You can pull anything on this lot with that F250.

[captainperry]

I was fortunate the 2nd time around. The dealership wanted ALL the info on my truck, before selling me the camper.

[tugboat369]

You don't know how many times my wife will walk away when I ask the dealer the GVWR of a unit and they give me the lite weight as I am looking at the speck sheet.

[Underthedog]

they bring everybody including the janitor to these shows. It can be interesting when they try to answer instead of calling for help.

I did have one tell me last weekend that to figure the weight of the trailer I had to add 10% because of hitch weight. therefore a 4500# trailer actually weighed 4950#.

Wait. What?

I would have liked to follow up on that one but DW grabbed my arm in a rather disabling 'come along' and led me away.

[DreiHunde]

Originally Posted by ependydad

....... and the other side is whacked out crazy.

Said the guy in the blue fuzzy monster mask!

Sorry. Couldn't resist. I know, I'm weak

In all serious you are spot on IMO!

[18CrewDually]

Originally Posted by Underthedog

they bring everybody including the janitor to these shows. It can be interesting when they try to answer instead of calling for help.

I did have one tell me last weekend that to figure the weight of the trailer I had to add 10% because of hitch weight. therefore a 4500# trailer actually weighed 4950#.

Wait. What?

I would have liked to follow up on that one but DW grabbed my arm in a rather disabling 'come along' and led me away.

Maybe I'm not following you, but if you're scaling a hitched trailer you would add the axle weight plus the tongue weight to get the total trailer weight. So he is correct.

[Underthedog]

It was the unloaded vehicle weight.

[CaptnJohn]

Looked at a Cedar Creek at a GS rally where a dealer had several RVs. Asked the pin weight and was told any truck will pull it but an suv would not work. Was not sure why the sub comment on a 5er. Told him my brother just bought a new F150. Was told it would be fine with airbags. My wife heard the end of this and pulled me away to see something ~~ saved him as I was pulling out my phone to look up the pw.

[ToniandSal]

A little off topic, but chiming in about RV salesmen...when we were filling out the paperwork on our new FR Class C, I firmly stated that it must be contingent on the thing fitting on our driveway without overhanging onto the sidewalk. I had it written in the contract with the sales manager initialing. Then he says to me, if it doesn't fit, just have your house eave cut back to make it fit. I just stared with my jaw dropped. Uh NO! They sent a guy with one just like ours to try it on the driveway. Yes, it fit to the inch. I gave the verbal OK, and he called them right there.

[keith_h]

We ran into both types of sales people when we were looking for a trailer. At the time we were using a 2001 Explorer for our tow vehicle. We had some folks that were more than willing to sell us a trailer over its capacity and others that were up front about trailer sizes we should be looking at. One even took some time to teach us some rules of thumb to use while browsing and find potential candidates (He was the exception to most folks we ran across and was at a Camping World believe it or not). In the end it came down to us picking out a couple of models we were interested in an running the numbers ourselves to see if they would work with our TV.

[lugoismad]

When I bought our new camper, the saleslady kept telling me the correct weight to use was the UVW on the sticker. No. Thats unloaded weight. That doesn't include the fridge, AC, propane tanks, and a lot of other stuff.

[Ford Idaho]

Alright!

But what if I want to pull one OFF the lot safely?

[Coolharts]

When we bought the Puma the salesman's first question are what are you going to pull it with. I told them a 2005 Excursion. He asked gas or diesel? I said diesel and he said no problem. When we traded in the Puma they asked the same question but since I already had a comparable weight camper it was not a big deal.

When you have a ProPride hitch that sort of freaks out dealers, they are not knowledgeable about them and flat out say the install is on you. I showed up with a WD hitch from my car hauler and that is all they needed to send me down the road after delivery.

[dustman_stx]

Originally Posted by lugoismad

When I bought our new camper, the saleslady kept telling me the correct weight to use was the UVW on the sticker. No. Thats unloaded weight. That doesn't include the fridge, AC, propane tanks, and a lot of other stuff.

The yellow sticker UVW is the weight of the rig as it sits. This number deviates from the brochure weights because of the options a particular rig has. So, yes, that number does include the fridge, AC, propane tanks (empty), etc. Most people add 1K to this number for a general idea of what they'll weigh stocked and ready to camp- this is if not hauling water. If hauling water add that as well. Of course, this is just a general rule, as some people take everything out of their house and load it in the camper (us) while others take a change of clothes and hit the road.

[Coolharts]

Originally Posted by dustman_stx

The yellow sticker UVW is the weight of the rig as it sits. This number deviates from the brochure weights because of the options a particular rig has. So, yes, that number does include the fridge, AC, propane tanks (empty), etc. Most people add 1K to this number for a general idea of what they'll weigh stocked and ready to camp- this is if not hauling water. If hauling water add that as well. Of course, this is just a general rule, as some people take everything out of their house and load it in the camper (us) while others take a change of clothes and hit the road.

