Gen-Y 5th wheel gooseneck hitches on sale

[VPFam5]

I have been working with Aaron at Gen-Y. He stated they really have only had some issues with toy haulers as far as recommendations. Not sure why. What is the GVWR for your Momentum? I did ask them what they base the recommendation on because it seemed to me the two charts on the website contradicted each other (assuming I was reading it correctly). He confirmed they base it on the GVWR.

Talked to him and I guess the guys I emailed it to are no longer there. Sent him the pics and he's going to look at it. He said the same thing about earlier recommendations. Might need to upgrade to the 4.5k. I had an earlier version that was too long and hit the side of the bed, they swapped it out for the one I have and this new one sagged down way more than my original one. I questioned it right away and they said it was fine. I feel like I'm a crash test dummy with this thing.

[minnow101]

It seems to me the company is more focused on the receiver hitches with all the bling and shiny art. Not saying the fiver hitch is bad but I think they need to have more time and experience so that customers can be assured they buy the correctly rated hitch for the RV they intend to install it on. Right now it seems like current customers are the test mules.

[FirstAscent]

Getting caught up on the past week or so of new posts here.

Just a little recap on my end, my thoughts on the correct hitch/model for toy haulers is more difficult because pin weights will almost always be lower than your standard fifth wheel due to a lot of extra weight in the garage/behind the rear axles which lowers the pin weight substantially.

For example: on my 381M, I weighed my trailer twice back in December, fully loaded up ready to hit the road for 4 months minimum. I had some items in the fridge, some food items in the pantry, side by side in the garage (1800lbs), 4 mountain bikes, clothes, cameras, laptops etc, and a little fuel in the generator tank and I believe the secondary "toys" tank was empty, my pin weight was only about 2650lbs verified on a CAT Scale. The same trailer loaded without the bikes and SXS my pin weight was 3150-3200 lbs.

So for me and my needs, how I load my items, 3200 is the max I'll ever see but more often than not I'm going be closer to the 2600 lb pin due to almost always having something in the garage to offset the pin weight substantially.

I still feel good about my decision for swapping down to the 3.5k pin model vs the 4.5k pin model. And now that I've traveled through 6 states and many miles since December, I'm still very happy with it compared to the 4.5k model. Again, this is for my specific scenario.

Also, the two photos attached are both the same hitch UNLOADED. The only difference is the one with the line more in the red is how the hitch came out of the box before any weight had been put on it. The second photo is still unloaded, but after I had put weight on it and pulled with it, so I consider this its new natural 0 position after it had settled in.

[waustx]

Getting caught up on the past week or so of new posts here.

Just a little recap on my end, my thoughts on the correct hitch/model for toy haulers is more difficult because pin weights will almost always be lower than your standard fifth wheel due to a lot of extra weight in the garage/behind the rear axles which lowers the pin weight substantially.

For example: on my 381M, I weighed my trailer twice back in December, fully loaded up ready to hit the road for 4 months minimum. I had some items in the fridge, some food items in the pantry, side by side in the garage (1800lbs), 4 mountain bikes, clothes, cameras, laptops etc, and a little fuel in the generator tank and I believe the secondary "toys" tank was empty, my pin weight was only about 2650lbs verified on a CAT Scale. The same trailer loaded without the bikes and SXS my pin weight was 3150-3200 lbs.

So for me and my needs, how I load my items, 3200 is the max I'll ever see but more often than not I'm going be closer to the 2600 lb pin due to almost always having something in the garage to offset the pin weight substantially.

I still feel good about my decision for swapping down to the 3.5k pin model vs the 4.5k pin model. And now that I've traveled through 6 states and many miles since December, I'm still very happy with it compared to the 4.5k model. Again, this is for my specific scenario.

Also, the two photos attached are both the same hitch UNLOADED. The only difference is the one with the line more in the red is how the hitch came out of the box before any weight had been put on it. The second photo is still unloaded, but after I had put weight on it and pulled with it, so I consider this its new natural 0 position after it had settled in.

