Considering Sundance 3600QB - never owned a TT or 5W before

[ejs01]

Hi All! My husband and I are seriously pursuing plunging into RV ownership and have basically up-sold ourselves from a Travel Trailer to a 5th wheel. We have two kids ages 4 and 8 and want a model that we can grow into, they can bring friends etc. My husband and son love camping but I'm not a big tent camper so if we are going to do this, momma likes her nice things and conveniences, lol.

We have narrowed it down to the Sundance 3600Qb and the Forest River Salem Hemisphere 365QB. Just looking for any feedback on the 3600QB in particular and also any advice or warning about going from never owning a trailer straight to a 5th wheel. It seems like many people start out with a TT, likely due to finance reasons, but with this 5W being reasonable and not much more we felt it would be easier to tow and that could be very beneficial to first timers.

Also, we have a brand new Ford F250 4x4 3.55axle short bed diesel. Planning on adding B&W slide hitch and air ride bags. Would appreciate any advice on if that is enough truck to tow this thing...shows dry weight of about 12.5k on the trailer.

 

[jimtoo]

Hi ejs01,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and hopefully to the family. We have a great bunch of folks here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.

You will love a Sundance 5th wheel with all the room. And if you have never towed before you will find it is easy to adapt to. I'm sure some of our other members will jump in soon with more info for you.

Be sure and check out our Heartland Owners Club when you get the Sundance. Join us at a rally when you can and meet lots of the great folks here and make friends for a lifetime.

Enjoy the forum.

Jim M

 

[MP_CS]

Me any my wife started out straight away with a fifth wheel and i dont regret it one bit. It will take some practice maneuvering it around if you've never towed/backed one before but it will be second nature after ahwile. I have a sundance XLT model and am very happy with its quality and it fits us well. The only thing i dont like about the 5er is loosing all you're truck bed space. You'll have to come up with some way of transporting bicycles as there arent alot of good options for fifth wheels out there. As for you're truck Thats alot of trailer for an F-250 to handle. Mines an XLT and its about all I'd wanna pull with my F-250 with 3.73 gearing. Granted my gasser isnt rated to tow what you're diesel is. You'll have to look at your weights and see..

 

[ejs01]

Trailer dealership is of course telling us our truck can pull it no problem, lol. Truck has 3100lb payload, 15100 total gooseneck towing capacity, trailer has 2000lb hitch weight...which to me seems to be the main concern for this weight trailer on our truck in terms of payload. I have probably made myself nuts over all the towing numbers for this truck and trailer since I certainly want to be safe....it's educational for sure!

 

[Bob&Patty]

Don't bet on your pin weight being 2K. What is the GVW of the trailer? If it is...lets say 15,500K. Then your pin weight will be 3200# more or less depending on how you load for travel. Remember, everything you put in the truck add's to axle weight. This includes people, hitch, dogs, cats, firewood, fuel, etc,etc.

Your truck might be a little iffy being a SB SRW. You will probably be right at it's weight rating or over. A word of warning, do not believe anything a RV salesman tells you. If I was looking at a 42' 5er with a 15500K GVWR, I would get at least a 350 and DRW if possible. You can never have toooo much truck.