Observation camping

I went camping this weekend to a local campground. One of the things I like to do is ride around the park in the golf cart and check out what everyone is pulling and what with. All I can say is wow some folks don't care about numbers.

First, F150 sittin parked in front of a flagstaff Ultra lite 5er if my memory serves correctly. So i stopped for a quick chat. Asked how does your F150 handle your 5th wheel. His reply was it does great the eco-boost doesn't miss a beat. He said the hitch takes up the majority of his bed though and takes two of them to remove it. when not in use. Now it was a smaller 5th wheel but still looked sketchy to me.

Second, saw a couple of tundras pulling 30+footers

My final observation was the best. roll up on one guy who was very nice as was the F150 gentlemen to take time to chat with me. he was driving a 1500 big horn short bed with ram boxes and said it had air ride suspension. he was pulling a 38ft forest river Hemisphere. WOW. It was a beauty of a TT. he said he towed it fine but a little nerve racking. He cant go over 65mph do to the sway he says start at 70mph. Luckily there isn't no huge terrain around the part of Maryland we live in. I looked up this TT and the 2017 model actually is long but have a light hitch weight of around 550lbs. God bless him but he was camping in style lol.

Alot of other eye popping Tv and TT ut thought I would share those couples. Back to searching for one for my family now.

Yeah you are right about that I know that some of the folk that have the F150 think that they can tow everything and that they don't need no 3/4 ton, I say whatever ever make them happy.

I blame the dealers for selling these people trailers that their vehicles are no where near capable of towing safely.

I also cringe when I hear of people towing at 70+ MPH on trailer tires rated for 65 and under. Wrecks waiting to happen. Hopefully they don't kill anyone other than themselves when they have a catastrophic blow out on the highway.

My last camping trip I saw an older, 04-08, lifted SCREW F150 on 35" tires pulling a 35' 5er. I should have gotten a picture of it. The nose of the trailer was at least 10" higher than the rear. I don't know how that didn't scrape everywhere he went.

Wow, how can a TT with an UVW of nearly 8500 pounds only have a 550 lb hitch weight? I see that is what the manufacturer's specs list, but it doesn't sound right. That trailer must be very back end heavy. No way I would want to pull that with a 1/2 ton (which is why I traded in my 1500 for a 2500 when we got our 7000 pound UVW 34 ft Flagstaff TT).

Blame the dealers if you will but if the truck owner isn't informed and educated on what their rig will tow safely, it's them that will be going in the ditch or over the side of a mountain eventually. I see this so often out here in the summer and I cringe at the sight of a crumpled trailer, frame twisted truck and injured tourists.

In other words, it's all on the owner to make the right decision and shame on them if they don't.

Since camping has become so much more popular (around here at least), there are A LOT more people towing large trailers with 1/2 tons.
Do not mean to pick on Ford, but the F150 owner is the worst offender.....and I agree the dealers like to tell stories, I remember inquiring one day at a Ford dealer about the F150 towing capacity just for ***** and giggles, of course the sales person really did not have a clue what he was saying.

There are even some 3/4 ton trucks that are overloaded with some of the 5th wheel trailers....people do not realize how much pin weight some of them have.

I plan on full timing and went with a 2500 to safely tow.
What people don't know is that the the total weight of the pick up - including the hitch weight of the trailer is the key number - not the advertised towing capacity.

Then there are hills and more importantly wind - from the front and side.

Use this calculator and let me know how you like it.

RV Tow Check | Towing Capacity Calculator

Mchurch52 said:

Wow, how can a TT with an UVW of nearly 8500 pounds only have a 550 lb hitch weight? I see that is what the manufacturer's specs list, but it doesn't sound right. That trailer must be very back end heavy. No way I would want to pull that with a 1/2 ton (which is why I traded in my 1500 for a 2500 when we got our 7000 pound UVW 34 ft Flagstaff TT).

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Yea I saw that on the spec sheet and had to make a double take.

Last weekend I noticed the same camper I have behind a 1/2 ton f-150. My pin wt is around 2200#. Guy claimed he had know issues.

This is funny. I just arrived in Sheridan WY this afternoon leaving SOCal yesterday afternoon. I saw exactly three F150s towing 5ers and two of them were of the Primetime Crusader models. Didn't see the model # exactly but per the Manuf specs the lightes one they sell is over 10K with a 1351# pin weight. They were not sagging too bad but probably has air bags. Also saw a Tundra with real bad sag and a 5er on its back. Not sure of the make/model of 5er but is was way too heavy for the truck.

Told my wife, who wants a TT or 5er so bad, to watch for any setup that you think is really big and looks just like a really large load. Told her that 8/10 truck with these massive loads will have a Ram 3500 Dually doing the pulling. Unoffically I was right. Between large 5ers and many 40' goose neck equipment trailers just about all were Ram.

Way too often I see this in all of the camp grounds I frequent. The one that most stands out to me was a F150 (few years back) that was pulled over by the RCMP on the side of the off-ramp coming into town. His differential was smoking- literally. On his back was a massive 5th wheel and his tires were basically in the fenders. Smoke was coming off the back wheels. Whether brakes or bearings, it wasn't good. Tow truck was onsite. We watched the whole episode unfold. RCMP flipped on the lights about a quarter mile before the ramp and carved the ditch and finally got him stopped (or he was finally able to stop) at the bottom of the ramp. His truck was smoking like crazy the whole time.

