[JRTJH]

Remaining leery is good.... Do some "easy math" before you buy !!!

You say your payload is 1580 pounds. That figure is full fuel tank and a 150 pound driver. So, from that, deduct your "additional weights" starting with the your weight in excess of 150 pounds. Then deduct your DW's weight, any and all "personal cargo", mats, tools, coolers, GPS units, seat covers, running boards, spray in or truck bed liners, mud flaps, etc that you've added since the truck was new. Then deduct 150 pounds for your fifth wheel hitch. What's left is your maximum fifth wheel pin weight.

Typically, most fifth wheel pin weights range from 15%-25% of total trailer weight. The data on the Keystone website and in their brochures is EMPTY trailer weight for the standard trailer with no options, no battery and no propane in the tanks. So, you'll need to add 60 pounds for propane and 100 pounds for two batteries to the weight, just to tow the empty trailer home. Almost all of that weight is "pin weight" since the propane tanks and batteries are in the forward storage compartment area.

Most people add at least 1000 pounds of cargo/fluids to any trailer when towing, so you'll also be adding a portion of that to the pin weight, which is directly taken from your truck payload.

To be "on the safe side" many calculate anticipated pin weights by using the trailer GVW (shipping weight + cargo capacity) and using 20% of that GVW as the pin weight.

As an example, if you weight 200 and your DW weighs 150, you have a 40 pound dog and carry 100 pounds of tools in your truck, have added 50 pounds of accessories to the truck (running boards and a LineX spray in bed), you'll have about 390 pounds to deduct from the payload. Add your hitch and you're about 540 pounds of "deductions from payload" So in reality, your 1580 pounds is 1040 pounds. Assuming you'll never add a generator to your truck bed, never carry firewood or a 5 gallon fuel tank, never throw in an axe or any 2x8 blocks for leveling, the maximum pin weight your truck can carry is 1040. If you do add camping stuff to the truck bed (most of us do) then that comes off the maximum also....

If you use the data on the Keystone website for the smallest Cougar Half Ton, the 25RES, you'll see that it is going to overload your truck.

The EMPTY specs for that trailer are: Pin: 1500 GVW: 10,000
Anticipated specs: Pin weight about 20% of GVW: 2000

Even if you could manage to keep the pin weight to 15%, with an 8800 pound maximum trailer rating, the empty trailer weighs 7500 pounds. Add your hitch, propane, batteries, camping equipment and you're going to be at/over your maximum trailer capacity as well as being over your maximum payload....

Simply put, while your truck can "PULL" that trailer (make it go forward while hitched) it's not a capable vehicle to actually "TOW" a fifth wheel in the Cougar Half Ton line.

Are there people who do it? Yes, and some of them are successful, until they have truck problems or get stranded with an overheated transmission or have axle problems, etc.

There's also people standing on the beach in NC, watching the waves and waiting for the storm surge.... Risk takers typically aren't "safety conscious"....