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  1. #1
    Electrical/Wiring/Trolling Motors Moderator CatFan's Avatar
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    Is two trucks crazy? Help me think this through

    We've always had more vehicles than drivers. Generally my truck, one nicer SUV and one economy vehicle that we rack up the miles on going back and forth to work. The economy vehicle saves us on gas money for routine transportation, and it saves miles on our more expensive vehicles making them last longer.

    Now retirement time is approaching and we are considering an RV. From our shopping, we are leaning toward a 5th wheel to get the large bed, separate living and sleeping area and a reasonable kitchen.

    My current truck is an F150 4X4. I use it to tow the boat, general farm hauling and pulling my aluminum gooseneck stock trailer. It does the job and is exactly what I need most of the time. But it won't be what I need if we get a 5th wheel. I'm not interested in the ultra-light 5th wheels. I don't like the build quality and trade-offs. Since I'm a big fan of having plenty of truck for what I'm pulling, I think a 1-ton dually is the right answer for most 5th wheels to make long distance towing more comfortable.

    A dually makes sense for the RV, and would be fine for towing the stock trailer, but they are kind of a pain as a daily driver or for trying to park in a ramp parking lot.

    So the thought has entered my head to look for a well-maintained used F350 that is already set up for towing a 5th wheel that has 90-120,000 miles on it. I'd use this truck almost exclusively for towing the bigger trailers and it would be parked inside when not in use.

    But then towing the boat and a daily driver for me is up in the air. It's not that I can't use a dually for that stuff, but it seems silly to rack up the miles on something that is expensive to operate and harder to maneuver. To complicate things a little, if we want to head to the lake with the boat and RV, we'd either need a tow vehicle for each one, or make two trips on each end. That's an extra 6 hour round trip on each end of a vacation at one of my favorite lakes.

    Though snow isn't a constant problem here, we have a 1/4 mile driveway and having some vehicle that can handle snow is desireable.

    So it comes down to what I see as two options:


    1. Sell my F150 and get the 350 for the RV and my daily driver and get my wife an SUV that can tow the boat when needed.
    Advantages: Fewer vehicles to plate, insure and maintain.
    Disadvantages: Less convenient and more expensive as my daily driver. SUV will not get good gas mileage when traveling. Dually isn't an ideal off road or snow vehicle even with 4WD.
    2. Keep my F150 as my daily driver and boat hauler, get a 350 for the RV and get the wife a third moderately economical vehicle (Taurus or similar) for day to day use and trips without the RV.
    Advantages: Convenient Daily driver and good second tow vehicle for the boat. Saves miles on the expensive dually and can probably get by with an older one. Having the F150 4X4 would allow me to have a 2WD dually vs 4WD. Wife's daily driver will be more economical.
    Disadvantages: More vehicles to plate, insure and maintain.



    I guess my main question would be whether it makes sense to have a dedicated vehicle for the RV?

    I've always felt a 5th wheel is a better option than a motor home since you'd have to tow a car along to have easy transportation once you are on site with the motor home anyway so you might as well drive the truck. Even if the truck is sitting when you aren't using the RV, it's no different than the chassis of a motor home sitting parked when you aren't using it.


    Appreciate any thoughts.
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  2. Member BILL LO's Avatar
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    #2
    How about a SRW F350 would have enough power and weight capacity to pull the 5th wheel and wouldn't be any harder to drive, park than your 150 , granted fuel economy isn't the greatest but , one less vehicle to register and insure

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  3. Electrical/Wiring/Trolling Motors Moderator CatFan's Avatar
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    #3
    Quote Originally Posted by BILL LO View Post
    How about a SRW F350 would have enough power and weight capacity to pull the 5th wheel and wouldn't be any harder to drive, park than your 150 , granted fuel economy isn't the greatest but , one less vehicle to register and insure
    Worth considering if I find a trailer with pin weight that works with the SRW. Though it looks like from my online searches that DRW are much more common in 350s than SRW.
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  4. Member Lu Bedevia's Avatar
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    #4
    How big of a 5th wheel are you thinking?

    I tow a 28ft 5th wheel with my boat behind that... I do it with my 1/2 ton Ram. I am still 2500# shy from maxing out my truck. The point is a 3/4 Diesel would do everything that you described and more...

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  5. Electrical/Wiring/Trolling Motors Moderator CatFan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lu Bedevia View Post
    How big of a 5th wheel are you thinking?

    I tow a 28ft 5th wheel with my boat behind that... I do it with my 1/2 ton Ram. I am still 2500# shy from maxing out my truck. The point is a 3/4 Diesel would do everything that you described and more...
    Well it all kind of has to play together so I'm not sure where I'm going. 32-34ft is what I have in mind. Thinking a gently used rig would be a good start, and if we use it we'll learn more about what we want in a future rig.
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  6. Member Lu Bedevia's Avatar
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    #6
    Quote Originally Posted by CatFan View Post
    Well it all kind of has to play together so I'm not sure where I'm going. 32-34ft is what I have in mind. Thinking a gently used rig would be a good start, and if we use it we'll learn more about what we want in a future rig.
    My dad does a 32 and his boat with a 3/4 Gas. Personally I think the days of 5th wheels and dually's (sp) is over. (unless your over 40ft b/c of pin box weight, and I think that is even a stretch) Reason being is that components and the way they are built is so much lighter now than it was 20 years ago. Without doing any research I would believe a 35ft trailer today (last 5 years) is considerably lighter than a 35ft 20 years ago.