Thanks for the feedback @FirstAscent. It's very interesting that the built in weigh scale "resets" the zero point after the "break in" but it does make sense. Do you remember where it indicated before you unhitched?
Toy haulers are more tricky to predict the pin weight because of the uncertainty of the garage load. In our 376TH, the garage is built for a large motorcycle or small ATV/UTV so I only have around 1200 lbs in the garage when it's fully loaded with my Goldwing and some miscellaneous gear. That doesn't shift that much weight off the pin. I weighed mine on a CAT scale as we were returning from our usual 5 month trip and based on the measured truck rear axle weight of 8,420 lbs minus the advertised curb weight of the truck's rear axle, I had around 4,670 lbs on the pin with the garage loaded. I haven't had a chance to weigh it with the garage empty or to weigh the truck without any load to confirm the curb axle weight.
I based my sizing on that info and I'm hoping the 5.5k model was be the best choice for me. Its arriving Friday, and I'm looking forward to getting it installed and tested in the next few weeks.

[FirstAscent]

Thanks for the feedback @FirstAscent. It's very interesting that the built in weigh scale "resets" the zero point after the "break in" but it does make sense. Do you remember where it indicated before you unhitched?
Toy haulers are more tricky to predict the pin weight because of the uncertainty of the garage load. In our 376TH, the garage is built for a large motorcycle or small ATV/UTV so I only have around 1200 lbs in the garage when it's fully loaded with my Goldwing and some miscellaneous gear. That doesn't shift that much weight off the pin. I weighed mine on a CAT scale as we were returning from our usual 5 month trip and based on the measured truck rear axle weight of 8,420 lbs minus the advertised curb weight of the truck's rear axle, I had around 4,670 lbs on the pin with the garage loaded. I haven't had a chance to weigh it with the garage empty or to weigh the truck without any load to confirm the curb axle weight.
I based my sizing on that info and I'm hoping the 5.5k model was be the best choice for me. Its arriving Friday, and I'm looking forward to getting it installed and tested in the next few weeks.

Wow yeah you have a lot more weight on your rear axle than I do! haha, but I'd also be curious to know your rear axle weight on your truck without the trailer, I see you have a F450, so dually, so naturally you rear axle weight will be a bit more than mine.

Fully loaded with all the toys (SXS and mtn bikes) here are my CAT scale weights:

Steer Axle: 5060
Drive Axle: 6520
Trailer Axle: 17360

Total Axle: 28940

You've got a solid 2k extra on your rear axle! I think you made the right choice on the 5.5k hitch for your scenario, it would be what I would go with if I were in your shoes as well.

I'm within all the weight ratings of my 2020 Silverado 3500 SRW. I know many will say a dually would be better... I'm sure it would! It better ha! But the truck handled it very well. One of these days it would be very interesting to pull my same load with a dually to get first hand experience on the difference though instead of "it's better, more stable, etc".

Anyways, back on topic, I was fairly certain I had a photo of the red/green sticker scale with it hitched up but I can't seem to find it. I'm in my current spot for another 8 days or so and can grab a new photo then if I can't find my past photo. But I'd say it was about 80% into the green. I only found photos from my first model with the 4.5k hitch, but this had a different, and adjustable, style of weigh scale.

[waustx]

Wow yeah you have a lot more weight on your rear axle than I do! haha, but I'd also be curious to know your rear axle weight on your truck without the trailer, I see you have a F450, so dually, so naturally you rear axle weight will be a bit more than mine.

Fully loaded with all the toys (SXS and mtn bikes) here are my CAT scale weights:

Steer Axle: 5060
Drive Axle: 6520
Trailer Axle: 17360

Total Axle: 28940

You've got a solid 2k extra on your rear axle! I think you made the right choice on the 5.5k hitch for your scenario, it would be what I would go with if I were in your shoes as well.

The vehicle specs for my 450 are as follows:

Total curb weight: 8611
Front axle curb: 4859
Rear axle curb: 3752 (best available answer to your question re: rear axle weight without trailer)

Front GAWR: 5940
Rear GAWR: 9100
GVWR: 14000

GCWR: 40000

Full disclosure, here is my CAT weights:

Front axle: 5640
Rear axle: 8420
Trailer axle: 16460

Gross weight: 30520

So I'm only around 1,600 lbs heavier than you in total. Since my truck's advertised curb is about 2400 heavier than yours, you actually have a little more on the trailer than I did when this weight was recorded.

