biggin86

I'm looking to buy an RV to stay in while at work and use about twice a year for vacations. I Will be staying in it during week mostly and maybe a coworker. But I was looking at TTs in the 30-33' range and was curious if it would be better to go ahead and look at the 5th wheels as well. I have an 07 screw with 6.5' bed, 5.4L, 3.55 gears.

SkiSmuggs

A fifth wheel travels better because it is more integrated with your truck. However, you are limited by pin weight (you shouldn't go much over a dry pin weight of 1000 lbs), and the set up of your truck can be expensive. I think a travel trailer may be better for your circumstances, but be aware of the tongue weight and check your manual on those limits. You will also need a weight distribution hitch for the TT to move some of the tongue weight to the front wheels and to the trailer. I found the Equal-i-zer hitch to be good and got a good price at RVWholesalers.com if I remember that correctly.

Blakearooskey

I pull a 30' TT with about 960 tongue weight with my 2010 Screw. 4.6l and a set of 3.31's. It is a lot of trailer for the truck but if I travel long distances I get the F350 from the parents.

An equalizer hitch is absolutely recommended in my opinion.

Fastfwd

Look at the payload and rear axel max numbers on the F150. Consider that hitch + passengers are reducing the payload and add a 1000-1500 pin weight(empty) to that. Now add a little more to the pin weight for non-empty trailer. It just can't be done with most fifth wheels.

I visited both and decided I like the fifth wheels interior better. I'm getting an F250. Otherwise the only safe choice is a travel trailer.

SkiSmuggs

For his F150, yes, but the 2011 with Max Tow has a payload of 1878 lbs and the 2012 with HD Payload about 2300 lbs. These are not your father's F150s. The right fifth wheel can be done. That said, my tow rating is 11,200 lbs and my fiver is between 8500 and 9000 lbs and I wouldn't want to tow anything bigger. But I feel safer than when towing my travel trailer that weighed 3000 lbs less because it feels more stable.

biggin86

I went looking at 5th wheels today and companies are now making them for 1/2 tons in mind. They were 6000-7500 with pin weight not exceeding 1000. I do like the layouts in the 5ers more.

smokeywren

With even the smallest 5ers, you will exceed the GVWR of your truck. And with most 30' TTs, you'll exceed the GVWR of your truck. In other words, you'll be overloaded.Will your 5.4L pull it? Yes, if you don't try to climb the Rocky Mountain passes. But your suspension will be overloaded and thus unsafe.If your truck had the HD payload pkg, then you could probably handle a 30 to 33 foot long TT without being overloaded. But since you have the 3.55 axle, you don't have the HD payload pkg, which requires 3.73.My 2012 SuperCrew with 6.5' bed and a topper is slightly overloaded when on the road with a 20' TT (23' outside including the hitch and spare tire) that weighs 4870 pounds wet and loaded for the road (4,220 on the trailer axles plus 650 on the hitch). My GVWR is 7,100 but on a recent 4,000-mile trip with the trailer grossing 4,870 my GVW was 7,200 with the WD hitch adjusted and tightened. Just me, my sweetheart and tow dogs. My only extra weight in the truck was a toolbox that weighs about 50 pounds, and the fiberglass topper weighs about 200.

SkiSmuggs

GVWR is the total weight of the truck with load including pin or hitch weight, not the total weight of the truck and trailer combined which is GCWR. So a GVWR of 7100 lbs that weighs 5700 lbs unloaded allows for 1400 lbs of passengers, luggage, and hitch weight. A fiver with pin weight of 1000 lbs pretty well maxes it. The Max Tow and HD payload of the newest F150s add more capacity.
My truck's GVWR is 7650 lbs giving me about 1900 lbs of payload.

jcain

you really are going to have to trailer shop based on weight at that length. i looked for a WHILE to find a 27' that fit my criteria. I came up with the following weights to keep me legit:
GVW:7,400
Dry Weight:5,500
Payload Capacity:1,425
Hitch Weight:475

Plenty of payload to spare, 27' of rv WITH a slideout. I've seen some 29' tt's that are pretty close to what I'd consider safe, and well within the legal limits.

12FX2

I just weighed my FX2 today, 5820, with me (185) and just under 3/4 tank of fuel.