|
|
08-16-2020, 01:48 PM
|
#1
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2020
Posts: 8
|
How to load a 5th wheel for first timer!
Headed out soon for our 1st trip in our 5th wheel. Truck is 2013 Chevy 2500HD with Duramax, payload is 2800#. Hitch is B&W Patriot slider. Trailer is 31' long, dry wt. is 9100, GVWR is 11000#. With my bumper pull I would load a little heavy in the rear of the trailer to reduce tongue weight. Is there a certain way to load for a 5th wheel.
1. Load some extra weight in the rear of the trailer (to reduce pin weight so payload is better)?
2. Load anywhere (ie front storage) since hitch is over truck rear axle (would this INCREASE pin weight)?
3. Load some heavy stuff in truck bed in front of hitch near rear window (to reduce trailer weight which should reduce pin weight)?
My neighbor says it doesn't matter, all the weights equal out. He actually said it will tow better with about 1/2 tank fresh water but that would sure add a lot of extra weight (about 300#). I got some chucking while driving it home from the dealer so hoping that gets better with the trailer fully loaded. Thoughts? I plan on getting to a CAT scale on this trip.
|
|
|
|
Join the #1 RV Forum Today - It's Totally Free!
iRV2.com RV Community - Are you about to start a new improvement on your RV or need some help with some maintenance? Do you need advice on what products to buy? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that iRV2 is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other RV owners, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create an RV blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
|
08-16-2020, 02:15 PM
|
#2
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2020
Posts: 188
|
You really can’t answer that question without a trip to the scales. You should just load it however is most convenient for you to get to the stuff that you are storing.
Unless you load it really heavy in the rear, I bet it pulls just fine. Loading heavy in the rear of a trailer will cause sway and isn’t a good idea.
|
|
|
08-16-2020, 02:43 PM
|
#3
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Palm Coast Florida
Posts: 12,995
|
A 5th wheel tows different than a travel trailer. I would just pack it were things go and see how it tows. Clothes in the drawers and hangers and dishes in the kitchen for example.
Anything you load in front of the trailer axles will increase pin wright. To what ratio I do not know. A calculus person could figure that out with a few distances, like distance from the axles to the hitch and exactly where weight was added. But if you get that detailed you need a GM 3500.
My thought is you will be fine and don't over think this. I carried a gallon of bug killer in my 5th wheel but did not worry where I stored it.
|
|
|
08-16-2020, 03:20 PM
|
#4
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: NW Arkansas
Posts: 214
|
I’ve always just loaded it where I wanted thing and never had a problem. Been across weight scales both loaded and unloaded and never made much more than a 100lbs difference on pin weight.
|
|
|
08-16-2020, 03:27 PM
|
#5
|
Senior Member
Tiffin Owners Club Ford Super Duty Owner RV Trip Wizard
Join Date: Jun 2020
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 275
|
I'm with Tuffr2 and Jayco19 - it never became that much of a big deal with the 5th wheel. Kitchen stuff went into the kitchen in the back, clothes and stuck in the front. Everything else inside where it seemed right.
In the big storage area up front - I put the chairs, the big Camp Chef grill and parts, the two dutch ovens, the king pin tripod, the dump stuff - everything you didn't want inside.
Now the Jayco travel trailer - that one I had to put heavy stuff in the back. Kitchen was up front, 1200 lbs empty on the hitch. We'd put the heavy can's and such under the bed in the back.
|
|
|
08-16-2020, 11:05 PM
|
#6
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 1,454
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by LanceKeys
You really can’t answer that question without a trip to the scales. You should just load it however is most convenient for you to get to the stuff that you are storing.
Unless you load it really heavy in the rear, I bet it pulls just fine. Loading heavy in the rear of a trailer will cause sway and isn’t a good idea.
|
X2 Knowing how much of that listed payload you have left is important. If you are close to weight, move stuff from TV to 5er.
__________________
Russ & Paula, Portland, OR. The Beagle Belle.
2016 Ram Laramie 3500 DRW Aisin 4X4 14,000# GVWR.
2005 Keystone Copper Canyon 293FWSLS Rear Kitchen 12,360 GVWR
|
|
|
08-17-2020, 03:18 PM
|
#7
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Foxboro Ma.
Posts: 1,087
|
with 5th wheels is not so much where the weight is , Its more how much weight your adding. You need to know your truck rear axle weight when its pulling the 5th wheel and you need to know how much weight is on the axles of the 5th wheel. Some trailers 5th wheel and travel trailers have very limited cargo weight once they have propane , water , battery's . Bottom line know what you have and keep and eye on how much your loading. My 5th is loaded mostly from the axle to the pin and its heavy on the back of the truck , but I cant move where the basement storage is.