Yeah, I don't get into the Ford vs Chevy, DRW vs SRW discussions because there are nearly infinite setup combinations and what works well for my situation isn't necessarily good for others.

[SmokeyBear]

Over the weekend my wife and I loaded the Reflection as if we were heading out for a week with our four teenagers. I did not have any water in the tanks and we did not put any food in the pantry and still lack putting dishes, glassware and some small appliances. We do always carry at least 8 gallon jugs of water so we did have that in the kitchen. We mainly loaded the bedroom closet with clothes etc. We drove about 115 miles or so round trip and did stop at a CAT scale to weigh. Here are the numbers, let me know what you think:
Reflection Dry (paperwork)
UVW: 10,754 lbs.
GVWR: 13,995 lbs.
Hitch weight: 2,122 lbs.

Truck weight at scales (driver only, full tank fuel/DEF)
Steer axle: 4,980 lbs.
Drive axle: 3,580 lbs.
Total: 8,560 lbs.

Truck (wife and I) with 2021 Reflection 337RLS packed for camping (mostly). Did not have food in kitchen and still lacking some plates, glasses and small appliances
Steer axle: 4,960 lbs.
Drive axle: 6,740 lbs.
Trailer axles: 9,120 lbs.
Total: 20,820 lbs.
So if I read the numbers correctly, I had approximately 3,160 lbs. of pin weight. Overall the ride was good, a little chucking here and there, but even my wife commented how much smoother of a ride it was compared to last time. All told, we still have <500 miles on the camper/hitch. We only have one A/C, but want to add one in the bedroom. Any idea on what a A/C unit weighs?

[waustx]

Thanks for the info @SmokeyBear. My 2 cents: I think the 4.5k will work good for you. After all, you haven't gotten through the break in period yet, and you are in the green and I would think that over time, the torsion system will settle a little more. And any water you put in the tank will be approximately 8 lbs per gallon, so you might be able to "tune" it by carrying a little water.

I would expect an AC unit to weigh around 75 to 100 lbs. They are basically a window unit in a form factor that can sit on the the top of the RV, but they use lightweight materials to minimize the weight.

Did you run this info by the folks at GenY to see if they had any comments?

As for me, I'm patiently waiting for the freight company to drop my kingpin off this Wednesday.

[SmokeyBear]

Thanks for the info @SmokeyBear. My 2 cents: I think the 4.5k will work good for you. After all, you haven't gotten through the break in period yet, and you are in the green and I would think that over time, the torsion system will settle a little more. And any water you put in the tank will be approximately 8 lbs per gallon, so you might be able to "tune" it by carrying a little water.

I would expect an AC unit to weigh around 75 to 100 lbs. They are basically a window unit in a form factor that can sit on the the top of the RV, but they use lightweight materials to minimize the weight.

Did you run this info by the folks at GenY to see if they had any comments?

As for me, I'm patiently waiting for the freight company to drop my kingpin off this Wednesday.

Thanks for the information, appreciate it. I have not contacted Gen-Y yet, but plan to do so today or tomorrow. Look forward to hearing about your experience....

[Diesel_And_Desflurane]

Welp, frustrating weekend at my campsite.

I received the GenY and recruited a couple neighbors to help me install -- that is at a minimum a three man job. Three of us lifted it into place, with lots of sweating and cursing, and my wife slid the bolts in. Got em torqued down.

Today I tried to hook up, just to read just us in our current site.

I'm in a 2014 F450. With the 376TH's front jacks extended all the way, the gen Y hangs just high enough to BARELY clear the bed of the truck, with no hope of getting it over the ball.

It is installed in the lowest position, as I was concerned about clearance between the bed rails. (I'm mounting to a standard BW Turnover ball, can't use the 3" high raised one in the installed hitch system)

My truck isn't lifted, but the campsite is at a slight angle, where I'm backing the truck up slightly up hill. I don't think this is going to be possible for me. If anyone has a suggestion, I'd love to NOT have to unbolt and figure out how to ship it back to Gen Y.

Pics are from after giving up hitching up for the day and leveling back out, just to give an idea of what I'm working with. Again, with the jacks fully extended up front I'm still way too low to get over the ball. Mounting it up higher by one slot on the pinbox would only net me an additional 1" maybe, which won't be enough either.