Today I learned. Airbag recommendations?

[jasin1]

ok somebody correct me if i’m wrong but truck has payload of 2864 but the truck alone weighed 8420 lbs so the payload now is only 2380lbs so that is the hitch weight and extra stuff… the pin weight of the fifth wheel is 3760lbs so he is actually 1380 lbs over payload?

i’d trade the truck or sell it and get a dually or at the very least a f350 with much more payload available…probably get a lot on trade …maybe close to what you paid

[notanlines]

Good estimates by all members. And pin weight right at 22%.

[jasin1]

17000lb gvwr of fifth wheel with 17020lb actual weight as confirmed at the scale..hopefully nothing else goes in the fifth wheel

[JRTJH]

OK, based on what you posted, here's what I see as your "situation":

I'm listing the "ratings" first, the "actual weight" second and the "difference" third:

TRUCK SOLO:
FAWR 5600 4920 680 <spare>
RAWR 6340 3500 2840 <spare>
GVWR 10800 8420 2380 <spare>

TRAILER PIN + AXLES

GVWR 17,000 Pin 3660 Axles 13260 TOTAL 16920 <80 pounds to spare before the trailer is overloaded>

TRUCK with trailer hitched:

FAWR 5600 4820
RAWR 6340 7260 920 over
GVWR 10800 12080 1280 over

A few observations:

With the trailer hitched, the front axle weight went DOWN 100 pounds. That is unloading the front axle, increasing the risk of steering loss in an emergency. It also is likely the reason why your headlights are "pointing toward the sky".

Your trailer, even with a GVWR of 17000 pounds, is currently loaded weight at 16920 pounds, "which gives you only 80 pounds of additional cargo capacity, so don't buy over "a week's groceries" or you'll wind up busting your trailer weight rating along with the truck weight rating.

While you could "squeak by" with your current trailer by upgrading to a single rear wheel F350 (11400 GVWR) with a gas engine (which is about 800 pounds lighter than a comparably equipped diesel truck), with the current truck weighing in at 12080, you would "bust the SRW DIESEL F350 GVWR by 680 pounds even loaded like this truck with the trailer hitched. Given that the F350 weighs in around 200 pounds heavier than a similarly equipped F250, I would make a guess that if you buy a SRW F350 with max GVWR, you would be around 800 pounds overloaded with the trailer loaded like it is tonight.

IMO, you are in F350 DRW (dually) territory to get the rig under GVWR with your current trailer. The way I see it, unless you can lose about 800 pounds of cargo in the trailer, there's no way a single rear wheel F350 could tow that trailer and stay under weight ratings......

Now, as for "power to pull that trailer" (which is NOT even in question), as you can see, your F250 has more than enough "umph" to drag the trailer anywhere. The problem is the ability to "carry the pin load", stay under axle ratings, tire ratings and keeping the headlights pointed at the road.

You're in dually territory, no matter how you slice this apple.....

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by jasin1

17000lb gvwr of fifth wheel with 17020lb actual weight as confirmed at the scale..hopefully nothing else goes in the fifth wheel

Brian,

Unless I did my math wrong (a good possibility tonight) the trailer weighs as follows:

Pin 3660
Axles 13260

Total trailer weight 16920

Which leave him with 80 pounds to spare... (if you can call less than 100 pounds "something to spare")

Check my math, if I got it wrong, I apologize to you.

[jasin1]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

Brian,

Unless I did my math wrong (a good possibility tonight) the trailer weighs as follows:

Pin 3660
Axles 13260

Total trailer weight 16920

Which leave him with 80 pounds to spare... (if you can call less than 100 pounds "something to spare")

Check my math, if I got it wrong, I apologize to you.

No john, i would trust your math calculations before mine as it’s not my strong suit ..lol

[JShort880]

Seriously guys. Can you just tell me what airbags to get 😁.

Thanks for all of the expert input. We’re parked in Arizona for 3 months and I’m starting to look for another truck.

