Weight on Truck or Fiver?

[Snowgoose]

New to this whole thing question. So neither truck nor Fifth wheel are over loaded or near capacity. Actual weights are not what I am asking about. This is a theoretical about trucks and towing in general. Is it better for me to haul/store heavier items in the tow vehicle or the Fiver? Assume they fit etc and don't stress either unit. Just wondering if given the choice should the weight be in the truck or in the storage bays of the trailer? Do you keep your truck lighter and pull heavier or to you load up the truck and pull lighter...and why?
Thanks,
Snowgoose

 

[goducks14]

As long as you're not affecting the balance of the trailer or truck I don't think it matters. When we had our 5er I put everything I could in it since the front storage was large enough. Now with a TT more stuff went back to the truck. I can say it was nicer to have the stuff in the 5er where it can stay when we get back home.

 

[Hoopy Frood]

Yeah, as long as the trailer handles well, I don't see why it would matter where the load was, as long as nothing was overloaded. We bought a long bed diesel dually so we didn't have to worry about where we put things. The load going down the highway will be the same, regardless of where the majority of it is.

 

[trailrydr]

We have always stored most of our camp gear on the kitchen floor area in front of our fridge/island/hutch area in our 5er. It places the weight near the trailer axles and leaves more room in our TV. It also keeps our TV GVWR down as well.

If you do, just want to be cautious if hauling water and waste in your tanks - which we never do, other aftermarket items permenantly installed in the RV (water softner, hose/electric reels, etc), and keep in mind your rated trailer suspension limit. Always a good idea to scale your RV to find its current empty weight.

 

[Snowgoose]

Thank you all for your feedback. We are still weekend warriors until our son graduates next spring. So we still have plenty of capacity. I was just curious if heavier truck towed better or heavier trailer. We will certainly hit scales and be safe, but I haven't towed anything this big or heavy at these speeds before so wanted the wisdom of the tribe.

 

[Roll With The Changes]

Let me ask the question in a different way to see if I understand it correctly.

Suppose the fifth wheel had a measured pin weight of 3k pounds. If you were to remove 1500 pounds from the pin, and install a 1500 pound hitch in the truck, would it handle the same.

I know that a trailer that does not have enough hitch weight (tongue or fifth wheel pin) will tend to sway more. In extreme instances, the tail wags the dog and can be very dangerous. I have always assumed this happens because there is not enough weight on the back of the truck. This results in less weight on the rear tires, reducing traction as well as moving the center of mass of the truck forward making it easier for the trailer to push the rear of the truck sideways.

However, in the above scenario, the truck might feel the center of mass and tire loading the as the same. If that is true, I might need to rethink my understanding of trailer loading.

With all the issues of frame flex and cracking, it would make sense to take the weight off the trailer and put it directly on the truck in the same way if it means the handling is the same.

This is an excellent question. My gut says if you can load the truck the same way, the trailer will handle the same. But I have no idea how to test it.

 

[Hoopy Frood]

IMO, a fifth wheel has a lot of "wiggle" room, pardon the pun , as far as hitch weight is concerned. We have around 17% tongue weight and notice no issues at all with the towing of our Momentum. Side winds, or heavy semi traffic have no noticeable impact on the way the trailer tows.

 

[Chaps2018]

I think it’s fantastic you have enough excess payload capacity in your truck to even entertain this question. Good on you!

in my experience most folks pin weight eats up a significant majority of their truck’s payload.

 

[D Cyril Colbeck]

What you want to keep in mind is that a 5th-wheel trailer should have approximately 20% of its total towed weight on the pin.
So if your loaded trailer is 20K lbs, you want to have around 4K lbs on the pin.
Beyond that, it really doesn’t matter much as the trailer weighs much more than the truck and depends on having effective trailer brakes to ensure it does not push the truck in high braking conditions.

 

[coglesby]

If I had heavy items like a generator, I would probably put it in the truck to keep weight out of the trailer with all the frame flex issues going around

 

[OshawaDave]

I carry all the stuff for camping in the trailer, including food, clothes etc. I carry firewood, generator & gas can (if boondocking), levelling blocks, chocks and wagon in the box of the truck. As well, I have carried 4 x 6 gallon filled water jugs on occasion.
In the back seat of the truck I carry a case of drinking water, Dewalt tools, extra case of beer......that sort of thing.

 

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New to this whole thing question. So neither truck nor Fifth wheel are over loaded or near capacity. Actual weights are not what I am asking about. This is a theoretical about trucks and towing in general. Is it better for me to haul/store heavier items in the tow vehicle or the Fiver? Assume they fit etc and don't stress either unit. Just wondering if given the choice should the weight be in the truck or in the storage bays of the trailer? Do you keep your truck lighter and pull heavier or to you load up the truck and pull lighter...and why?
Thanks,
Snowgoose

My 5th wheel weighs aprox 8300lbs, I still have 1700 of available cargo for a m ax weight of 10,000lbns. My truck (2015 Ram 2500 diesel) has a payload of about 2000lbs. The 5th wheel pin is 1420 so that there is 3/4 of the max weight allowed. I still have tools, totes etc in bed of truck and clothes, food ate in the back seat of truck so I am close to my total max payload for the truck. I disagree with folks that pile their storage items insides the RV on the floor over the axle. All storage should be in cabinets or pass-thru storage to be secured. All it takes is a AAA battery to roll off in =to your slide track and do expensive damage. Most of the RV weight sould always be in the front of the RV for stability. Don't do what Billy Bob does just because he says "I been doing it for 30 years and never had a problem". The National RV Training Academy is where you should get your correct answers.