hello, everyone ,, getting ready to upgrade to a 5er. help

[nostrokin]

its time to move on up , but I have lots of questions. first is pin weight, then towing weight. I want to be safe I do have my family to worry about. my truck is 2011 ram 2500 , with cummins 6.7 . tow package ?? I think . it is a Laramie. and has all the towing things on the dash ,, tow haul, engine brake , trailer brakes, big mirrors, tranny cooler , all the goodies. my max payload is 2228lbs, what ever that means,,, my towing cap, is 12500lbs ,I think I know what that means . but maybe not ,, lol. anyway I keep hearing people talk about pin weight, I don't have a clue about this .I'm asumeing the weight of the pin where it connects to the fifth wheel. I'm going to be looking at the bighorns. again I want to be safe, I do not want to be maxed out on weight. can anyone help me on this stuff. we did find out that once you get a camper you tend to pack a lot of stuff in it. so I will probably have about 1500lbs inside the camper , and in the truck it will be my son 100lbs, my wife 130lbs ( I'm being a little nice ) , and my 85 pound shepard. and me 190lbs. 35 gallons of diesel, 10 lbs of cell phones ,lol.oh I almost forgot my truck is not 8 foot bed its 6.6 .

 

[BusManRG]

I know that you will get some really informed replies and hopefully some from people with a 2011 Ram. Meanwhile, hubby and I found this helpful:

http://www.turnoverball.com/uploaded/images/Find Your Weight Limit - RV.pdf

I hope it copied currectly! And if you don't have your truck info, you can probably find it on line within the Dodge website brochure archives.

Sandy

 

[TravelTiger]

Go and read up at http://fifthwheelst.com and check out
http://fifthwheelst.com/rvtc_calculator.html

Both created by a Heartland Owner!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[NYSUPstater]

2 wheel drive or 4x4? Reg, ext or crew cab? Good info from 1st 2 replies.

 

[avvidclif]

The website Erika pointed to will answer all your question, once you know which RV you want and have the weights. Pin weight is the load the hitch puts onto the hitch in the bed. If your rv were fully loaded and you put a scale under the hitch it would show pin weight. On to the towing capacity, that's how much weight you can pull, in your case 12,500lbs. The accepted norm for good towing for a 5er is to have 20% of the GVWR on the pin. For a 12,500lb 5er that would be 2,500lbs. See a problem?

While shopping around you will notice the brochures show an empty weight, an empty pin weight, and then a Gross Vehicle weight. Empty weight is without propane or battery. Looks good on paper but not in the real world. Some rv's are lighter on the front due to design and some are heavier. How to find out; Take the empty pin weight and divide it by the empty weight. It will be around .2 (20%). Now take that actual percentage and multiply it by the GVWR and it will give the ~ loaded pin weight for that trailer.

I would suggest you look for rv's with a GVWR of 12,500 or less. Also the difference between the Empty weight and the GVWR is baggage capacity, make sure there is enough to haul what you plan on loading. That will get you started on the path to a fun search for the "Perfect" RV.

If your eyes glazed over use the third paragraph for starters. Don't be afraid to ask questions, no-one on here started out knowing exactly what to do and how. Been there and done that, still learning.

 

[Bob&Patty]

The one thing to know is the GVWR...how much the trailer and truck total weight can be. Remember, that weight will include people, dogs, cats, and anything you carry in the truck bed. When looking at trailers, take note of the GROSS WEIGHT RATING.....not the empty weight. Weigh your truck full of fuel, add the weight of people that will be with you. The 2200# pin weight will include all the weight in the truck over the weight of the truck itself. If I remember correctly, a 2011 2500 Ram did not have a great tow rating.

 

[farside291]

And if it hasn't already been said, Don't listen to the RV dealer telling you what you can tow with your 2500. They will tell you that you can tow anything with your truck.

 

[nostrokin]

2 wheel drive or 4x4? Reg, ext or crew cab? Good info from 1st 2 replies.

4x4,crew,diesel6.7,

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And if it hasn't already been said, Don't listen to the RV dealer telling you what you can tow with your 2500. They will tell you that you can tow anything with your truck.

yes dealer just wants to sell anything

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The one thing to know is the GVWR...how much the trailer and truck total weight can be. Remember, that weight will include people, dogs, cats, and anything you carry in the truck bed. When looking at trailers, take note of the GROSS WEIGHT RATING.....not the empty weight. Weigh your truck full of fuel, add the weight of people that will be with you. The 2200# pin weight will include all the weight in the truck over the weight of the truck itself. If I remember correctly, a 2011 2500 Ram did not have a great tow rating.

my sticker on the door is,, gawr front 5500lbs with tires lt265/70r17e, ,,gawr rear 6010lbs with tires lt265/70r17e . gvwr 9600lbs.

 

[NYSUPstater]

Weigh your ruck as pointed out full of fuel, family, dog etc. Based on 9600 gvw, my guess is that your truck should weigh between 7,000 - 8,000 lbs w/o a trailer. Once you know what your truck weighs empty, that will tell you what size of RV will be best. Can you go over on trailer weight and be overweight overall? Yes. Legal? No. Safe? No, but many do it.

But 1st things 1st. Weigh your truck at a CAT scale (if possible) or local farm/feed store scale.

 

[fastcarsspeed]

I know there are a ton of technical people here that look at the weight very closely. I am towing our 4100 with a SRW 350 and my truck sits level when the rv is hooked up as I do not have a leveling kit. Also with the dually you have there is bigger brakes I believe than the SRW which is the main concern most of the time. I think you would fine with your current setup.

 

[nostrokin]

The website Erika pointed to will answer all your question, once you know which RV you want and have the weights. Pin weight is the load the hitch puts onto the hitch in the bed. If your rv were fully loaded and you put a scale under the hitch it would show pin weight. On to the towing capacity, that's how much weight you can pull, in your case 12,500lbs. The accepted norm for good towing for a 5er is to have 20% of the GVWR on the pin. For a 12,500lb 5er that would be 2,500lbs. See a problem?

While shopping around you will notice the brochures show an empty weight, an empty pin weight, and then a Gross Vehicle weight. Empty weight is without propane or battery. Looks good on paper but not in the real world. Some rv's are lighter on the front due to design and some are heavier. How to find out; Take the empty pin weight and divide it by the empty weight. It will be around .2 (20%). Now take that actual percentage and multiply it by the GVWR and it will give the ~ loaded pin weight for that trailer.

I would suggest you look for rv's with a GVWR of 12,500 or less. Also the difference between the Empty weight and the GVWR is baggage capacity, make sure there is enough to haul what you plan on loading. That will get you started on the path to a fun search for the "Perfect" RV.

If your eyes glazed over use the third paragraph for starters. Don't be afraid to ask questions, no-one on here started out knowing exactly what to do and how. Been there and done that, still learning.

yes I see the problem no room left for gear , but I'm thinking about buying a halfton towable 5er, I don't want to pull anything to heavy . I would like to get a 30 footer that only weights in at about 8000 lbs

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I'm getting more cornfused , the more I read , darn why cant this be easy button stuff. how about those half ton 5ers , could I do those without the worries of being over weight

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I know there are a ton of technical people here that look at the weight very closely. I am towing our 4100 with a SRW 350 and my truck sits level when the rv is hooked up as I do not have a leveling kit. Also with the dually you have there is bigger brakes I believe than the SRW which is the main concern most of the time. I think you would fine with your current setup.

I only have a srw alsol