Yes I think its a lot harder to adjust the tongue ratings on a holiday trailer. At least with the flatdeck you have some le-way with where you put your weight. You can take some of it off the tongue and put it over the trailer wheels. Of course you have to watch for too much sway...As far as the bags go, I have heard its the only way to go...But I guess that's just opinion...

I am really surprised hound that you can pull that within your limits. Just looking at the fifth wheel, I would want to say your well on your way to being over your payload limit :S I am sure motor wise your ok, but the actual ratings you might be pushing...As another user just posted its not a question of if your truck can pull it, its a question of if your truck can pull it safely.

I know here in Alberta if you get into an accident with a trailer on. Immediately they look at your payload and GVRW limit on your truck, then the FULL weight of the trailer. If your trailer limit exceeds that, your insurance is null and void. That's not just insurance companies "saying" that either. Also If your pulling a trailer under commercial regulations, they don't want to see you within 1000lbs of your limit. Many people get hounded too with their enclosed cargo trailers. They load them right up to the max, yet still within the truck limits. However now they have exceeded their trailer limits, fines yet again.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't be doing it, but you should definitely keep your mind open about it. I don't know what rules you have down there, but I know I don't ever want to take the chance on voiding the insurance of my truck...But now, as you can see with my sig, I probably won't have to worry much about overloading after the trade

 

Fifth wheel is 5500 lbs. Several thousand under what truck is speced for.Rig pulls and drives well.

 

But what is your payload? If I calculate it out myself, using the 20% rule. You only have enough room to hold thee 150lb passengers and nothing else. Rule of thumb (I think) is 20% of total trailer weight...which would put your tongue weight of your trailer at 1100lbs. Now that is probably the max you will reach. But the payload of your truck is only around the 1600lb mark. So that means you can only haul 500lbs of cargo AND passengers...These are the numbers that the transportation authorities use, so thats what I use....

Not trying to be the "number savy" guy, but I don't know many people around here that will tow a 5000lb fifth wheel. Just because the payload on them is almost double that of a bumper pull....Not to mention the whole insurance void thing....

 

Always been me my dog No ones ever even been in the back seat. I have seen a number of 1500s with 5th wheels. They usually are larger then mine. In the 6500 to 7500Lb weight. Toyota's mainly Some Chevy's with 5.3. 5th wheels like mine are advertised to the 1/2 truck people. I've had RV dealers tell me 5th wheels the size of mine bring more money and hard to keep in stock because of the 1/2 capability. When I bought it I did some math and came up with around the same that you did. Its still under what the truck is advertised to haul. The 2500/3500s all pull much larger units and are about the same ratio of loaded weight as I am. This is not my first fifth and 1500 truck. I shopped and paid attention to the weight of every one I shopped.

 

just saying be careful is all... i'm glad you ran the numbers for sure. At least you know what the weights mean, not just "I have a truck so I can pull!" I know people personally who have almost the same rig as you. But they are families so they definitely have much more weight and more importantly payload then you. (like the box filled with goodies...) But what bugs me most is they have not ran the numbers, and a select few of them don't even have the trailer setup right...(hence the box being able to be filled with stuff, because the pin is set behind the axles...)

I know of a couple who got into an accident on one of our "Secondary" roads. Truck and trailer started veering over the center line and hit an oncoming car...Family of the car all passed but 1 child, and the driver of the truck was killed. Sad to say but the wife was stuck with all payments/leans, all because they were 500lbs over their payload limit. Now it could have been from the deaths, but non-the less it can happen...Again not sure if that's what the police just "wrote down" Report stated that "trailer caused the truck to veer off course because it was too much"

Not saying its gonna happen to you, but I do know people personally who think that these newer 1/2 tons are indestructible because they can "tow" 12000lbs. What they don't look at is the actual ratings...

Just putting it out there, not trying to push any blame....I'm sure you wouldn't drive your rig the same way you would drive a 1 ton rig with the same setup. Your definitely gonna be more cautious...