So many 1/2 tons towing 5th wheels
 

I just came back from a trip to the East Coast (New Brunswick, PEI and Nova Scotia. Absolutely beautiful out there.

I was amazed how many 1/2 pick-ups I saw (Ford, GM and Dodge) towing good size fifth wheels. Now most of the 5th wheels were HT (half ton) series, but I think even most of those are too heavy for the average 1/2 ton truck.

The worst culprit I saw was at an Irving Oil gas station in Nova Scotia, a 1500 Ram towing a 30+ foot travel trailer (probably 10 year old trailer), no weight distribution hitch and he had a quad in the back of his truck, with the tailgate down, that was only inches away from the tongue jack. The quad was the type with the roll cage on it. The entire setup was pretty rickety looking, I couldn't believe my eyes. I should have taken a picture.

So many people are towing OVER their truck's capacities.
ESPECIALLY 1/2 tons.:eek:

I saw a Class A towing a full size TT once. Didn't have a chance to get a pic, but pretty sure the TT had to be over 26'. Must have been a big family to need that kind of space. Renting a vacation house would have been cheaper IMO.

and boy when they hear what weight limits really matter and what payload capacity means....they get real quiet real quick after throwing out the 'max trailer weight' number, since they ignored everything else.

I dont get how any ram 1500 can pull any 5er, the payload on them is scary low lol. HDPP f150's shouldn't have an issue, even just a max tow xlt or xl can get away ok if you load light and find a camper with a low pin weight. But likely most don't care as long as it goes down the road. Im close to my max TW for my hitch but under my payload, I load everything in the camper behind the axles to help a bit.

At least a fifth-wheel hitch (or the holes from one) makes it obvious that a non-HDPP truck has probably been used to tow at or above manufacturer specs, which is helpful information if shopping for used trucks.

I saw a camper and truck at Walmart a couple of weeks back, it was old POC camper that was at least a 30' long being pulled by an old POC Chevy half ton with no WDH, the bumper of the truck was about 10" off the ground it was so overloaded. Sometimes you just want to call the Law on some of these stupid people.

Many people are cheap, and/or idiots. They want to pull a giant trailer but don't want to fork out the money for the appropriate vehicle. Or in some cases they truly are oblivious to the limits of their trucks. This weekend coming home from camping, I saw many obviously overloaded half-tons pulling trailers far too heavy for them. There was one Ram with a bumper-pull well over 30 feet and I swear his wheels must have been very close to rubbing the top of his wheel wells and he was likely sitting on the bump stops. But he blew past me roaring away at high RPM doing well over the speed limit. Come on Darwin....

But I will say that the majority are loaded right from the looks of it. Most half-tons I see with 5th wheels are pretty small 5th wheels and not likely over their limits. I do also see 3/4 ton trucks pulling mansions that probably require a full 1-ton truck, and that 3/4 ton truck is squatting... Pretty obvious when the 5th wheel is more than twice as high as the truck cab and it's a triple axle.

TT's are too affordable, especially when you can finance them over 10-20 years so it's only a few hundred a month. Meanwhile Billy-Bob Idiot can't afford the right truck to pull it but wants the giant camper with all the slides and nifty features.

I was at a camping world looking at getting something with some more room and its amazing how little their sales people know, or how blatantly they ignore it. I have a short box and they spent an awful lot of time trying to get me into a 5er. They even showed me fords towing guide to try and convince me it was all gravy. The trailer makers label things as 'half ton towable' that I am sure can fall within specs for certain trucks that are perfectly optioned, but my truck was nowhere close.

Show them this pic and ask if this half ton can tow it....

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...b7750ce64b.jpg

When they go "well, erm, uh..." Just point out that not all half-tons are the same.