Is a full size bed required to tow a fifth wheel?

[SmokeyWren]

Way back when, I towed a 5er with a shorty pickup for one season. But I had nightmares about driving down a crooked, rough one-lane road with no place to turn around without jackknifing the trailer. Backing that trailer for a mile or more on a crooked, rough, trail is a nightmare in itself. If you can jackknife the trailer to 90° without cab to trailer contact, then you can back into a jackknife, unhook, drive around to the other side of the trailer, hook back up and be on your way.

So I ordered a new pickup with an 8' bed, and the nightmares were over.

[glennwest]

Friend of mine has a ram with mega cab short bed. He tows a fairly new Toyhauler. His cab is damaged where camper hit it.

[SmokeyWren]

Originally Posted by 450Donn

I guess I have to ask why would you sacrifice and go for a short bed when the extra 2 feet gains you a smoother ride more storage/hauling space?

Lots of folks live "up north" where wintertime is a challenge, so they want to park the pickup in the garage. But a lot of long-bed pickups won't go in a garage and still allow you to close the garage door.

Most tract-home garages are 18' to 20' long. Most big cars are less than 18' long, and most garages were built for big cars, not long pickups. My '99.5 F-250 CrewCab pickup was over 22' long, so it wouldn't fit in a 20' garage. I have a 24' deep garage, and that pickup just barely fit in it with the garage door closed.

The current F-150 SuperCrew (crew cab) is available only with a 5.5' or 6.5' bed. If you want an 8' bed, then you cannot have a crew cab. But I want a SuperCrew, so I ordered my F-150 SuperCrew with the 6.5' bed. Even that is rare, as most SuperCrews have the 5.5' bed. Because they fit in a normal big-city garage and still have a nice back seat for a bunch of kids? Yes, this is on topic, because more and more people want to tow a small 5er with an F-150 SuperCrew that has the Heavy Duty Payload option. I have even towed my 8,000-pound 25' 5er with my F-150 that doesn't have the HD Payload option, but I was severely overloaded.

[Gordon Dewald]

Parking is an issue with the 450. It is 24' long and will not fit in the garage. 7' door is problematic. Too close to be comfortable driving it.

Did not want to leave the 5er outside either so built a shed to hold both. This is not an option for many I know.

While it is nice to have multifunction vehicles you have to give up something, whether it be size of RV you tow, ride of TV as a daily driver, or garage parking for the TV. Safety should not be on the table.

[elkhornsun]

With a 5th wheel weight of more than 10,000 lbs. the diesel engine is needed and for more than 15,000 lbs. a DRW truck or SRW with 19.5 wheels and tires are needed to handle the load on the rear axle.

I do not know if you can get a shortbed DRW truck and for that matter a 3500 is needed to get DRW if you need the 4 tires at the rear axle.

Something to investigate is the fuel tank capacity of the different truck configurations both from the factory and the aftermarket options for either a replacement tank or an auxiliary fuel tank. There are the most options for the long bed trucks.

Diesel provides more miles per gallon but the gas stations that sell diesel are still in the minority so I have to drive further to get to a place to refill the tank with my truck. I bought a SRW standard bed truck to have the best truck for my none towing and non hauling uses but it is limited to adding fuel capacity only by adding an auxiliary fuel tank inside the bed of the truck.

Had I realized the problem with getting a 60 gallon replacement tank for the stock tank I would have gone with the long bed model instead.

80% of the trucks pulling 5th wheel travel trailers (as opposed to horse trailers and commercial trailers) are SRW trucks. Lots of people have the mistaken belief that you need DRW to pull a 5th wheel trailer. The last thing I would want for normal driving and parking is a DRW truck that is at least 18 inches wider. Check the wheel base as well as it can vary even with the long bed trucks depending upon the cab.

I prefer the IFS and ride and handling of the GM trucks though I realize I am in the minority. The majority of people with 2500/3500 trucks buy a Ram pickup, in fact 50% more than the F-250/F350 trucks.

[elliott-maine]

I tow with a crew cab long bed DRW 4x4. As others have stated, I park at the edge of a parking lot. The length is more of an issue than the DRW in parking lots. Some parking lots, notably HD (go figure), in the northeast have spaces marked out for trucks the size or a ranger, so I may use a couple of spaces, but this is always away from the stores