We've been contemplating a 5th Wheel Toy Hauler for the last month or so. We recently spent 2 days at the Tampa Rv Show getting a pretty good look at the latest and greatest currently offered. Who wouldn't like a Patio and a Garage in your 5th Wheel ?
I do have 4 Requirements ..
1 ) Under 40'
2 ) Under 20,000 lb GVWR
3 ) Minimum 12' Garage
4 ) Have to tow it with my current 17' F350 6.7, 4x4, CC, LB, SRW.
Visually, I found it hard to tell these Toy Haulers apart. Their Spec's are virtually identical. Of them all, I was mostly impressed with the Jayco Seismic,
but I have very little knowledge of these Rv Brands. What can you tell me about the ..
Grand Design Momentum ..
Dutchmen Voltage ..
Jayco Seismic .. new under 40' model coming this spring
Keystone Raptor ..
Keystone Fusion ..
Heartland Cyclone ..
Heartland Torque ..

 

Before you make any decisions or fall in love with ANY of the brands/models, do yourself a favor and go out to your truck and take a look at the white/yellow highlighted sticker on the driver side door post and see what your payload capacity is for YOUR TRUCK....as it was built.
Next thing to know/realize is that a 5ver is going to put between 20-25% of whatever it weighs, on the bed of your truck. I'll venture a guess at your payload capacity and say somewhere around 3300 lbs...give or take . Another thing to know is that many of the 5ver hitches will weigh in at 175 lbs more or less.....and that weight also is deducted from your available payload capacity. Next, you will need to have an idea of how much additional weight the truck will be carrying, either in the bed or inside the truck....passenger(s), luggage, tools, toolbox, firewood, spare fuel, BBQ grill, etc. Anything and everything that goes on or in the truck counts against available payload (your sticker weight).

Here is an example: 14,000 lb GVWR trailertrailer: 20% of that is 2800 lbs of pin weight. 25% of 14,000 lbs is 3500 lbs. Add in the hitch weight and all the other stuff I mentioned above and you could be close to 4000 lbs total weight, on a truck that only has 3300 lbs of payload. I'm not saying that your truck IS 3300 lbs payload, but that sticker will tell you what is.

This example uses a trailer that has 12,000 lbs GVWR: 12,000 times 20% comes to 2400 lbs of pin. 25% comes to 3000 lbs. And again, add the weight of the hitch and all the things I mentioned above and maybe you are at around 3200-3300 lbs. So the question is....what is the payload of your truck...based on that sticker. Once you figure out what you have to work with, weight capacity wise, you can then begin to focus your search on trailers that fit into that weight range. Hope this helps you a little bit.

 

stufarmer, you're probably in dually territory with a trailer that has a GVWR of 20k. A max GVWR around 16K is probably more realistic. I'm lowballing with a pin weight of 20% of GVWR.

If you don't have something heavy in the garage of a toy hauler then the pin weight can be much more than a normal fifth wheel trailer.

 

Up to 40' and 20,000# GVWR is a serious 5th wheel. Being a toy hauler, the GVWR and pin weight will be a bit of a moving target that may vary how the tow vehicle responds to the trailer.

Ideally, a dually is the way to go. As for a SRW, pay very close attention to cargo carrying capacity for your specific truck and view trailer spec with a skeptical eye.

A year ago we bought our first dually. It is without doubt WAY superior to a SRW...even with trailers well under 20.000#.

 

 

also check your state regs.....

your existing truck GVWR+trailer GVWR could put you in special license requirements.

example, my 2010 DRW is 14500 GVWR and would easily tow a 20K trailer but I would be at a combined 34K GVWR and in some states...that's a problem for a regular license driver.

 

There are no probably's about it......a 20,000 GVWR trailer had to have a dually. Nothing SRW in a nice truck will carry that much weight caused by the pin weight.

 

 

Gooseneck rating for his truck, which is the same as my truck, is 20,400 lbs. Fifth wheel is 18,000 lbs because the Ford fifth wheel hitch is only 18,000 lbs. Would I ever tow something that heavy with mine? Nope.

 

I'd like to use the Aluminum Andersen 5th Wheel Hitch ..

 

Jim, I understand what you are saying about those ratings, but you also have to consider the "other" rating.....Payload. The O.P. has a Platinum version of the truck which means pretty much all the goodies and less payload than let's say an XLT. I'd be surprised if his actual payload numbers on the door sticker were more than 3300 lbs. A 20,000 lb 5ver Toy Hauler is going to put at least 4000 lbs of pin weight on the truck, so he would be starting out 700 lbs overloaded.....probably more, and of course that's not counting any hitch, passengers, tools, etc, etc. That much weight in a 5ver Toy Hauler is Dually, if there ever was a case for a Dually.

 

Yeah, I glossed over the cargo capacity, figuring that it was well covered already.

 

Both the Dutchmen Voltage 3705 and the Grand Design Momentum 349 have less than a 3,000 pin weight and a GVWR under 17,000 lbs.

 

And AGAIN, we are trying to tell you, the PUBLISHED pin weight is when the T.H. is EMPTY!! Are you ever going to travel with a totally empty T.H.?....just as it came from the factory?? The only time it is going to be empty is when you tow it home, after that it is going to be loaded! How Much? No clue, only YOU know that! But the bottom line is that you have the potential to load it up to....
16,800 lbs (I'm talking about the Dutchman in this example) and the minimum pin weight for that amount is going to be around 3300 lbs and up to 4200 lbs (if you are at 25% of the trailer GVWR) I just don't know how I can make it any more clear, but you really need to learn the the ins and outs of how this all works BEFORE you buy something that you will regret.