ive pulled boats and trailers, for years. but im looking at moving up to a 35' 5er from a 27' tt and im a little nervous about it . the salesman at the rv place tells me my 01 f-250 (deisel)with 373 gears will pull the rig fine . the one im looking at buying is a 350BHS copper canyon which the book says weights 9465 lbs. but my wife packs evreything! stuff and kids has got to be another 2k of weight . my truck is stock except an sp deisel intake and a aih delete. will this rig be to much for my 135k mile auto truck? any advice/warnings/info/positive reinforcement/will be apprciated.
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01 s-cab 4x4 long bed auto 265-75-r16
monsterman
i just upgraded from a 30'TT to a 33' 5th wheel. My 99 pulls 5 th wheel much better than old set up. And for some reason i am getting better mpg, go figure. The 5 th wheel is 2500 lbs. heavier i do notice the weight difference but truck handles great. The 5th wheel will take some getting used to as far as backing go's that has been my main issue for me in the overall set up. My dry wt. was 9000 lbs.
Now with your stock truck i would reccomend a good tranny cooler and a set of Air bags for the rear, as i have both.
ps. My 5th wheel is a 31BHS WildCat.
good luck
Mike
There are those on here that will tear you a new one pulling that trailer with a "250", others will say it would be just fine. Really I think the MOST important thing is your awareness that this is a BIG load for that truck. You are probably near the limit of it's safe capability. Also, be prepared to do some tranny work I imagine. If/when it does fail call Brian at BTS...or one of the other sponsors on here that do upgrades, (I have a BTS, therefore I can really vouch for his product and service after the sale,, IT'S BEYOND REPROACH!!!!)
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Jim T.*48* SLAPS Co-Founder, 30.8 yrs RETIRED UAW 6/01/06, Now a full time Technician in the MOANG 12/10/07 My pics! and my New'03 Dually pics!, Charcoal Grey, Black and Grey interior, Black leather seats, Van Turbo/ATS ported housing/WW, Quad "A" pillar pod with Carbon Fiber series AUTO METER Gauges, FUMOTO Valve. BTS BUBBA" /TS 4pos chip, 4" Turbo back straight pipe/stainless 5" tip 131st F/W St.Louis MoAirNatlGuard We're losing the F-15s. BUT BEING HANDED THE KEYS TO THE B-2 BOMBERS at WHITMAN AFB, Near Kansas City, MO.!! We are Lindburghs OWN! Suffering from *PMS,, "Powerstroke mod syndrome"
Even if you load that trailer to 11k pounds I don't think you will have exceeded fords recommended trailer weight. I would have to look that up unless someone else knows off the top of their head.
Airbags would be a must.
As mentioned before, backing a fiver is a little different then a TT.
Seems to me it takes more exaggerated moves of the steering wheel to get the 5er to do what you want it to while backing.
As far as feel I think you will like the way the truck feels with the fiver on the hitch.
If this combo is going to be over gross then I might be a little hesitant but even at that people do it everyday.
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Steve
Early 99 (1/98) F250 PSD CC SB 6spd 4x4. 161k miles and counting.
Fabtech leveled, MBRP 4" 409 Cool Duals modified by Stan's headers to clear the B&W turnover ball hitch, NAPA 6637 air filter(& Outerwears), Luk clutch, Hypertech PP III(stage 3 100hp), ISSPRO gauges, 325 60 18 Nittos on 18X9 Chrome XD Hoss wheels. Now featuring the Harpoon mod.
For looks
05/6 front end conversion, Katzkins leather, 20% window tint, and LineX(stripped and replaced under warranty).
2001 25' Fleetwood 5th wheel on a gooseneck adapter.
That truck should be able to handle that 5th wheel without any modifications. Hook the trailer up and tow it before going nuts with air bags and other mods. You be the judge on what you need depending on how the truck/trailer handles, your experience level, and comfort.
Your truck should have a 20,000# gcvwr so even if weighs 8,000# loaded you would be under the gcvwr. Load the truck the way it would be when you intend to pull the 5ver on a trip, fill it with fuel and take it to a scale to get the gross weight. You need this to give you some hard figures to work with in determining the gcw. Then you need to load the trailer for travel and a weekend stay, take it down to the scale and see how you do. Keep in mind that actually weighing the truck and trailer is the only way to get the figures that you need. Don't just guess what it weighs. One note about GCVWR, it's a performance figure based more on engine size, transmission, and rear axle ratio than strength of the frame, springs, or brakes. Any trailer that puts you close to the gcvwr is going to have it's own brakes that will more than stop it's added weight. People who use one ton duallies commercially regularly run in excess of 26,000# with the proper licensing of both vehicle and driver. And they regularly pull through the DOT scales in all states every day.
I tow a 14,500# 5th wheel (see Sig) every month over 500 mile round trip and see numerous large 5th wheels being pulled by F-250s, in fact dually's are seen only once in a while. I kinda feel like an oddball with my truck.
