My truck is 2009 F150 lariat screw with max towing package, 3.73 rear gearing, 5.4L and 6 1/2' bed. Does anyone have any experience pulling a 5th wheel camper with this setup? I have a 31' Tongue pull camper and am looking at trading for a 28' 2010 KZ Durango 1500 5th wheel with gcwr of 8800#. I think that is well within the capabilities of my truck, but want a second opinion.

 

man you shoud be FINE...i tow a 30 foot 7,000 pound camper off the hitch with my 97 F150...with a 2009 or 10 i cant imagine you not being able to do this... just yesterday i saw a 97-03 body style F150 towing a 5th wheel 30 foot or so camper down in OKC... if they can do it then you can

 

Curt, sent you an e-mail.

 

8800lbs.? Is that dry or loaded? If it's dry, you can bet you're at 10K loaded. You also have the worst vehicle for towing capacity (loaded-out lariat, long bed, supercrew). To me, that's too much trailer for that truck. 50 miles, very infrequently and carefully, maybe. All over the place, up and down mountains, etc. out vacationing? Nope.

Just my $.02.

 

curtw48 you did right with this trailer. The best rull of thumb is to get a trailer thats GVWR is at or below what your max towing capacity is for the truck. This way your are good with the trailer weight and when you start putting a load into the trailer. Trailer Life Mag suggestion. You dont want to get a trailer that weighs 8000lbs then start loading stuff into it like water, luggage and everything else that goes along with a trip, then you will over load this truck and possibly have problems.

 

This trailer is 6700# dry, with 8800 GVWR

 

With an 8800 lb 5th wheel you are looking at about a 1500-2000 lb pin weight. That may put you a bit over your gvwr. Short beds generally aren't the best for pulling 5th wheels either. You may run into issues with clearance if you have to make some really tight turns. If it won't put you over your gvwr and you think the clearance is good, then you should be fine. I would agree with tvsjr though when it comes to how often, far, terrain, etc you plan on towing.

 

Well if you are already satisfied with how it pulls your 31 footer and they weigh about the same then you should be fine. Otherwise I would never recommend that much weight/high profile for our trucks. I know that weaker trucks with less hp did it for years but that doesn't mean I would recommend it. Also I highly doubt you will be legal. I would guess you have less than 1000lbs of payload and your tongue weight is probably near that. Not that I don't overload my truck I'm just pointing it out.