spawnman

So I purchased a new 5th wheel and we leave for our first trip with it tomorrow and just wanted to see what you all thought about my weights:

I weighed the trailer with the wife and almost a full tank of gas. (Have the 36gal tank) and it came in a little over weight. Nice surprise was the trailer in the brochure was to weigh 7850 with a pin weight of 1320. Yellow sticker says 7550. At the scales she came in at 7720lbs and that's loaded with 95% of what we would take on a trip. The pin weight came in at 1120lbs.

My GAWR on the rear axle is 4050 and I'm at 4260, and for the vehicle GVWR of 7350, I'm at 7900. For the GCWR my max is 15,100 and I came in at 14,500 so good there.

I've ordered the Roadmaster Active Suspension system but it won't be in for this trip. Overall it didn't really sag much at all and felt fine pulling it home.

So I guess I'm wondering besides crashing and burning up, what's the worse that could happen? I'm not that over weight, and I would think that these newer trucks should be able to handle some extra weight. If I was way over I wouldn't be considering pulling it, but since I'm not that far over, I really believe that I would be fine.

Thoughts? (And No, a new diesel truck is not in the cards right now)

Thanks

smokeywren

550 pounds over the GVWR. I went from west Texas to West Point NY and back at about that much overweight in my F-250 with no problems. I was over the GVWR but way below the GCWR, so no problem with having enough power and torque to tow the weight. So it's doable, but since you're over the GCWR too, plan to detour around any hill country or mountain passes. Plan to travel only in daylight hours until you get the rear suspension beefed up, because your headlights will probably blind oncoming traffic at night. And be sure the rear tires are pumped up to the max PSI on the tire sidewall.

spawnman

Smokeywren,

Thanks, that's exactly the kind of information I look for on these boards. We will be traveling in the day light so good there. Also I will be loading the tires up to the max as well. Not too many hills between Albuquerque and Tucson, there are some smaller one but defiantly not crossing the Rocky Mountains!

Thanks again,
Spawnman

RRF150

Why would you buy an F150 without maxtow or the HD payload for that big of a 5'er?

spawnman

Easy, didn't have the 5'er then. Had the truck first and used to just pull a 26' trailer with it. We just upgraded to the 5'er

SkiSmuggs

Thanks for the info! You might think about E load rated tires as the default is C load. What is the brand and model of your 5er as I am looking to get one also?
I've ordered a set of SuperSprings in anticipation of that.

spawnman

We got a 2012 Open Range Light LF289RES

EricTheOracle

Slightly overweight? I'd look at a set of airbags or a set of Roadmaster active suspension.

Here is an off-site discussion on the topic.

BCMIF150

Good thought since this...was in the original post you quoted:

"I've ordered the Roadmaster Active Suspension system but it won't be in for this trip. Overall it didn't really sag much at all and felt fine pulling it home."

kjo43

All these add-ons are great, but they don't increase the legal capacites of your truck. If you are overweight, you are over... period.

Operating overweight is ignorant. Can you do it? sure... will you make it safely? probably... If something were to happen, is your insurance company going to 'head for ze hills' ? Absolutely.

Not sitting here saying I've never gone over myself, just saying there are huge stakes at play, and there's alot to think about.