What truck??? That’s the question!

[Billett Bee]

Originally Posted by xc-mark

a 3500 is over weight rating for the pin weight , a 4500 would be over the rating . In my opinion ther are two choices that are right...... VOLVO 760 single retired tractor or custom built RV hauler . The problem is how big of a cab do you need? 4 doors? Freight liner M2-106 sportchassi are big money but you could find a good use one for under 70K . The tricky part is buy one , Most bank dont want to talk to anyone about personal loans on commercial trucks. Home equity line of credit would work or having roughly 50% cash to buy it may change the banks mind. L9 Cummins 350hp and 1000 ft tq with a Allison 3000 trans and gearing to run 78mph in high gear will get the load up hills nicely. air ride cab and air ride rear suspension is a must with a good air ride hitch and it will be the best towing experience you could ask for. I have driven a freightliner on a test drive, empty you can still use it as a daily driver if needed . It turns better then a crew cab 8' bed 350/3500 and rode smoother but parking is a issue in the garage. When I retire I will be shopping a for a Volvo.

I just sat here and told you the pl would come out about even to 300lbs over with all my tweeks. What part of that do you mean the 3500 isn't enough truck. The truck is rated by the manufacturer for 14k, so your saying 14k or 14,300 is way to much for the 3500, do you even know what your talking about. Everyone knows that these trucks are way under rated by the manufacturers who are just playing a marketing game. You can alone just run off of axle weight ratings and put 15,750 on the truck.
Plus you can't go by rvf posted pin and ccc Weight's because there not accurate. A 44 just came off the line one month ago that had a Empty pin weight of 4300 and a loaded pin weight of 5300.
Yes the pl is going to be close and nobody is disputing that but nobody monitors pl weight. The only thing that's ever been checked is at the axles
6000 front
9750 rear
I'm not worried one bit, just move your heavy weight to the center toward the rear of the coach and you'll be just fine. Car hauler hot shoters do it every single day across this great land and ill haul my 48'2" 26k luxe around the countryside once a month without a worry about it, just be cognizant of where you put the weight

[Dieselguy4]

Originally Posted by Billett Bee

I just sat here and told you the pl would come out about even to 300lbs over with all my tweeks. What part of that do you mean the 3500 isn't enough truck. The truck is rated by the manufacturer for 14k, so your saying 14k or 14,300 is way to much for the 3500, do you even know what your talking about. Everyone knows that these trucks are way under rated by the manufacturers who are just playing a marketing game. You can alone just run off of axle weight ratings and put 15,750 on the truck.
Plus you can't go by rvf posted pin and ccc Weight's because there not accurate. A 44 just came off the line one month ago that had a Empty pin weight of 4300 and a loaded pin weight of 5300.
Yes the pl is going to be close and nobody is disputing that but nobody monitors pl weight. The only thing that's ever been checked is at the axles
6000 front
9750 rear
I'm not worried one bit, just move your heavy weight to the center toward the rear of the coach and you'll be just fine. Car hauler hot shoters do it every single day across this great land and ill haul my 48'2" 26k luxe around the countryside once a month without a worry about it, just be cognizant of where you put the weight

So you are telling the OP to run over weight. That is totally unsat. Any truck you buy has to be able to handle the pin weight of the fifth wheel. You cannot get to GCWR if you cannot be with in GVWR or GAWR. You saying these trucks are rated for more. well the manufacturer has a team of engineers that has certified them through J2807. I only tow at 80% of my max GCWR and are well with in GCWR and GAWR. If you get a big fifth wheel get a big enough truck. the new 1 ton duallys are amazing trucks but you still have be be with in specs. Oh and the F450 has less load capacity then the F350. Again read the specs. Oh and I know what I am talking about

[Billett Bee]

