Hey guys looking to buy a 5th wheel in the next year looking at about 42ft to live in Florida mainly but occasionally take it up to Maine for vacation once a year. Camper that I'm looking at is 16k fully loaded and I'm curious if my new to me 97' F-350 drw is up to the task... it is a cab & chassis regular cab model with an all aluminum flatbed 11,000lb gvwr. I've tried looking up the gcvwr but can't seem to find it for this particular model.

Truck has new motor rebuilt trans with billet torque converter upgraded f-450 spring pack (yes it rides like a brick s*it house lol) looking to do a 6 position with beans tunes. Also looking to do a few other mods to help the power end. Here's a pic of the truck let me know what y'all think


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

As far as I'm aware I don't think they gave them gcwr back then.

I would also be curious to know as we live in a 38 ft 5er in Florida and just got a 94.5 cclb drw. We don't travel much yet but will in another year or 2 once she finishes school.

Ours is a montana mountaineer with 5 slides and front living room that fully loaded is 16k also. From what I gathered our floor plan is fairly light in the nose (2.5k ish) compared to other layouts so I'm not as much worried about pin weight after maybe some helper bags.

Got the truck sooner than later so I'll have times to do a few of the necessary upgrades. It's all stock for now with a zf5 and 4.10s. Not looking to fly down the highway just get there in my beautiful obs. Always wanted it. And the journey is half the fun. Good luck and hopefully the experts will chime in soon. Let us know how the first tow goes for sure. Which one are you looking at?

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk

Nice! I also have 4:10's on mine only with auto trans. I'm looking at possibly the open range roamer 430. Hitch weight is 2350lbs and overall fully loaded 16,090lbs. When I stopped by the dealership I asked them and they just looked at the truck and said you can haul anything on the lot lmao. From what i can tell far he's probally right but I just wanna make sure lol.

As far as living in yours how do you like it? I've just recently been turned on to the idea I'm just in the research phase right now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Where in Florida are you? One thing to remember is the hitch weight they give is for an empty trailer so obviously it'll go up depending on how you're loaded.

When we picked ours up from lazydays they were very adamant about us having enough truck to tow it safely and wouldn't let me take it with anything less than a 2007 or up so I used dads 2012 because I still had the bronco.

We absolutely love living in ours. We kind of miss having a yard and garage. We have 2 65lb dogs and the only real difference is that we definitely enjoy our time outside of the house more now. A long rainy weekend gets us feeling pent up. Just more reason to go see some nature. Everyone in the parks are super friendly and they all live in vacation time. I can't leave for work without waving 15 times haha. We get a ton of comments on how young we are for living in an rv. I just tell people were on the reverse retirement plan. After school she wants to be a travel nurse for a few years so we can get paid to see the country. I'll be working odd jobs until we settle and I can set up a new shop.

We actually save about 400 bucks a month with rv payments and lot rent vs renting a decent house around here. Best part is when we wanna move we just push a button and roll and take home with us.

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk

First thing you'll want to do is get a set of gauges for trans temp, egt's, fuel and maybe boost just to keep an eye on the working part while you're pulling. Weight rating of your axles could also come into play when you're pulling heavy if they wanna stop you. I'm currently daydreaming on an 05 axle swap at some point

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk

See that's what I like to hear I'm 29 going on 30 in December(ugh) and I like the ability to be mobile. I'm single and I used to be an OTR driver so I like to travel. I work somewhat local now (southeast). I live in Ocala now in a house that I rarely see with a roommate.

Every week it's come home cut the grass and take care of the house, as the roommate is my tenant lol. After talking to my landlord he's offering a spot on his 15 acres with everything included cable,internet, electric for 125 a month so I'm just over here like why the hell not lol.

What about you where are you at in fl?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes sir I just installed obd2 Bluetooth with torque on a cheap android tablet and it's awesome. I'm no stranger to pulling as my full time job is hauling equipment for a construction company all over the south east


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We were living in Clearwater and moved about 45 minutes north into port Richey. I just turned 29 in april and she's 27. Glad we took the leap every day. Downsizing was a bit more intensive than I expected but it's really nice getting rid of all the extra junk in life. We can let our rv get completely trashed on the inside and within an hour we can be back to spotless and wiped down and grilling. So much less stress. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. Wish I had done it when I was single! Haha.

We get out to Ocala every few weekends to do some tent camping and hiking in the national forest and take advantage of all the springs up there. Wouldn't mind getting a little closer honestly. One day we'll be in the mountains. Its too Damn hot for a penguin!

For 125 a month you can't beat it. I thought our 400 a month was a steal with just enough room for our 2 cars and a little patio. Its a lot more expensive down here. I tell everyone I know to get into the mobile life. When you get into the bigger 5ers it's got more room than a decent NY apartment.

I've got some gauges on the pillar and use a snap on red brick to check on everything from time to time. Exhaust and I think I'll be going the Bluetooth route soon. I've always thought about getting into big trucking. I'm a school bus mechanic right now but it gets monotonous quick. I'd rather be driving.

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk

I've read several times the GCVWR for all F350 and F-Super duty trucks with 4.10 gears is 20,000lbs. And the 3.55 trucks are at 17,500 i think? I'm positive on the 4.10 being 20,000lbs as that is what I have as well.

So if that trailer is 16,000 without any of your chit in it, you better hope that truck only weighs 3,000lbs!!! lol

In all reality, I've seen many 7.3's exceeding 30,000lbs GCVWR. They have extensive mods to chassis, brakes, suspension, motor and trans though.

Yea I'm really looking forward to it as for driving it has its ups and downs just like anything I'm actually trying to get out of it and become a crane operator I finally got some people in the industry that's trying to get me in and if that's the case the 5th wheel would be ideal that way I can chase the refinery shut downs (huge money)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk