F250 Fifth Wheel Capacity

[TexasBob]

Still on a travel trailer search. I never thought a 3/4 ton diesel truck would limit me. What 5th wheel weight can I realistically tow? Specs say one thing, forums another. Seems the pin weight is too high? Has to be a toy hauler which are heavier. Even the nicer bumper pulls are close to the max specs. Can someone help me understand?


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[Sackett]

Take a picture of the sticker inside your door jam and post it up. Yes, a 3/4 Ton truck has a lower GVWR and GCWR than a F350 SRW AND DRW. Can it pull over the rated weight, sure. However, get into an accident with an overloaded truck and you'll have lawsuits piling up.

[fullsizeaggie]

Sticker weights are there for a reason. Always 2 sides of the fence though.

[TexasBob]

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[TexasBob]

F250 Fifth Wheel Capacity

I have no problem staying within specs I'm just getting conflicting stories of what that is. Hitch sticker says 18500 with weight distributing but specs online say 15900 for a fifth wheel. I can't make that math work. I would think more for fifth wheel.


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[LWD]

You have to be within spec on every component. Your hitch may be rated for 18,000, but that doesn't make your truck rated for it. Some will pull over the rated weight anyway. I have a friend who admits that he's way over with his F250 and fifth wheel trailer, but since he's got airbags it's leveled it up okay. No, it's not. You've got safety and liability issues and, perhaps, and insurance coverage issue—i.e. will your carrier cover you if you were intentionally overweight. You've got to be within spec on the GVWR, GCWR, and hitch rating.

The problem with a fifth wheel is the king pin weight can put you over the GVWR. The king pin weight of a fifth wheel is much greater than the tongue weight of a comparable bumper pull. That soaks up a lot of capacity of the truck. My Ram 2500 curbs at 6780 and grosses at 10,000. That's 3220 total cargo capacity. A 2000 pound king pin weight reduces the available weight to 1220. Put me and full tank of fuel in the truck and it's down to about 570 pounds. That's 570 pounds for everything else—wife, kids, luggage, et cet. Depending on what all you've got, you'll be at or over the GVWR of your truck.

And airbags don't solve the problem. Don't let anyone tell you they do. They may level the load, which has benefits, but they don't increase the specs of your truck.

There's a reason you see a lot of fifth wheels going down the road pulled by duallys.

LWD

[LWD]

Still on a travel trailer search. I never thought a 3/4 ton diesel truck would limit me. What 5th wheel weight can I realistically tow? Specs say one thing, forums another. Seems the pin weight is too high? Has to be a toy hauler which are heavier. Even the nicer bumper pulls are close to the max specs. Can someone help me understand?


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Truck capabilities have gone up, but trailers have gotten even bigger. I have a friend with a fifth wheel that weighs almost 20,000 pounds.

LWD

[Traxx]

What year is your truck? I had a 13 F350 SRW CC 4x4 and was limited to 16K 5th wheel/gooseneck hitch. I moved up to a DRW for increased towing capacities. Looking into it the limits on the SRW it was due to the gear ratios, 3.55/1 and the previous truck a GMC 3/4 ton with 3.73/1 had the same towing capacity. The main difference between the F250 and F350 SRW is the rear leaf springs/overload springs. The F350 SRW has the same towing but a higher payload in the bed. Here is a webpage just select your year and poke around.

https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas/topics/techspec.html

[Mike D]

Sticker on the door is only going to tell you the axle weight ratings. Your owner's manual will give you payload capacity and CGVWR both of which is really what you need to base your trailer purchase around. Also you need to know the load capacity of your tires.


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[Mike D]

F250 Fifth Wheel Capacity

Based on the link above, your CGVWR (truck plus trailer) is 23,500# and your maximum towing capacity for 5th wheel is 15,900#.



This is based on the assumption your truck is a crew cab 6.7 diesel with a 3.55 gear ratio.

Now your max GVWR (for the truck) is 10,000#. Your truck should weigh somewhere around 8,000# with you and a full tank of fuel with nothing else like heavy after market bumpers and such. All of that has to be considered. So take the weight of your remaining passengers plus any gear, etc and add that to 8,000#. Deduct that total from 10,000 and you will have your maximum pin weight.

I'm betting you are going to be limited to 1500# or less of pin weight.

You really should take your truck to a set of truck scales with you, all passengers and a typical gear loadout so you will know your exact starting weight.

[LWD]

Take Mike D's advice and figure out how much your carrying with a typical load. Me, wife, both kids, a full tank of fuel, and my tool box full of stuff is about 900#.

LWD

[Traxx]

Texas Bob, the pin weight can be helped with overload springs or airbags. Make sure the rim and tire combo will support the weight. The drivetrain, brakes and chassis are the same on the f250 and 350 SRW. The tow weight is affected by the axle gear ratio if you look at the chart in the link you can see the diff between axle gear ratios. The "higher" ratio/ lower number will put more stress on the drivetrain. But then again so will putting bigger tires on your truck. The key is to keep your RPM range in its sweet spot for torque when towing.

[Sloth]

2013 F250 w/6.7L, 156", Crew Cab 4x4, 3.55 gears. 10,000 lbs GVWR, Payload 3250, 23,500 GCWR, 15,900 lbs max 5th wheel. Add 400 lbs to payload and 5th wheel towing if you have a 4x2. No amount of air bags or helper springs will change these numbers. Pin weight needs to equal or be less than 3250 - (passengers and anything you put into or bolt to the truck). It is better to put extra items into the trailer storage than the truck since only 15-25% of that weight reaches the truck. Also make sure you are looking at trailer curb weight and not GROSS weight which includes stuff and full tanks of liquid.

[Sloth]

Before anyone goes nuts. I said look at trailer curb weight instead of GROSS because you can control the gross weight of the trailer by limiting the amount of stuff you cram in it. This gives you a little cushion. Even if you go to a park that doesn't have waste water hook up there is almost always a dump station very nearby.

[Acameron52]

Just get a one ton if possible! There is a reason you very rarely hear people complaining about having too much truck. Never get stuck under trucked.