Hi. New member, not yet a GD Owner. ?'s about the 150 series 5th Wheel

[rollindowntheroad]

Hello. I am not a GD yet. I am wondering about the 150 series 5th wheels. Supposedly they are towable with a 1/2 ton truck. Looking at getting a F150, XLT, 3.5L ecoboost, 4x4, 145" wheel base, 20" tires, 6.5' bed, 3.55 rear axle, trailer tow package, super crew cab, but NOT the Max towing package. The only thing I am missing is the transmission cooler.

Wondering if any of you GD owners have purchased the 150 series 5th wheel and are actually towing it with a 1/2 ton truck? Is it possible to tow a 5th wheel with a 1/2 ton truck? Seems many other forums I am being told NO WAY this can be done.

Thank you in advance for your replies.

[Paul & Deb]

Welcome and there are actually quite a few folks towing various 5th wheel trailers with 1/2 ton trucks. It all depends on the trucks "actual" (not from a brochure or online) towing capacities both GVWR AND payload. When you find the truck you want look inside the driver's door for the payload sticker then check the 5th wheel you are looking at and take an educated guess at the worst case pin weight (i.e. 21 or 22% of the GROSS vehicle weight not the UVW). I checked the smallest and the largest 150 series 5th wheels and I would plan a pin weight of between 2,000 and 2,300 lbs. So the truck must have a payload capacity of that pin weight plus your hitch, passenger(s) and cargo. I'm not sure what the payload capacities are on the non-Max Towing F-150s is but sounds kind of tight to me.

I will say that it has become incredibly obvious to me that the majority of folks pulling 5th wheels I see pay zero, none, squat attention to the stated payload capacity of their tow vehicles and I mean this. Our last 3 week trip I made a mental note of 5th wheels I saw and I would bet a paycheck (I don't work ) that the majority were pulling with the wrong truck.

It's good that you're asking the questions though! At least you will be aware going in.

Good luck with your search.

[howson]

Hello. I am not a GD yet. I am wondering about the 150 series 5th wheels. Supposedly they are towable with a 1/2 ton truck. Looking at getting a F150, XLT, 3.5L ecoboost, 4x4, 145" wheel base, 20" tires, 6.5' bed, 3.55 rear axle, trailer tow package, super crew cab, but NOT the Max towing package. The only thing I am missing is the transmission cooler.

Wondering if any of you GD owners have purchased the 150 series 5th wheel and are actually towing it with a 1/2 ton truck? Is it possible to tow a 5th wheel with a 1/2 ton truck? Seems many other forums I am being told NO WAY this can be done.

Thank you in advance for your replies.

First, welcome to the forum. Grand Design has asked the moderators to not discuss specific tow vehicles or hitches on their forum. What I think I *can* do is point you to references that may help you with your question.

The first is a PDF provided to me by my Ford dealer. There's a long story associated with this PDF that I'll spare you...

Towing-Capability-Calculator-for-F-Series-Trucks-in-Stock (1).pdf

The second is a website created by the Keep Your Daydream (YouTube) couple. Marc has put together an excellent video and also a spreadsheet. Check them out! http://www.keepyourdaydream.com/payload/

-Howard