ragerjr

If you are worried about the weight of the fifthwheel hitch you could do like Koolbreeze and myself that changed the pin out on the camper to a gooseneck hookup. A gooseneck hitch will weigh less then a fifthwheel hitch. With a 6.5' bed you can either go with a straight (no offset) or go with an offset gooseneck adapter on the camper. I have a 10 F150 6.5' bed that I use to pull a 2012 Rockwood SUL and I use a 5in (if I remember right) offset on the adapter. If you look at the "let's see your campers being towed" thread on here you will see it. It is on page 129 and there is also a pic of the adapter in that thread.

ragerjr

Looks Good. That is a nice rig.

jcain

Pin weight doesn't add up

brulaz

Looks like the Cougar X-Lite 27BHS and those are the numbers in the catalogue. For a 31', 7000# (dry, 10,000GVWR) that's a low pin weight (16%).

But once you fill up the pass-thru ...

EDIT: Actually the catalogue says 7000#, so I guess the trailer has 100# of options.

Koolbreez

Yea I talked to Keystone today and they's said the WT is @ 7100 dry, the way he explained it to me was take the dry wt and after its all loaded take the wt again and if it wt is 9100 lb which is 2000 lb of gear take %15 of 9100 lb which is 1365 lb, My payload is 1800 lb so I would still be under 435 lb to payload.Does that make sense?

http://www.keystonerv.com/cougar-xlite/

brulaz

Yup. 435# for you, passengers, other stuff, and a 200# hitch?

But about taking 15% of your 2000# of gear: Yes, as built, the trailer has 1110/7100 or 15.6% tongue weight. But if you stow some of your gear in the pass-thru, and say that's about half way between king-pin and the 5er's axles; about half that gear's weight will go on the pin, not just 15%. Or if you stow stuff behind the axles, that will take weight *off* the pin (like a teeter-totter). If you've got a trailer with a huge wardrobe right at the very front, almost right over the pin, well most of that weight will be on the pin.

It's the same with TT too, trying to figure out how much your gear weight is going to end up on the ball/pin is tough.

Of course if you have a big enough truck, it doesn't matter.

Koolbreez

Well I have the B&W goose neck hitch and the WT on it was 57 or 67# thats what it said on the Fed Ex box I'am not using the 5th wheel hitch, I also have a 4 wheeler trailer I take with me and the tongue wt is 200# with the Ranger on it..My son and I pick it up and move it around with the 4 wheeler on it....Now when I talked to FORD the other day I asked him about the wt on the driver and passenger and he said that you do not count that on the pin side because we don't sit in the box and its engineered toward the middle part of the truck,The wt that is and the fuel tank of gas is already figured in the payload. Now like I said that's what the Ford Engineer told me..I know the 5th wheel I sold I checked it just for fun at the scale on the way out camping and I had 1320# one time and the last time had 1276# of extra wt that's water included.So I know it will be fine. But I will take a wt on it again just to know where I am.

brulaz

About the goose neck: doesn't it need an adapter for the trailer king pin? And is 57-67# the total weight of hitch plus adapter (if needed)?

I think the Ford guy and I agree that a full tank of gas is included in the payload calculations. But "people" do count as "cargo". Here's what Ford's Towing Guide says:
"Passengers" includes the driver.

But the important #'s are the GVWR of the truck and its GAWR's, everybody agrees with that. And that's what you'll be comparing your scale #'s to anyway.

A 1300# loaded pin weight on your old trailer is really nice. I could be towing that. I think ...

Koolbreez

Yea I forgot about that the adapter that goes on the 5th wheel was 29#, CHECK THIS OUT in NORTH DAKOTA where I am working..I was driving into town today and had to stop for gas and their was a guy with a ECO BOOST W/ a Goose Neck and a Backhoe on it..I asked him holy smokes are you over wt or not? He said I don't know I been using the Eco Boost for the last 2 years for pulling the Back hoe for his business fixing sewer tanks and what have you..I asked him how it pulled and he said it pulls fine you know its back their but never had any problem and also with his crew of 5...And one of the guys was a big boy he made a crew of 2 himself......Anyways I asked him about the Pay load and he smiled and said WHATS That? I just hook up the goose neck and the boys and go to work...

brulaz

Love it. Guess there's not a lot of roadside Motor Vehicle checks in North Dakota these days. I've heard the Natural Gas boom there is really putting a strain on things.

But it's hard for me to criticize when I think back on all the crazy/stupid stuff I did when younger. Now that I know better, I try to play by the rules. Also, my brother drives trucks for a living, and he would be pissed if I overloaded my truck.