Learning GVWR and chucking the hard way.

[Calnca]

Go big, and never look back........prefer excess capacity to "pushing the limit" when it comes to my own safety.

[Txfivver]

Go big, and never look back........prefer excess capacity to "pushing the limit" when it comes to my own safety.

Haha I agree!!

[saguido]

Hold on...don't forget, I have a "150 Series" unit, meant for half-tons. It looks to me like I am pushing the limits of the 3/4 ton.

[cookinwitdiesel]

Hold on...don't forget, I have a "150 Series" unit, meant for half-tons. It looks to me like I am pushing the limits of the 3/4 ton.

Unfortunately that 150 series is stuff is very optimistic marketing and not very practical at all in the real world. You typically will want a 3/4 ton for the lightest fifth wheels and often a 1 ton is the best fit with the mid profile ones sometimes being a good match to a SRW. Any of the full profile trailers though will always do best with a DRW. Of course, we will still see MANY people pulling their 40 ft 16k trailer with a 3/4 ton on the roads.

1/2 ton vs 3/4-1 ton aside, when you go to a HD/SD truck, you make a big jump in strength of the frame, suspension, breaks, transmission, etc that make it a whole other league above the 1/2 ton offerings. That is why the empty vehicle often weighs 1500-2000 more than its 1/2 ton counterpart. The trucks are just made to do and handle more and there is no way around that. They are not as good as a daily commuter on the highway or around town though as a trade off.

[Cate&Rob]

Hold on...don't forget, I have a "150 Series" unit, meant for half-tons. It looks to me like I am pushing the limits of the 3/4 ton.

saguido,

This thread seems to have wandered a long way from your original question of why your 1/2 ton towed more smoothly than your new 3/4 ton. Who has the highest dually payload is interesting discussion, but probably is not going to help you with your question.

The 150 Series Reflections seem to have been designed with less pin weight than the traditional 5th wheel "25%". There are other threads on this forum reporting loaded-for-camping 150 Series pin weights in the 18% range. No one has reported a towing problem with this. All the truck manufacturers use 15% pin weight in their 5th wheel size recommendations. There is test data out there that shows that a trailer with less than 10% tongue weight becomes unstable. I have never seen any data proving that a 5th wheel has to have a pin weight above 20% or even above 15%. I don't think the trailer knows whether it is being pulled from the bumper or from over the axle of the tow vehicle.

There is a lot of "old information" in these types of discussions. A current 1/2 ton or 3/4 ton is not the same truck that it was 10 years ago. I have towed my Reflection 303RLS for thousands of miles with my F150 (admittedly an HDPP version) without any chucking. A 6,000 lb truck towing a 10,000 lb 5th wheel. With a 2,000 lb pin weight, I have 8,000 lbs on the tow vehicle suspension pulling 8,000 lbs on the trailer suspension. This is close to my 17,300 lb GCWR, but, is a very "balanced" combination.

The comments on 1/2 ton brakes being undersized for the rated GCWR is also "old information". My truck stopped the entire rig in reasonable distances when I had totally greased trailer brakes (that I didn't know about at the time). With the new hydraulic trailer disc brakes, I expect that I can stop in a much shorter distance than any larger truck & 5th wheel combination still using the original electric drum brakes on the trailer.

Just offering another perspective on this discussion . . .

Rob

[Chiefblueman]

Hold on...don't forget, I have a "150 Series" unit, meant for half-tons. It looks to me like I am pushing the limits of the 3/4 ton.

My take on the subject is this: GDRV claims the 150 series is 1/2 ton towable. That doesn't mean they are towable by any ol' 1/2 ton out there. I think (put red flag here) they mean there are some 1/2 ton trucks out there that will tow these, for example an F150 equipped with HDPP. I'm not aware of any other 1/2 tons out there with a payload as high as these and they apparently are hard to find. There are 1/2 tons out there with payloads approaching 1200lbs on the low end, not good for a 295RL.
I think the claim is a bit deceptive but RVing, like so many other things, is buyer beware. Gotta do your homework.

[Calnca]

Of course, we will still see MANY people pulling their 40 ft 16k trailer with a 3/4 ton on the roads.

Observation after 3580 miles on I40/I44 first week of July.......

You don't see 5th wheel delivery contractors out of Indiana (Temp plates on the trailer, DOT # on the TV) with anything other than a DWR 1 Ton

Its amazing how many triple axle 5th wheels you see being hauled by 3/4 tons......but not by the guys who do it for a living.

[cookinwitdiesel]

Observation after 3580 miles on I40/I44 first week of July.......

You don't see 5th wheel delivery contractors out of Indiana (Temp plates on the trailer, DOT # on the TV) with anything other than a DWR 1 Ton

Its amazing how many triple axle 5th wheels you see being hauled by 3/4 tons......but not by the guys who do it for a living.

The guys who do it for a living are liable and accountable to insurance and the state - they are also trained/licensed professional drivers. The weekend warriors think they are bulletproof and invisible yet are neither.

[Richter]

The guys who do it for a living are liable and accountable to insurance and the state - they are also trained/licensed professional drivers. The weekend warriors think they are bulletproof and invisible yet are neither.

The guys that deliver are not always trained and professional drivers. I looked into this and you just need to be insured, in many cases. There are many drive-away companies located in Indiana (the heart of RV manufacturing) looking for drivers with pickups every day of the week, during the heavy spring shipping season. For the most part, these are drivers taking a load on contract, not company drivers. I don’t know if any RV manufacturer uses their own drivers, as most seem to contract to carriers, who use contract drivers with their own trucks.

I believe that many use a dual-rear for versatility. They can take any assignment if they have heavy enough equipment. It may be overkill for some loads, but it doesn’t block them from accepting a run to deliver a 3-axle toy-hauler.

[cookinwitdiesel]

The guys that deliver are not always trained and professional drivers. I looked into this and you just need to be insured, in many cases. There are many drive-away companies located in Indiana (the heart of RV manufacturing) looking for drivers with pickups every day of the week, during the heavy spring shipping season. For the most part, these are drivers taking a load on contract, not company drivers. I don’t know if any RV manufacturer uses their own drivers, as most seem to contract to carriers, who use contract drivers with their own trucks.

I believe that many use a dual-rear for versatility. They can take any assignment if they have heavy enough equipment. It may be overkill for some loads, but it doesn’t block them from accepting a run to deliver a 3-axle toy-hauler.

That makes sense, I guess I was giving them the benefit of the doubt haha