with either the boat or four wheeler trailer behind. I have a 2018 3500 Duramax SRW, and could not be happier with this set-up. I have a gooseneck hitch in the truck, and a Goosebox pinbox on the trailer. Clean truck bed when not towing, and when pulling the trailer, the smoothest tow I've ever owned. I am 67 and I would not want a 40' 5th. wheel, because I see lot of them that will not fit in the campgounds, and back country where I go. Good luck with your choice. Dave-R

[grindstone01]

In response to your question about trailer length, it sounds like you were happy with your 31' TT so why go bigger? Also consider a fifth wheel has more living space in the same length as a comparable TT due to the frame hitch included in the TT length. So logically, I would look at a 28 or 30' smaller fifth wheel which will fit in most parks and be towed easily by any 3/4 truck. Consider towing with your current F150 truck if you purchase one of the light weight camper models?

[bfisher003]

My current F150 is a Platinum Screw 4x4 3.5 Ecoboost with Max Tow and while it certainly has the power to pull a 1/2 ton 5’er it does not have the cargo capacity. We actually looked at a 1/2 ton 5’er when we bought our current TT, and while I had just enough capacity for the pin weight I was then maxed out, so I would have to leave the wife and dog home. LOL. That was not to my wife’s liking.... [emoji16]

[Oldelevatorman]

Add a 1000# on top of 20% of 5er GVWR for payload minimum! On my '15 f350 DRW 2wd I have 5650 payload and pin weight is 23% (4K) on an 18k fifth wheel. I'm carrying around 7-800# in the truck so I have some safety room!

[MtCamper]

You are no newbie to the RV world if you have towed a 31' TT to Alaska and back. You are asking what length and only you can decide. Be aware that 5ers have lost more steps, both in and out than TTs. If you are happy with the length of you 31' TT, that would translate to neatly a 40' 5er for the same OAL. IF you go that size, I would agree with the DRW group. If you decide on 34' or less, I don't think you would regret a SRW. In either case, diesel is the only way to go.

As far as length, we are very contented with our Arctic Fox 27-7L. WE also liked the layout on the 29-5T, but didn't want the extra 5' it came with. Ultimately it's really up to you. We see folks wintering in a Casita and others who think their 5 slide 40' is too small. It is unfortunate you are all the way over in Florida, I'm a huge Northwoods or Outdoors RV fan. We've owned over 20 RVs of various types and sizes over our RV career and they are the best value for the buck we have found. Good luck with your search.

[CascadeBob]

So far the responses focus on trucks. But the question was, what size fifth wheel?

We're new to full-timing having spent all of 2017 traveling throughout the west, living in a 28' Fox Mountain (Northwood) fifth wheel pulled by a 1 ton Ram diesel long bed (SWD).

We bought a used 2014, 235 RLS Fox Mountain 5er (very hard to find) and a 2016 Ram (easy to find). But, we knew what trailer we wanted before we bought the truck and glad we did.

On trailer size: I think it depends on where and how you want to travel. We boondock a lot plus many national and state parks in the west have length limits, often down to 24' (many national parks are notorious for this). So, we kept it as short as possible and glad we did. Even at 28' we had to pass up on a number of camping spots - just too long. If you pan to stay in RV parks, or state and local campgrounds, and not boondock too much, a longer length is fine.

The sacrifices? The floorplan is limited, the bathroom is small, and we have only one slide out. But, we live outside most of the time and we can get most anywhere we want.

The trailer, fully loaded with tanks full and all our stuff, is less than 10,000 and the one-ton Ram is way overkill for that. We're even thinking of trading DOWN on the truck into a 3/4 ton, six-foot-bed gasser (making it easier to haul into Baja California where low sulfur diesel gets hard to find).

[bfisher003]

I am really appreciating all the well thought out responses to my questions. Yes, I fully understand and agree that only we can make the final decision, but I wanted to draw on the vast experience of all of you on the forum to help us with our decision. What do you tow that AF 27-7L with?

[Freqz]

Originally Posted by bfisher003

I am really appreciating all the well thought out responses to my questions. Yes, I fully understand and agree that only we can make the final decision, but I wanted to draw on the vast experience of all of you on the forum to help us with our decision. What do you tow that AF 27-7L with?

A one ton SRW should match real well to the shorter AFs. Short bed or long. Your preferred flavor of truck

[monkey]

So far we are very happy with our Cougar X-Lite. It is 31' 4" hitch to tail. Gross weight is 10,000 lbs, all loaded up is just under 9000 lbs. Our 2500 Chevy handles it like a dream. (all weights well within specs) With opposing slides in the rear living room and one in the bedroom, we have plenty of space for two of us and one 4 legged kid. Size was important because we wanted it inside our garage, a 24x36 with 12' high doors. Nice to have it in out of the weather, and again truck pulls it great. I do agree go with the 1 ton for minimal cost. In our case the only difference is a extra leaf spring in the rear.
Monkey

[bfisher003]

I will mention what the guy at Willard’s RV Repair in Tok, Alaska kept saying last summer while he was welding a new spring hanger on our current Bullet Ultra-light: “these ]*}^{%}%#### ultra-lights are just not built solid enough for the Alaska Highway and Alaska highways, #%#%*^~€\#!!! “ And, “one leaf spring?? Har-har-har!” $300 later, we were on our way. He showed me how the hanger had actually ripped a chunk out of the frame that was less than 1/8” thick. No more ultra-lights for us.