Just did the math. We have driven this set up 3600-4000 miles. (FL->VA->WV->TN->KS->AZ).

I’ve felt pretty comfortable on all of these trips. I’ve known that the 250 didn’t have the stopping power but never realized how much I was really maxing it out. Using the exhaust brake I’ve always felt fully in control of stopping us (luckily no emergency situations/weather factors). I’ve always driven on the cautious side as it’s my first year pulling stuff around.

I’m sure I’ll be posting another thread once I think of a plan/target a couple of trucks.

Seriously thanks guys. Could have saved us from a really bad situation and I appreciate y’all.

[chuckster57]

Firestone and airlift are the 2 top choices IMO. I have airlift5000 with onboard air.

Onboard air allows you to adjust for road conditions and air down when running errands.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by JShort880

Seriously guys. Can you just tell me what airbags to get 😁.

Thanks for all of the expert input. We’re parked in Arizona for 3 months and I’m starting to look for another truck.

Just did the math. We have driven this set up 3600-4000 miles. (FL->VA->WV->TN->KS->AZ).

I’ve felt pretty comfortable on all of these trips. I’ve known that the 250 didn’t have the stopping power but never realized how much I was really maxing it out. Using the exhaust brake I’ve always felt fully in control of stopping us (luckily no emergency situations/weather factors). I’ve always driven on the cautious side as it’s my first year pulling stuff around.

I’m sure I’ll be posting another thread once I think of a plan/target a couple of trucks.

Seriously thanks guys. Could have saved us from a really bad situation and I appreciate y’all.

Driving cautiously is a real good idea. If you get into any sort of accident/wreck, your truck loading will be an issue with law enforcement and your insurance company. They do look at these things especially so grossly overloaded. Price of trucks, used or new will hopefully come down as the economy is tanking.

[JShort880]

Originally Posted by wiredgeorge

Driving cautiously is a real good idea. If you get into any sort of accident/wreck, your truck loading will be an issue with law enforcement and your insurance company. They do look at these things especially so grossly overloaded. Price of trucks, used or new will hopefully come down as the economy is tanking.

I wasn’t saying that for future driving. If we don’t have a truck by next move we will be getting it towed to our next destination. But honestly I’ll probably have this truck swapped out by that time. I only owe 63k on the truck
and can probably get most of that all back/maybe a little more..


Shopping around now.

[wiredgeorge]

I bought a 2006 F350 prior to the china flu thing for $7K and have put several thousand bucks into the truck to make it reliable and ride OK. Just put some Cooper tires and Monroe shocks on. I don't use the truck as primary transportation and being a diesel, it would be expensive to take long trips but I have never regretted buying an older used truck and paid cash all along the line. Not sure what the future will hold but with fuel prices, especially diesel, being crazy perhaps more late model and low mileage trucks suitable for dragging an RV will become available at better prices.

[Badbart56]

Here in the heart of the Georgia farmland I see new F-350 diesel duallys listed at the dealer(s) for around $54XXX pretty regularly. These are XL models (like mine) so they don't have all the bells and whistles but really, I'm happy with the 6.7 diesel option, air conditioning (not an option anymore!), power steering, power brakes, automatic transmission, limited slip rear axle, AM/FM Sirius, power windows, cruise, tilt....a far cry from the old 64 Dodge D100 I started out with back in the day!

So if you can live without leather seats and whatever else they want you to buy you'll still have a good stout truck that can haul pretty much whatever you can throw at it.

My old truck has a 4626 payload and the newer ones are even higher.

[jsb5717]

You'll have to decide what you want in a truck and what your budget will be. Personally, I like some bells and whistles and I never buy new. I do my homework and take my time to find a good deal on a well-cared-for used rig.

If I were looking for a dually today I would seriously consider something like this. Close to where you live.