Bottom line is that you won't have any problems and will definately like the handling of the 5th wheel over a bumper pull trailer.
Good Luck
Capt Ron
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May 2003 F-350, CC, DRW, 6.0L, 6sp man, LB, Al Wheels, Moon Roof, 52gal tranfer tank. Hitches: Draw-Tite 16K 4X and B&W GN, 8040lbs GVW. Towing 35' Newmar Kountry Star 5th Wheel Camper, 14,000lbs GVW, or Wells Cargo 24' Car Hauler, 12,000lbs GVW.
Your truck will pull that trailer, however, 35ft. is getting pretty big for a single wheel truck. Your F250 will run into problems with the pin weight. According to the sticker on your door frame the gross weight allowable for that F250 is 8,800 lbs. Your truck, fueled and ready to go, will weigh somewhere in the 7,700 lb area. Only leaves 1,100 lbs for the trailer pin. The F350 SWR has a gvw of 9,900 lbs and is the same truck except for that sticker.
You will want to install gauges and a chip to make a decent tow vehicle out of any 7.3. Then expect to replace the torque convert at sometime.
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Here is most of what you need to know on getting your 7.3L started and how to operate it in the cold winter months. These posts use to readily available, but they've been hid in a subforum top of the 7.3 Power Stroke Engine and Drivetrain forum. Winter Operation (How I Do It) Hard/No Start? Check here first
I am not sure why people get so wired up over this. The F250 makes a great tow vehicle. You will be close to the top of the limits, but nothing that is dangerous.
Look at my signature. I pull with this setup all of the time, no problems. Pull long distance mostly, not a problem. I don't have airbags and I don't need them. I may consider airbags or super springs only because the bounce on some of the roads that are lacking in upkeep, but shocks may also fix some of this. The truck at the scales all ready to go is at about 21,500 lbs Gross Combined.
Mostly I see SRW truck out there, not many DRW's, and I see many of them pulling more that I am.
Get the truck and trailer out on a trip before you spend a bunch of $$$$ on mods that you don't need.
Just make sure your tires are good.
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2004 Expedition
2003 F250 C/C V10, Banks Power Pack, Transcommand, 4.30LS, MagHytec Diff Cover, B&M Deep Trans Pan, 16K Super Glide Hitch
2006 Thor Vortex 36' 5er Toy Hauler
Keep your distance, swing wider when turning than you would with the TT. You'll get a good feel for it after about 50 miles of mixed driving conditions. Take off easy from stops as you might get a little torque converter shutter like I do. The biggest thing for me is the keeping a good distance as I have a lot of weight and it doesnt stop on a dime, in fact yesterday I came around a corner doing 60mph on the freeway to see tire smoke and cars swerving because the freeway was stopped from traffic. I reached down and quickly raised the pressure on the brake controller and hit the brakes hard and just barely avoided plowing into everybody, very scary! Just get a feel for it and enjoy your new rig!
No body really needs airbags and I don't have them on my current truck BUT, with a trailer that big and airbags being so cheap they sure do make a great difference.
I would get em if I were you.
Very good points about stopping Grunt.
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Steve
Early 99 (1/98) F250 PSD CC SB 6spd 4x4. 161k miles and counting.
Fabtech leveled, MBRP 4" 409 Cool Duals modified by Stan's headers to clear the B&W turnover ball hitch, NAPA 6637 air filter(& Outerwears), Luk clutch, Hypertech PP III(stage 3 100hp), ISSPRO gauges, 325 60 18 Nittos on 18X9 Chrome XD Hoss wheels. Now featuring the Harpoon mod.
For looks
05/6 front end conversion, Katzkins leather, 20% window tint, and LineX(stripped and replaced under warranty).
2001 25' Fleetwood 5th wheel on a gooseneck adapter.
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...the one im looking at buying is a 350BHS copper canyon which the book says weights 9465 lbs.
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That one was hard for me to find on the internet because the full name is Keystone Sprinter Cooper Canyon High Profile. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] But I finally found it. http://keystone-sprinter.com/media/Sprinter.pdf
Dry weight is meaningless, so add the carrying capacity of 2,860 to get the GVWR of 12,325. So plan on a gross trailer weight of around 12,000 pounds when wet and loaded and ready for the road. Expect a wet and loaded kingpin (hitch) weight of about 18 percent, which is about 2,150 pounds.
Your SuperCab 4x4 longbed probably weighs about the same as my CrewCab 4x2. Mine weighs about 8,000 pounds when wet and loaded and ready for the road with tools, a floor jack, cooler full of cool, Darling Wife and one itty bitty puppydog. Add 2,150 pin weight and you can expect about 10,150 GVW on the 4 pickup tires. That's 1,350 pounds more than the GVWR of the pickup. It's 250 pounds more than the GVWR of an '01 F-350 SRW. So you'll definitely be overloaded.