We have Morryde IS 8000 lb axles and I have just under 13,000 lbs with water on the trailer tires , my pin weight is right around 3600lbs right over the rear axle of the truck.
__________________
2015 42' Redwood RL38 Morryde IS , disk brakes, 1920W of solar with Victron everything,5 Battleborn, 2024 GMC DRW 3500HD ,60 gallons of fuel in the bed,Hensley BD5 air ride hitch.
|
|
|
08-18-2020, 06:08 AM
|
#8
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2020
Posts: 8
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by LanceKeys
You really can’t answer that question without a trip to the scales. You should just load it however is most convenient for you to get to the stuff that you are storing.
Unless you load it really heavy in the rear, I bet it pulls just fine. Loading heavy in the rear of a trailer will cause sway and isn’t a good idea.
|
Do i need to take 2 readings hitched and unhitched or will hitched give me the info i need?
|
|
|
08-18-2020, 07:04 AM
|
#9
|
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 1,004
|
Your chucking issue will be mitigated some if you use your basement for the heavy stuff and load weight forward. My trailer has almost identical specs and I try to get my pin weight at 2,000#
Unrelated to towing, I'm not a big fan of loading the slides heavy.
__________________
2004.5 Ram 3500 2WD DRW
2008 Carriage, tows at 10k#
|
|
|
08-18-2020, 04:38 PM
|
#10
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 2,959
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Texdan
Headed out soon for our 1st trip in our 5th wheel. Truck is 2013 Chevy 2500HD with Duramax, payload is 2800#. Hitch is B&W Patriot slider. Trailer is 31' long, dry wt. is 9100, GVWR is 11000#. With my bumper pull I would load a little heavy in the rear of the trailer to reduce tongue weight. Is there a certain way to load for a 5th wheel.
1. Load some extra weight in the rear of the trailer (to reduce pin weight so payload is better)?
2. Load anywhere (ie front storage) since hitch is over truck rear axle (would this INCREASE pin weight)?
3. Load some heavy stuff in truck bed in front of hitch near rear window (to reduce trailer weight which should reduce pin weight)?
My neighbor says it doesn't matter, all the weights equal out. He actually said it will tow better with about 1/2 tank fresh water but that would sure add a lot of extra weight (about 300#). I got some chucking while driving it home from the dealer so hoping that gets better with the trailer fully loaded. Thoughts? I plan on getting to a CAT scale on this trip.
|
My belief is that the only style 5th wheel where loading matters are toy haulers, especially those that carry heavy vehicles way out back.
Most 5th wheels have 1.5 to 2 times the pin weight (by percentage) a bumper pull has. It's hard to make a difference on pin weight on a 5er but always wise to get a proper whel-by-wheel weigh-in if you feel you are at the RV's limits.
__________________
2011 GMC Sierra 3500HD gas 6.0 dually
1994 K1500 Suburban shop mule and plow truck
2006 Lakota 29RKT 5th wheel
|
|
|
08-21-2020, 03:25 PM
|
#11
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 24
|
I have heard that a heavy toy in the back of a toy hauler can lighten the pin weight by a couple hundred pounds.
|
|
|
08-21-2020, 03:46 PM
|
#12
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 1,505
|
I’m with the “just throw your stuff in and get it weighed sometime” crowd. Starting out, I’d be more concerned with checking wheel torque, tire pressures, and getting it hitched properly.
|
|
|
08-27-2020, 09:36 PM
|
#13
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2020
Posts: 8
|
Well, finally got to a CAT Scale today. Didn't get a 'truck only' weight so not sure how much good these numbers are other than to know that I am not 'over' on my axle weights:
Steer Axle 4500 (truck sticker 5200 max)
Drive Axle 5580 (truck sticker 6200 max)
Trailer Axle 8020
Gross weight 18100
Would like to know the pin weight but we didn't want to unhitch. Any comments on these figures?
|
|
|
08-29-2020, 01:24 PM
|
#14
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Oregon
Posts: 1,052
|
The whole front/back loading thing to decrease pin/hitch weight is one of the more overstated things on these message boards. If the axles were a pinpoint fulcrum it may help but they are not. They are two (or three) points located a couple feet from one another. Sure, if you are loading your anvil collection and you have a choice, put it in the back or over the axles. But in most cases with regular camping stuff it's just not going to make much of a difference. Basically, if you're so close on weight that you are using the loading front/back method you probably need a bigger truck.
|
|
|
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Thread Tools |
Search this Thread |
|
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
» Recent Discussions |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|