They didn't pull him over for weight. They pulled him over for common sense. You need either a G endorsement or a Class 1 to pull a load exceeding 4600Kgs, so I suspect he was getting a decent fine for that one if he didn't. I suspect he didn't or he would have damn well known better.

smurfs_of_war said:

Way too often I see this in all of the camp grounds I frequent. The one that most stands out to me was a F150 (few years back) that was pulled over by the RCMP on the side of the off-ramp coming into town. His differential was smoking- literally. On his back was a massive 5th wheel and his tires were basically in the fenders. Smoke was coming off the back wheels. Whether brakes or bearings, it wasn't good. Tow truck was onsite. We watched the whole episode unfold. RCMP flipped on the lights about a quarter mile before the ramp and carved the ditch and finally got him stopped (or he was finally able to stop) at the bottom of the ramp. His truck was smoking like crazy the whole time.

They didn't pull him over for weight. They pulled him over for common sense. You need either a G endorsement or a Class 1 to pull a load exceeding 4600Kgs, so I suspect he was getting a decent fine for that one if he didn't. I suspect he didn't or he would have damn well known better.

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Unbelievable what some folks will go through to pull the TT or 5er they want.

Skrap said:

This is funny. I just arrived in Sheridan WY this afternoon leaving SOCal yesterday afternoon. I saw exactly three F150s towing 5ers and two of them were of the Primetime Crusader models. Didn't see the model # exactly but per the Manuf specs the lightes one they sell is over 10K with a 1351# pin weight. They were not sagging too bad but probably has air bags. Also saw a Tundra with real bad sag and a 5er on its back. Not sure of the make/model of 5er but is was way too heavy for the truck.

Told my wife, who wants a TT or 5er so bad, to watch for any setup that you think is really big and looks just like a really large load. Told her that 8/10 truck with these massive loads will have a Ram 3500 Dually doing the pulling. Unoffically I was right. Between large 5ers and many 40' goose neck equipment trailers just about all were Ram.

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Rolling past Sturgis?

Just got back from camping as well and noticed the same thing. Back when I was shopping and researching I figured I was good to tow some of the trailers I was being shown. Looking back on those trailers, the tongue weight would've put me way over payload had I not done my research. Taking a walk around the dealership lots they have stickers "ultra light" and "1/2 ton towable." Crunching the numbers and doing research will tell you otherwise. The "1/2 ton towable" still have hitch/pin weights that eat almost all of the payload. It really is crazy what terms they will throw out there to make a sale.

Now, looking back with my trailer (6,500 loaded/30' long) a 2500 would make it much easier to tow. The Hemi/8spd/3.92 make it a breeze to pull, but the length (even with WDH setup right) can push the truck around sometimes.

anyone that blames dealers or manufacturers for any overweight situation has it completely wrong, the owner of the pull rig has it on them to make sure they have the right equipment. It is called taking responsibility but that is in short supply these days.

This is one reason why the DOT in cali has been cracking down on RV's in tow. they have also reclassified the license structure and to pull any goosneck or 5th wheel over 14k requires a non-commercial class a license. I'm not a huge fan of it all but agree with why they did it due to all the idiots out there that think Oh I have a truck it means I can pull anything. and I say that even though I've pulled over weight from field to field but anything highway I used one of the duallys or semi that is rated for the weight. Overweight tickets in Cali are not cheap and the DOT's can be extremely strict.

We usually go to Florida every February to escape the cold and gray around us. We go to the same island and same campground every year. Every year we run into the same 3 couples that tow mid-size 5th wheels with Tundras. One couple was from Michigan, another couple was Indiana and I never remember where the 3rd couple is from.

They all put airbags on the Tundras and pulled without sag. They never had any problems towing. I know for a FACT they were all over weight (one of them was really close, if not over, to his rear axle rating) yet they handled the weights just fine and did the drive year after year.

I guess in ideal conditions these guys are able to make it work. I hope and pray that they continue to drive in ideal conditions and never have to make a panic move... because I doubt those rigs will be able to safely handle an emergency evasive maneuver. I bought a bigger trailer and a Ram 2500 to handle the extra weight. I loved my Tundra and it towed very nicely with plenty of power, but it still had a low payload and standard half ton brakes.

We camp almost every weekend. A couple weeks ago, we were at a campground with over 1200 sites. Our site was near a main rode and while at the campfire, we also watched the campers going by. I saw several small Audi wagons towing 7500lb+ trailers and were dragging butt. Wish I was faster getting to my phone! What are some people thinking? One half ton truck had a good size 5th wheel, canoes on top the truck, bikes in the front of the truck, and had a boat behind the 5er...

Handyman said:

Rolling past Sturgis?

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Ha! No. We met our inlaws in Sheridan WY for three days to check out the town and then we all drive to Bozeman/Big Sky Montana for a weeks vacation with my wife's family. Saw many Dozens of bikes as well as motor homes with Harley Trailers heading SW from the Dakotas on the WY roads. Lots of Bikes in Sheridan too.

Skrap said:

Ha! No. We met our inlaws in Sheridan WY for three days to check out the town and then we all drive to Bozeman/Big Sky Montana for a weeks vacation with my wife's family. Saw many Dozens of bikes as well as motor homes with Harley Trailers heading SW from the Dakotas on the WY roads. Lots of Bikes in Sheridan too.

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Aw man, we just got home fro. The Sheridan area. I completely forgot you said you were going to be there in an earlier thread. We camped 3 nights in Story, WY. We rode SxS up into the Bighorns from the Penrose trailhead. Today we dropped down to Ft. Phil Kearny for a lookie-loo before we set off for home. There is a lot of old west/Indian wars heritage in that area.

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