My 25' Sprinter mid-profile 5er is a lot lighter than that 36' full-profile Sprinter you're looking at. Mine grosses only 7,900 pounds, with about 1,400 pounds of pin weight, but my headlights head for the stars at night. So I don't tow at night. If I needed to tow at night, then I would have to add Firestone RideRite airbags to bring the tow vehicle back up to close to level with the world. http://www.ride-rite.com/
Suggestions:
The standard Cooper Canyon 350FWBHS doesn't have strong enough tires. They're the same tires I have on my much-lighter 5er. Be certain yours will have the optional 16" tires and wheels.
Spare tire and wheel is an option. Be sure you get it.
The standard 13.5k btu AC is not nearly enough. The optional single 15k btu AC is not enough in mine, and your 5er is a lot bigger than mine. So be sure your 5er has the optional prep pkg for later adding a second AC unit. Or maybe have your dealer install the 2nd AC unit before you head out for your first summertime trip.
According to the specs, the 350BHS does not offer the option of a 50-amp electric service. Running two AC units on one 30-amp service is stretching it. Because of that, if you want that big of a trailer, I'd probably look for a different trailer that offers 50-amp service to easily handle two AC units at the same time. Keystone makes it in the higher-priced lines, such as the Montana.
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My Sierra Blanca is a '99.5 PSD CrewCab hot-rod Towing Machine! BTS tranny; TurboRamAir intake and 4" stainless turbo-back exhaust; DP-Tuner tunes flashed into an Edge Evolution tuner; ISSPRO EV gauges and TTM; AIC; SP-Diesel exhaust brake and torque converter controller. I special-ordered it new and plan to drive it until it quits.
Smokey is right. Especially about the 30 amp service, you don't want it. If that 5er doesn't have 50 amp, then go look at another RV that has 50 amp. With the 30 amp you will be tripping breakers all day when you run your AC, hot water heater kicks on, and then microwave something. Also, a 30 amp would never run 2 AC's. For AC's, I would recommend a second AC installed in the bedroom as it makes a huge difference.
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2002 F-350 SRW Lariat,4X4, PSD with too many goodies to list. 182k and a very strong 7.3. SOLD
2008 F-250, SC Lariat, 4X4,Shortbed, Pueblo Gold/black, V-10, 4.10, auto, Delivered on 9/7/07, great looking rig. South Texas bumpers front/rear, Air Raid Intake System, Diablosport Predator, Husky's, JJ's, Ford alarm/remote start, Marathon seat covers, Sirius, PIAA, Access cover, Weatherguard tool box, Rhino liner, Michelins, Duraflap mud flaps, Escort 9500i.
2007 Lincoln LT (wifer's grocery getter)
1996 Ford Bronco EB; almost stock
2007 Kubota 900 RTV diesel with goodies. pappy's truck
I fulltime with a 99 350 and pull a cedar creek 34rlbs, I weighed it at a truck stop and was right at gross. the truck is a 2x4 single rear wheel and stock except for a trans temp guage and knock on wood i have yet to have trouble, common sense and keeping the oil and other fluids changed. p.s. i have had the opportunity to get some work done at the cedar creek factory they were really freindly and helpfull.
I just bought this exact model Cooper Canyon 350FWBHS that monsterman01 is looking to buy. Mine came with 50amp service and is wired/framed for a second AC. It also came with the 16" tires. I too, stepped up from a light weight travel trailer to this monster. I only pulled it from the RV dealer to the house as of yet and it was empty so I can't tell you exactly what to expect. I can tell you this, I knew it was back of me because of the bucking. I hope this was because the trailer was empty?? My truck didn't squat much, but again, it was empty, so I don't know if air bags are going to be needed.
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2001 F250 XLT, Powerstroke(7.3), Crewcab shortbed, Black, tinted windows, SCMT, Wicked Wheel, Zoodad Induction, Homemade Open Air intake, 4" Magnaflow exhaust, Autometer Phantom boost, tranny temp, and pyro gauges in pillar pod, 720-watt Jensen amp, Sound Damper, Lighting Audio speakers, Infinity Basslink T, Herculiner, White Face Instrument panel, Wood grain dash, Putco Grill, Black Nerf Bars, Auto-Page Alarm W/remote start, Acetoned badges, Hutch's intank and pre-pump mods,Harpooned tank,H/X mod,"Line of Fire" LED light Bar, Euro Headlights, Clear Corners, Dahl Fuel Filter, Fumoto Valve, Amsoil Single Bypass, CCV mod, Sylvania Silverstars-Headlamps and Fogs, On board Air, Air Rite bags, and 3 chime Train Horn. My Truck
Don't leave home in Louisana until you have the second AC installed. Unless you like to sweat and stink. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
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It also came with the 16" tires.
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Good. That's an optional upgrade, but I wouldn't want that 5er with lesser tires on it.
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