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  7. Winter can end now..... BoatBuggy's Avatar
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    #7
    Quote Originally Posted by CatFan View Post

    1. Sell my F150 and get the 350 for the RV and my daily driver and get my wife an SUV that can tow the boat when needed.
    Advantages: Fewer vehicles to plate, insure and maintain.
    Disadvantages: Less convenient and more expensive as my daily driver. SUV will not get good gas mileage when traveling. Dually isn't an ideal off road or snow vehicle even with 4WD.
    This is what we are doing. I'll be replacing my 2008 Sierra and purchasing an F350 4WD SRW diesel to tow the 5th wheel. My wife will tow the boat (probably an RT198p) behind her 2015 Pathfinder.

    We thought we were doing the Class A motorhome thing until we checked out some 5ers. We like the layouts better and I was going to need a new truck in a few years anyways. We are currently a 2 person, 3 vehicle family with the 3rd vehicle being a Pontiac Vibe. It's a great little car but we are going to sell it because we don't really use it as much as we thought we would. The extra cost of using the F350 as my daily driver is still cheaper than insuring and maintaining a small 3rd vehicle.
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  8. Member bassn5150's Avatar
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    #8
    Split the difference and get a F250? Just food for thought, I pull our 33 foot 5th wheel, which grosses 13k, with my F250, short box, crew cab FX4. The trailer doesn't over-burden the truck, which is in stock trim. Just got back from the Gulf Coast this past weekend and it performs fine whether on interstate or two lane highway. True enough, if you get into the 40' range with a fifth wheel, pin weight would be an issue.

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    #9
    I own a Grand Design Reflection 323BHS--a bunk house model mid size fifth wheel with 4 slides. It weighs 11k lbs. dry, and the kingpin weight is 2K dry--about as large as a 3/4 ton diesel truck is needed. And it's as nice a trailer as I'll ever need.

    Modern diesel pickups have the engine power to tow heavy loads, but the single rear wheel models simply don't have the capability of a very heavy king pin weight required for the 14K lb. full size fifth wheel trailers. With heavier fifth wheels, dual rear wheels are simply the way to go.

    Remember that you've also got to allow for a heavy fifth wheel hitch in the bed, full fuel, all your "stuff" in the trailer and passengers. It's easy for a "dry weight" to be 2500-3000 lbs. more than just the trailer alone. Many owners don't realize where they stand on weight until they place their full loaded fifth wheel trailers on a certified scale, and then the numbers speak.

  10. Electrical/Wiring/Trolling Motors Moderator CatFan's Avatar
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    #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Bamaman View Post
    Modern diesel pickups have the engine power to tow heavy loads, but the single rear wheel models simply don't have the capability of a very heavy king pin weight required for the 14K lb. full size fifth wheel trailers. With heavier fifth wheels, dual rear wheels are simply the way to go.

    Remember that you've also got to allow for a heavy fifth wheel hitch in the bed, full fuel, all your "stuff" in the trailer and passengers. It's easy for a "dry weight" to be 2500-3000 lbs. more than just the trailer alone. Many owners don't realize where they stand on weight until they place their full loaded fifth wheel trailers on a certified scale, and then the numbers speak.
    I think a lot of people are hauling overloaded or very close to the line and I'd prefer to be over trucked than overloaded. Friend used to have an F450 that was a dream to tow a big cattle trailer with, but probably overkill for a static load like an RV.
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  11. Electrical/Wiring/Trolling Motors Moderator CatFan's Avatar
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    #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Lu Bedevia View Post
    How big of a 5th wheel are you thinking?

    I tow a 28ft 5th wheel with my boat behind that... I do it with my 1/2 ton Ram. I am still 2500# shy from maxing out my truck. The point is a 3/4 Diesel would do everything that you described and more...
    I'd be interested in seeing your numbers. From what I can see online, your 5er has a dry pin weight of 1516lbs. Unless you are a really small guy, your weight alone in the cab puts you over the 1700lb max payload for the truck there. The trailer empty weighs 8800lbs and the boat has to weigh a couple of thousand which would be over the truck's 10,700lb towing capacity before you add any gear at all to either the trailer or the boat. On top of that, the maximum GCVWR on a half ton Ram is 15,950 with a 5400lb truck weight meaning 5400+8800+2000+300(Passengers)=16,500lbs with no gear at all putting you over GCVWR.
    Last edited by CatFan; 05-18-2017 at 06:27 AM.
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  12. Member Lu Bedevia's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CatFan View Post
    I'd be interested in seeing your numbers. From what I can see online, your 5er has a dry pin weight of 1516lbs. Unless you are a really small guy, your weight alone in the cab puts you over the 1700lb max payload for the truck there. The trailer empty weighs 8800lbs and the boat has to weigh a couple of thousand which would be over the truck's 10,700lb towing capacity before you add any gear at all to either the trailer or the boat. On top of that, the maximum GCVWR on a half ton Ram is 15,950 with a 5400lb truck weight meaning 5400+8800+2000+300(Passengers)=16,500lbs with no gear at all putting you over GCVWR.
    My trailer is 7700 dry according to the tag. My boat is about 2k give or take. Pin weight I don't know honestly. I work for a scale company and even we don't have a good way to measure the pin weight. But that sounds right. I am not on my extra supports on the springs.

    I am at about 14,500k fully loaded. (on a full truck scale with fuel and passengers) I don't fill my water tank until I get to my destination because that is a lot of weight and stress on the trailer.

    After all that I am still about under the GCVWR of the truck. My folks and I have done this setup safely since 1997. My only concern with this setup was the Pin weight because of having the 5'7" box and running on my suspension stops all the time. I still have 2 inches of clearance so that eases my mind.
    Last edited by Lu Bedevia; 05-18-2017 at 08:17 AM.

    Lu Bedevia
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