Getting my DW to understand we don't need everything is a challenge, when I take something out of the camper we don't need she really has trouble understanding.

[MartyQ]

Originally Posted by davel1971

most 3/4 ton trucks barely have over 2000 worth of payload rating. By the time you add the 5th wheel hitch, family in the cab, random stuff in bed, you have 1000 lbs left for the pin weight of the 5th wheel.

Exactly what I found after weighing our 2014 Flagstaff 8528IKWS and our Chev 2500HD Duramax at the CAT scales. Found the GVWR of the 2500HD to be the limiting factor. Think many with the 3/4 ton will find this to be the same.

A simple check anyone can perform before purchasing a new 5th wheel is as follows. Go to the CAT scales and weigh your truck (full fuel, normal passenger load). Add 250 lbs if a 5th wheel hitch is NOT installed. Call this "Weight 1". Look at the door panel and find your truck's GVWR (maximum weight of truck with 5th wheel attached).

Look at the trailer sticker and find the trailer's GVWR (maximum fully loaded trailer weight). Simply assume you will load the trailer to 90% of this number. Next assume 20% of this loaded trailer weight will be transferred to the truck. Call this "Weight 2".

Compare the truck's maximum GVWR with the sum of "Weight 1" PLUS "Weight 2". Think you will be surprised.

As I said my limiting factor was the maximum weight of the truck, yet I had a 7800 lb margin to the maximum combined towing capability of the truck plus trailer as published in the truck's owner manual.

No doubt why many choose a 1 ton.

[fx2]

Originally Posted by Wheels Down

X2

The first TT I looked at I did so driving my SUV, intentionally because I was not buying, just looking. I told the dealer that and what my TV was and of course they put together "the deal".

I did not buy because I wanted to look around at other products. The salesman bumped me up to the sales managers office and then to the owners office. They all tried to tell me how stupid I was for not taking "the deal" (with a WDH included). I stood my ground and did my homework.

I'm glad I did and I'm glad I found this forum.

All said and done I purchased a 2016 F-250 2WD CC SB 3.55 Lariat. Then I went trailer hunting with some perimeters in mind for towing.

I ended up purchasing a Flagstaff Super Lite 27 BEWS. The whole rig full of fuel (TV and TT) on the scales is around 14,500 lbs. The TV is rated for 19,000 lbs. of towing capacity. I'm happy with those numbers. The TV pulls and stops the TT just fine.

But yes, dealer salesman have one thing in mind. Sales.

RMc

We took DWs little Hyundai Santa Fe the first time we went to look. Walked into the lot and the first salesman says "tell me you're not towing with that".

When we did buy our first trailer the sales lady sat down and pulled Ford ETIS and ran the truck down by specific specs, rear end, everything to make sure we weren't getting in over our head. We, of course, already knew it but I appreciated her taking the time to do so.

I still had to sign a disclosure when purchasing it that we were responsible for knowing our ratings.

[CaptnJohn]

Originally Posted by dustman_stx

The yellow sticker UVW is the weight of the rig as it sits. This number deviates from the brochure weights because of the options a particular rig has. So, yes, that number does include the fridge, AC, propane tanks (empty), etc. Most people add 1K to this number for a general idea of what they'll weigh stocked and ready to camp- this is if not hauling water. If hauling water add that as well. Of course, this is just a general rule, as some people take everything out of their house and load it in the camper (us) while others take a change of clothes and hit the road.

For some time if it has propane tanks the full weight is in the published weight.

[dustman_stx]

Originally Posted by CaptnJohn

For some time if it has propane tanks the full weight is in the published weight.

I believe that is true, however the published weight will not include options. Therefore, your UVW on the yellow sticker will still deviate from the brochure weight. To my knowledge, the yellow sticker UVW will be the weight of the unit as shipped. Since they ship without batterie(s) and propane, I would venture those are not included in the sticker UVW. My main point was that build options ARE in fact included on the yellow sticker UVW.

[jkoenig24]

Better to buy your trailer first and then, shop for a tow vehicle that will give you a generous safety margin. If a salesman's lips are moving, you're probably being lied to.


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[B and B]

Originally Posted by davel1971

most 3/4 ton trucks barely have over 2000 worth of payload rating. By the time you add the 5th wheel hitch, family in the cab, random stuff in bed, you have 1000 lbs left for the pin weight of the 5th wheel.

Hmmm. Mine has 2700 lbs with the Camper Package. We plan on a 14,500 Columbus with 2300 pin weight. We are good to go here with our 3/4 ton.