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ckType=listing

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by jsb5717

You'll have to decide what you want in a truck and what your budget will be. Personally, I like some bells and whistles and I never buy new. I do my homework and take my time to find a good deal on a well-cared-for used rig.

If I were looking for a dually today I would seriously consider something like this. Close to where you live.

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ckType=listing

Unless I'm mistaken, the OP stated that he is currently in Arizona, in the midst of a "trip out west"... He is not in Florida at this time.

[jsb5717]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

Unless I'm mistaken, the OP stated that he is currently in Arizona, in the midst of a "trip out west"... He is not in Florida at this time.

Ah...my bad. There are deals to be found there on used rigs there as well. If I found the right truck I wouldn't hesitate to fly to get it and drive it back...I've done that twice before. At the price of new trucks there's plenty to be saved for a savvy shopper.

[wegone]

You guys are good.
Will never know what your input saved in heartache.

I've tried to talk to friends about their undersized rigs, they won't listen.
They always say "I've had no problems so far"

Maxing out is like Russian roulette, I am a firm believer of that 20% cushion.

I watched on YouTube videos of trailer accidents, its eye opening.
One showed a brand-new F-250 SRW diesel and new 5th wheel being towed across a two-lane each direction highway in California desert that had an intersection/crossing where it looked like this new rig had to hammer his brakes as if someone stopped suddenly or pulled out into that intersection, etc....

It was sad to look at. The truck horn was still beeping in that tangled mess as the trailer ran up and over the truck, completely destroying it.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by jsb5717

Ah...my bad. There are deals to be found there on used rigs there as well. If I found the right truck I wouldn't hesitate to fly to get it and drive it back...I've done that twice before. At the price of new trucks there's plenty to be saved for a savvy shopper.

Very true....

When buying our last truck, I approached the local Ford dealer, gave him a list of what I wanted and let him appraise my trade. I told him that I'd give him a week to locate the truck or tell me that it's not available anywhere in the region and we'd go from there. I went home, started looking at new trucks in nearby dealership lots. I found the truck, sitting on a lot about 450 miles away, called the local dealer with that information, the salesman said he'd "check into it". I waited a day, called the salesman and he "hadn't had a chance to check it yet".

So, I called the dealer with the truck on the lot, they committed to a sales price and a "tentative trade in price, pending final inspection of my trade". I called the salesman the next morning, he promised to make time to call that day. Being somewhat impatient, DW and I left about 20 minutes later, drove down and bought the truck at the distant dealership for the agreed upon price. Actually, they gave me $1800 more for my trade after seeing it.

My first stop after getting back home in the new truck, was at the local dealership to let the salesman know that he didn't need to "make time for that call" and to show the sales manager (a good friend of mine) my new truck. That salesman is now working at a used car lot in a town about 20 miles away.

So, you're right, there are deals to be made on the "perfect truck" if you look hard enough and are willing to travel to find it.

[travelin texans]

Not trying to start anything, but there are 2 other brands of duallies out there for sale that are every bit as capable, some believe more so, than just that one that starts with F.
As for original quetion, Ford trucks seem to have their headlights aimed high or the truck sits just enough level that with anything in the bed the headlights are in the eyes of oncoming vehicles. Even the DW has noticed that when an oncoming vehicle is blinding us both she say "must be a Ford truck" & 95% of the time it is.
If you're planning on trading I wouldn't spend the $$ on airbags, just buy a suitable truck.

[jsb5717]

Originally Posted by travelin texans

Not trying to start anything, but there are 2 other brands of duallies out there for sale that are every bit as capable, some of us believe more so, than just that start with F.

Totally agree. In the 2012 and newer models I would give serious consideration to a good deal on any of the main 3 truck OEMs. However, Ford is really the only one that seems to provide a good supply of the 450 size of truck. While the others have them there seem to be much fewer of them.

In a 1 ton, 350(0) size any of the 3 OEMs will do a good job.

[wiredgeorge]

And here we go....