Originally Posted by Dieselguy4

So you are telling the OP to run over weight. That is totally unsat. Any truck you buy has to be able to handle the pin weight of the fifth wheel. You cannot get to GCWR if you cannot be with in GVWR or GAWR. You saying these trucks are rated for more. well the manufacturer has a team of engineers that has certified them through J2807. I only tow at 80% of my max GCWR and are well with in GCWR and GAWR. If you get a big fifth wheel get a big enough truck. the new 1 ton duallys are amazing trucks but you still have be be with in specs. Oh and the F450 has less load capacity then the F350. Again read the specs. Oh and I know what I am talking about

What's the differance if I'm 300 lbs under in pl or 300l lbs over in pl, not a dang thing. These trucks components are rated for much higher than the manufacturer rates them at and anybody who can't acknowledge that there not going to rate a motor vehicle to operate on its ragged edge is not thinking for themselves. It's all about the axle weights, keep those under and your all good, 3 decades of commercial driving experience to back up my knowledge. Anyone is able to make there own judgements and decide what's in there best interest.
If someone was 13,999 we would say, oh man that's perfectly loaded, ill always continue to move weight around to get that number closer but I'm not going to worry about a few hundred pounds. Ill do my thing and you can do yours. Car haulers are hauling well over there capacities every mile of every day with out any issue, if your threshold is 80% Thats your decision. For the once or twice a month we move our rv to another destination, I'm not worried about a few hundred lbs

[tuffr2]

Billett - you be one crazy dude. A 600 pound swing in weight is a bunch.

Try picking up a 300lb. weight set.

[xc-mark]

5600lbs pin weight , 300lb hitch . The pay load on my 2020 3500 gmc crew 4x4 is 5280lbs. Listed payload ,so using you max axle on my truck is 10,500 lbs and as it goes down the road it's 4850 lbs with the hitch and and a full tank of fuel. No mater how you choose to see what's ok its still over. I can tell you with out any reservation you will need air bags to carry that weight on any of the big three one ton trucks. Wish you the best and safe travels!

[Billett Bee]

Originally Posted by xc-mark

5600lbs pin weight , 300lb hitch . The pay load on my 2020 3500 gmc crew 4x4 is 5280lbs. Listed payload ,so using you max axle on my truck is 10,500 lbs and as it goes down the road it's 4850 lbs with the hitch and and a full tank of fuel. No mater how you choose to see what's ok its still over. I can tell you with out any reservation you will need air bags to carry that weight on any of the big three one ton trucks. Wish you the best and safe travels!

The luxe with no generator and extra batteries is 4300 lbs pin, how you load it is up to you. My 30k mopar hitch Is no where near 300lbs. Put your w/d in the garage and keep rear black and grey tank 3/4 full during travel, and have your 100 g. fresh tank mounted at the front axle instead of the front bathroom area. Simple mathematics of moving weight around, that's how the big 3 post the big numbers. My rear axle is 9750 and ill be about 500 under that. Ill be running with a gcwr of 35-37k, which is well under the rated 43k , if I'm cra cra then I'm good with it and thank my years of driving experience s.ddo I don't have to own another mdt or hdt just to tow with then get a daily driver on top of that.
I will never promote anyone driving over there head and each individual must know there level of experience to assess there own situation

[chiefneon]

Howdy!

For the kind of weight you are talking about I would be look for a HDT. Start by researching the link below on the Escapees forum.

https://www.rvnetwork.com/forum/32-hdt/

“Happy Trails”
Chiefneon

[MADP4301]

I figured it was only a matter of time before this thread became another weight argument and banter between members. For the OP you have to filter though these to try and balance out what make sense and what doesn’t.

Coming from a DP there was no way I would forgo a gen set in the 5th wheel. We use it all the time when stopping for lunch or dinner on the road. We also will stop and run it an hour before we arrive at a campground when it’s 85+ outside so it’s not blazing hot inside during setup. It adds maybe 250 lbs to the pin weight.

