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I tow a fuzion 345 currently. I had a 2004 laredo 29bh(favorite) and a 2012 fuzion 302. My tow vehicles were 95 dodge 12v, 2007 dodge 5.9, 2012 ram 6.7, f-350(current).
The biggest problem I have with a toy hauler is length. It is hard to find an improved campground that will allow a 39’ 5th wheel and a crew cab long bed. I usually dry camp so that is not a problem. But for Easter we luckily found the last camp spot at Kodachrome basin. All other spots from Bryce Canyon to Escalante were taken. The extra 2, 3, 4 feet make a huge difference. This is as big as I will go. Brother has a 44’ voltage(f-350 dually). Not for me. The other issue is weight on a toy hauler. They have bigger tanks, on board generator, and fuel tanks, heavier frame.
i have been towing a toy hauler for 6 years. Every couple of time my wife and I talk about down sizing.
A
s for carrying the weight, I do not have a problem. A couple of big bumps in I-70 I did hit the bump stops. Not hard, just felt it.
No matter what you are planning on pulling, make sure your tires are up to the task. When i got my 05 350 cclb 4x4 it had some 35s on it that were the 123 rating. Before i even entertained the idea of hooking up my 5th wheel toy hauler to it, i got some terra grapplers that have the 129 rating, i dont recall exactly the weight nunber each tire is rated for, but i know alot of people who just throw on whatever tire looks good, regardless of the rating, and thats just scary to me.
heres my setup. Truck pulls it just fine and loves it.
As a retired aircraft load-master, I worked with axle weights and all the associated calculations for well over 20 years. What slipped by me, was the huge difference between bumper pull and 5th wheel weights and restrictions. I just never considered the huge difference. I feel most don't. For us, as a result, therefore we crowded the limits of our 3/4 ton with our latest 26ft fiver. All the we, and we felt we had lots of capacity, Weights looked good. But it turned out that we were, eternally on the legal edge, and a couple of time over it. Our latest rig essentially came with erroneous weights for the pin. The 1375 lb pin weight was actually 1640 plus, not the advertised number. This put us on a huge weight shifting binge and eventually into a bigger truck (F350 SWR diesel). We did not discover the actual weight for about 3 months and by then it was too late to whine about it. We love our Fox Mountain 235 RLS but the incorrect pin weight was still in their brochure the last time we looked.
Regards
Bill
As a retired aircraft load-master, I worked with axle weights and all the associated calculations for well over 20 years. What slipped by me, was the huge difference between bumper pull and 5th wheel weights and restrictions. I just never considered the huge difference. I feel most don't. For us, as a result, therefore we crowded the limits of our 3/4 ton with our latest 26ft fiver. All the we, and we felt we had lots of capacity, Weights looked good. But it turned out that we were, eternally on the legal edge, and a couple of time over it. Our latest rig essentially came with erroneous weights for the pin. The 1375 lb pin weight was actually 1640 plus, not the advertised number. This put us on a huge weight shifting binge and eventually into a bigger truck (F350 SWR diesel). We did not discover the actual weight for about 3 months and by then it was too late to whine about it. We love our Fox Mountain 235 RLS but the incorrect pin weight was still in their brochure the last time we looked.
Regards
Bill
It's not an incorrect pin weight, it's marketing bull ****... But it's not incorrect. It's the absolute best case scenario and usually doesn't include batteries or propane tanks. It's the same if you look up payload for an F250. It will already be best case scenario, but youd be hard pressed to actually find one with that high a payload. Lesson learned I guess, but know that all manufacturers do this, and they know exactly what they're doing. It's much cheaper to skirt the system that actually build a lighter trailer with all the bells and whistles.
As a retired aircraft load-master, I worked with axle weights and all the associated calculations for well over 20 years. What slipped by me, was the huge difference between bumper pull and 5th wheel weights and restrictions. I just never considered the huge difference. I feel most don't. For us, as a result, therefore we crowded the limits of our 3/4 ton with our latest 26ft fiver. All the we, and we felt we had lots of capacity, Weights looked good. But it turned out that we were, eternally on the legal edge, and a couple of time over it. Our latest rig essentially came with erroneous weights for the pin. The 1375 lb pin weight was actually 1640 plus, not the advertised number. This put us on a huge weight shifting binge and eventually into a bigger truck (F350 SWR diesel). We did not discover the actual weight for about 3 months and by then it was too late to whine about it. We love our Fox Mountain 235 RLS but the incorrect pin weight was still in their brochure the last time we looked.
Regards
Bill
Advertised pin weight, in almost all instances will be the DRY pin weight of the trailer.....as it was built. No battery(s), no propane in the tanks, etc. No One goes camping with an empty trailer, so those numbers are totally useless. Your trailer, with a GVWR of 11,500 lbs, if loaded to that weight, Wii put you in the neighborhood of 2300 lbs on the pin (20% of the GVWR) and by the time you add the 5ver hitch, cargo in the truck, driver's weight, passenger's weight, anything and everything that goes in or on the truck itself, you could very easily be at 3000 lbs or more. Definitely out of range for most F250 truck's. And the reason the trailer manufacturers use the DRY pin weight is because they have no idea how someone will load that trailer when they buy it. That is why it's always a good rule of thumb to calculate what you need in the way of a truck (payload capacity, etc.) by using the GVWR of the prospective trailer....then figuring out the weight of the hitch, everything you are going to put in or on the truck, number of folks that will be in the truck and their weight....then total all that up and that is how much payload you are going to need for the truck.
02-16-2018, 08:48 PM
