First 5th wheel towing help

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Forrest6.4

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Just got my truck and am going to pick up a fifth wheel Friday (8500# dry) and have to tow through mountains in Tennessee. Since this will be my first time towing with this truck I'm looking for advice on how to handle the grades. Should I just leave it in tow/haul mode up and down the mountains or am I better in manual mode. Any advice on brake settings? Only towing I've done before is a small boat on flat lands so any advice is greatly appreciated
 

BossHogg

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Just got my truck and am going to pick up a fifth wheel Friday (8500# dry) and have to tow through mountains in Tennessee. Since this will be my first time towing with this truck I'm looking for advice on how to handle the grades. Should I just leave it in tow/haul mode up and down the mountains or am I better in manual mode. Any advice on brake settings? Only towing I've done before is a small boat on flat lands so any advice is greatly appreciated

Properly set up the brake controller. If your fiver is brand new then be aware the trailer's brakes are not yet broke in and will not be very effective. Ask your RV dealer how to break in the trailer brakes. The owners' manual has a nice 9 step process describing how to set the brake controller up for your trailer.

Put it in tow/haul mode and let the computers manage the shifting points. Tow/Haul mode will keep the engine it its powerband going up and keep the RPMs in range for the most effective engine braking.

Pictures of your RV are required :)
 

Swampfox

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Just got my truck and am going to pick up a fifth wheel Friday (8500# dry) and have to tow through mountains in Tennessee. Since this will be my first time towing with this truck I'm looking for advice on how to handle the grades. Should I just leave it in tow/haul mode up and down the mountains or am I better in manual mode. Any advice on brake settings? Only towing I've done before is a small boat on flat lands so any advice is greatly appreciated



Truck specs? I'm assuming 6.4 hemi according to your screen name. 4.10 or 3.73 rear end? If you just got your truck get a couple hundred miles on it before you start towing. Be very careful with anything the dealer tells you about towing or set up. Try to have close to 6in clearance between top of bed and bottom of 5th wheel. Yes tow haul on always when towing that much weight. Let the engine Rev and do its thing if your in the mountains, don't let 4000+ RPMS scare you it's fine. Just a shot in the dark but I'm gonna say somewhere around 6.5 on the HEAVY-ELECTRIC SETTING should be a good starting point.

Somebody will be along shortly to tell you to go weigh your truck and trailer, that's a good idea, however if you have a 2500 or 3500 with a 6.4 hemi and your 5th wheel is 8500 dry you will be well within your capacities...

Good luck and congrats
 
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Forrest6.4

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Truck specs? I'm assuming 6.4 hemi according to your screen name. 4.10 or 3.73 rear end? If you just got your truck get a couple hundred miles on it before you start towing. Be very careful with anything the dealer tells you about towing or set up. Try to have close to 6in clearance between top of bed and bottom of 5th wheel. Yes tow haul on always when towing that much weight. Let the engine Rev and do its thing if your in the mountains, don't let 4000+ RPMS scare you it's fine. Just a shot in the dark but I'm gonna say somewhere around 6.5 on the HEAVY-ELECTRIC SETTING should be a good starting point.

Somebody will be along shortly to tell you to go weigh your truck and trailer, that's a good idea, however if you have a 2500 or 3500 with a 6.4 hemi and your 5th wheel is 8500 dry you will be well within your capacities...

Good luck and congrats

It is a used 2500 6.4 with 3.73 rear so the truck is already broken in. I am just picking up the fifth wheel and bringing it home but before I do my first loaded camping trip I will weigh it just to see but I bought a light weight trailer on purpose because I wanted to stay under my max tow rating (12600) because I knew I would be towing through some mountains occasionally. My gvwr on the trailer is 10000 so I should be fine.
 