I know what happens when you tow a bumper pull trailer without enough tongue weight. Tail wags the dog tons of sway and slow white knuckle ride. I don’t know what happens regarding handling if you tow a 5th wheel with say 15% pin weight or even less to try and stay within a certain trucks carrying capacity. Gooseneck horse trailers do fine with 15% but they don’t have the massive height over the truck like 5th wheel trailers. Maybe others have experience here? I would be nervous that in high speed high winds you could have similar issues with a 5Th wheel under pin weight for size/weight.

This is my first 5th wheel and I’m at 21% pin weight and it’s very stable at 70 MPH with cross winds.

[Billett Bee]

Wrr have full timed for over 5 years now snd not even once needed a generator, solar, or high dollar batteries. We only stay in resorts and campgrounds and will not boon dock or stay in a parking lot. Our power to a park had went out a few times for 5-8 hours and we just go buy 2 bags of ice for the fridge, definitly not worth a $7000 price tag that rvf charges. If you have to have a generator because of where you stay, get a 100lb portable that you can carry in the garage during travel thus continuing to keep pin weight down. Again, move weight around. Fifth wheels don't travel like travel trailers and are not dangerous like a th with the wag the dog scenario. All your doing is moving weight onto the trailer axles instead of your trucks rear axle, your nose is not going to come up that high and if it does do a 1 time pin adjustment to counter act that by lowering nose. There's always a solution, just work out what you need based on your lifestyle. Happy and safe travels

[4x4ord]

Originally Posted by MADP4301

I figured it was only a matter of time before this thread became another weight argument and banter between members. For the OP you have to filter though these to try and balance out what make sense and what doesn’t.

Coming from a DP there was no way I would forgo a gen set in the 5th wheel. We use it all the time when stopping for lunch or dinner on the road. We also will stop and run it an hour before we arrive at a campground when it’s 85+ outside so it’s not blazing hot inside during setup. It adds maybe 250 lbs to the pin weight.

I know what happens when you tow a bumper pull trailer without enough tongue weight. Tail wags the dog tons of sway and slow white knuckle ride. I don’t know what happens regarding handling if you tow a 5th wheel with say 15% pin weight or even less to try and stay within a certain trucks carrying capacity. Gooseneck horse trailers do fine with 15% but they don’t have the massive height over the truck like 5th wheel trailers. Maybe others have experience here? I would be nervous that in high speed high winds you could have similar issues with a 5Th wheel under pin weight for size/weight.

This is my first 5th wheel and I’m at 21% pin weight and it’s very stable at 70 MPH with cross winds.

I put 1000 lbs behind the rear bumper of my 5th wheel carrying a motorcycle on a rear mounted lift. Loaded my 5ver weighs in at 17000 lbs and at 15% pin weight I sometimes will get a little tail wagging.

[Billett Bee]

Originally Posted by 4x4ord

I put 1000 lbs behind the rear bumper of my 5th wheel carrying a motorcycle on a rear mounted lift. Loaded my 5ver weighs in at 17000 lbs and at 15% pin weight I sometimes will get a little tail wagging.

Very nice moving of weight and reduced pin

[kdauto]

Originally Posted by 4x4ord

I put 1000 lbs behind the rear bumper of my 5th wheel carrying a motorcycle on a rear mounted lift. Loaded my 5ver weighs in at 17000 lbs and at 15% pin weight I sometimes will get a little tail wagging.

I seriously doubt any stock 5th wheel frame is designed for such a huge load out back. I'd be terrified of cracking the frame, breaking springs or popping tires.

Adding such a weight to the rear end amplifies the "see-saw" effect, and I'd expect a lot of instability on bumpy roads at speed.

[4x4ord]

Originally Posted by kdauto

I seriously doubt any stock 5th wheel frame is designed for such a huge load out back. I'd be terrified of cracking the frame, breaking springs or popping tires.

Adding such a weight to the rear end amplifies the "see-saw" effect, and I'd expect a lot of instability on bumpy roads at speed.

The bike is about 17 feet behind the centre of the tandem axles. In high winds there can be a bit of a squirmy feel but bumps or heaves in the road don't seem to be an issue. The frame appears plenty strong to me ..... I've carried the bike thousands of miles without issue.