Swampfox

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Yep you will be fine. I'm towing a 38ft cougar that weighs 10,300lbs ready to camp. I do have the 4.10 rear end but the truck tows it just fine.
 

mtofell

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I'm at about 11K all loaded up with my 5th wheel with 6.4 Hemi and 3.73 gears. Electric brake I'm usually at 4 or 4.5 on "heavy electric" setting. You'll get a feel for what is right. It's pretty obvious when the brakes aren't doing enough (you can't stop easily :)) or too much (the trailer drags the truck too much).

I'm out west with lots of mountains and have gotten to know my truck well. Quick/easy answer is just put it in tow/haul and let it do it's thing. The tranny shifting can be a bit annoying so I will usually manually shift through 2-3-4 in the hills. For some reason the truck really doesn't seem to like 3rd gear as much as the others. I feel like I spend 90% of my time towing in 2 or 4.

Like Swampfox said, don't let the RPMs scare you. Gassers are meant to rev. The power this truck throws out up around 4000-4500 RPMs is pretty amazing. I can pull just about any highway grade as long as I can keep the RPMs up. 2nd gear pulling 60MPH is around 4200 if I remember right.
 

mowin

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Put it in TH, set the cruse control, and enjoy.

Set you brake gain by manually applying the breaks and adjust. You don't want them to lock up. Check after a few miles and few times applying the brakes. As the rust that has formed on the drums from sitting wears off, the gain may need to be adjusted.
 

Bigdaddy

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Congrats on your new fiver and welcome to RF.
 
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Forrest6.4

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I'm at about 11K all loaded up with my 5th wheel with 6.4 Hemi and 3.73 gears. Electric brake I'm usually at 4 or 4.5 on "heavy electric" setting. You'll get a feel for what is right. It's pretty obvious when the brakes aren't doing enough (you can't stop easily :)) or too much (the trailer drags the truck too much).

I'm out west with lots of mountains and have gotten to know my truck well. Quick/easy answer is just put it in tow/haul and let it do it's thing. The tranny shifting can be a bit annoying so I will usually manually shift through 2-3-4 in the hills. For some reason the truck really doesn't seem to like 3rd gear as much as the others. I feel like I spend 90% of my time towing in 2 or 4.

Like Swampfox said, don't let the RPMs scare you. Gassers are meant to rev. The power this truck throws out up around 4000-4500 RPMs is pretty amazing. I can pull just about any highway grade as long as I can keep the RPMs up. 2nd gear pulling 60MPH is around 4200 if I remember right.

Thanks for all the advice from everybody. It's good too see some numbers so I know what to expect. Im driving from Florida to Iowa to pick up trailer and went through mount eagle in Tennessee and it looks like that's the biggest grade I will have to deal with on the way back. On the way down the hill should I set the cruise control at a low speed and let the truck handle the braking or should I stay in manual and just brake hard occasionally
 

Swampfox

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Thanks for all the advice from everybody. It's good too see some numbers so I know what to expect. Im driving from Florida to Iowa to pick up trailer and went through mount eagle in Tennessee and it looks like that's the biggest grade I will have to deal with on the way back. On the way down the hill should I set the cruise control at a low speed and let the truck handle the braking or should I stay in manual and just brake hard occasionally

Whatever gear you go up the mountain in come down the mountain in. Only brake when you need to. I only brake to slow down 10mph at a time say from 60 to 50 then when it gets back to 60 brake again back to 50...the engine braking is pretty good to be a gas truck...obviously not as good as a diesel with exhaust brake but still impressive for what it is
 

Mountaineer83

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I tow a TT that weighs about 7700lbs dry. I will say, I am impressed by the hold back ability of the 6.4 as well, especially being a gas engine. I love my truck. I have the 4.10 gears and tow in southern West Virginia and down into into Tennessee quite a bit. They do very well actually.
 

billa9b0ng

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Glad to hear the trip is going well and that you are enjoying your new purchase on the drive home. Stay safe
 

GsRAM

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Very nice looking rig! Glad all is going well
 

Swampfox

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Looks good! Just out of curiosity what hitch did you go with?
 

Bigdaddy

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Awesome setup.
 
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