Does anyone tow a Grand Design 150 series with their Tremor

Oh and quick follow-up to this: your truck would have lots of power for the trailer. That’s not the concern. The concern is controlling the trailer in adverse (weather, hills) or emergency (swerving, stopping) conditions.
Yeah no problem I am so confused with all the numbers my head or about to pop. I wish there was some site I could type in the numbr and not take the RV dealers word for it you know. My other problem is I do not really have any friends around me that could help me under stand this better.
I am trying to find someone that will not lie to me just to sale me something.
My wife and I were looking with something with a bunk area for my son and space for us with a decent sized bathroom. I am 6'3" and about 270 lbs
So with just the people I have you are looking at about rounding up 650Lbs in people
I do have trailer braking system and all the already installed and selector tool.

We want to do what we can safely as we can for sure. This is a first for me all we have done is go to like 4 dealers and I am lost like all get out right now.
Feel like I am in a sea of lies everywhere when I go and look and I have been looking for about 3 months on and off and I am just ready to pull the trigger last week. Just trying to find someone that could for sure help me under stand what I should and shouldn't look at number wise.

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Yeah no problem I am so confused with all the numbers my head or about to pop. I wish there was some site I could type in the numbr and not take the RV dealers word for it you know. My other problem is I do not really have any friends around me that could help me under stand this better.
I am trying to find someone that will not lie to me just to sale me something.
My wife and I were looking with something with a bunk area for my son and space for us with a decent sized bathroom. I am 6'3" and about 270 lbs
So with just the people I have you are looking at about rounding up 650Lbs in people
I do have trailer braking system and all the already installed and selector tool.

We want to do what we can safely as we can for sure. This is a first for me all we have done is go to like 4 dealers and I am lost like all get out right now.
Feel like I am in a sea of lies everywhere when I go and look and I have been looking for about 3 months on and off and I am just ready to pull the trigger last week. Just trying to find someone that could for sure help me under stand what I should and shouldn't look at number wise.

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For sure! Happy to help. Realized my signature isn’t visible on mobile, so here’s the link to my towing guide:


It walks through all of the numbers and, specifically relevant to you, examples for determining if a trailer is a good match for a given truck. All terms are well defined.

One other thought I had: if by short bed you mean the 5.5’ bed, then I would be surprised if you could haul a fifth wheel without hitting the cab. I don’t have experience specifically towing fifth wheels, so I could be wrong, but seeing how careful folks have to be with hitch selection with a 6.75’ bed I would be very hesitant with something over a foot shorter.

The quick summary for payload capacity:
  • The payload capacity of your truck is listed on the yellow sticker in your door jamb (should be near the gray sticker you sent a picture of).
  • The weight of all people, cargo and pin/tongue weight combined should not exceed that payload number to safely haul.
That number isn’t a legal number, but one created by the manufacturer. There are instances where it’s artificially lowered, but unless you’re specifically aware of that it’s best to follow it IMO.

But please feel free to ask more questions either in response to the towing guide (good to help clarify things for anyone else reading through it!) or here. Happy to work with you on the numbers. :)

My quick take is that, assuming you’re even able to haul a fifth wheel (see the bed length concern above), that trailer is too large for the vast majority of half ton trucks. You’ll be right up against your towing capacity (as shown by the towing guide) if the trailer is fully loaded, and likely up against your payload capacity, if not over.
 
For sure! Happy to help. Realized my signature isn’t visible on mobile, so here’s the link to my towing guide:


It walks through all of the numbers and, specifically relevant to you, examples for determining if a trailer is a good match for a given truck. All terms are well defined.

One other thought I had: if by short bed you mean the 5.5’ bed, then I would be surprised if you could haul a fifth wheel without hitting the cab. I don’t have experience specifically towing fifth wheels, so I could be wrong, but seeing how careful folks have to be with hitch selection with a 6.75’ bed I would be very hesitant with something over a foot shorter.

The quick summary for payload capacity:
  • The payload capacity of your truck is listed on the yellow sticker in your door jamb (should be near the gray sticker you sent a picture of).
  • The weight of all people, cargo and pin/tongue weight combined should not exceed that payload number to safely haul.
That number isn’t a legal number, but one created by the manufacturer. There are instances where it’s artificially lowered, but unless you’re specifically aware of that it’s best to follow it IMO.

But please feel free to ask more questions either in response to the towing guide (good to help clarify things for anyone else reading through it!) or here. Happy to work with you on the numbers. :)

My quick take is that, assuming you’re even able to haul a fifth wheel (see the bed length concern above), that trailer is too large for the vast majority of half ton trucks. You’ll be right up against your towing capacity (as shown by the towing guide) if the trailer is fully loaded, and likely up against your payload capacity, if not over.
So you are talking about this sticker then?
I mean I would be ok doing a tow trailer not even a 5th wheel. They said with a shot bed they have some kind a turning point hitch for short beds
I honestly never felt right about doing a 5th wheel but I am open to a bumper pull also Just not sure on what I can do anymore.
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So you are talking about this sticker then?
I mean I would be ok doing a tow trailer not even a 5th wheel. They said with a shot bed they have some kind a turning point hitch for short beds
I honestly never felt right about doing a 5th wheel but I am open to a bumper pull also Just not sure on what I can do anymore.
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I agree with CCW. The term "half ton towable" truly is a great marketing slogan, but often does not play out in the real world. In terms of what's safe, and potentially illegal. As mentioned in the previous reply, your payload will likely be your biggest issue. In addition to the shorter bed (another critical factor for SAFE fifth wheel towing), and an overall lighter truck.

I own a 278 BH, and it is by no means considered large, in the grand scheme of fifth wheel campers. However, I would not recommend pulling it with a half ton pickup, in my opinion. I think you can find a very nicely equipped travel trailer, that would likely fit your needs. However, the same factors will still apply, regarding your trucks capability, and what you can safely, and legally tow. The resource CCW provided you above, to help calculate what you can safely tow, is a great place to start.

Do not let dealers tell you what your truck is or is not capable of towing. In most instances, they are simply there to make a sale, not to inform you what best matches your trucks towing capabilities. They/the dealer does not have a legal obligation to give you sound, and/or ACCURATE advice. So you're doing the right thing by educating yourself first. Good luck!
 
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So you are talking about this sticker then?
I mean I would be ok doing a tow trailer not even a 5th wheel. They said with a shot bed they have some kind a turning point hitch for short beds
I honestly never felt right about doing a 5th wheel but I am open to a bumper pull also Just not sure on what I can do anymore.
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Yep! That’s the one! Worth noting, when you’re looking at RVs on the lot, you’ll find similar stickers on them listing out the payload capacity, GVWR, pin weight, etc. They will be specific to that individual unit and means you can evaluate things on the fly. Usually they’re on the side of the trailer near the front, fully exposed without needing keys.

So starting with how your truck came from the factory (including full tank of gas) you shouldn’t add more than 1780 pounds of weight to the truck at one time. This includes all modifications, gear, cargo, and people.

You say you’re looking at around 650 pounds of people so that leaves you with 1130 pounds of payload capacity from people alone. Let’s take another 100 pounds off for a hitch (could be light for a fifth wheel hitch, could be heavy for a weight distributing one for a bumper pull).

That leaves you with ~1000 pounds of weight for any additional cargo in the truck, modifications, and pin/tongue weight. If you’re carrying gear in the truck (bikes, coolers, hunting/fishing gear, first aid kit, straps, tools, firewood, etc) that all takes away from that number further, but I’ll run with it for the rest of my post.

Given the listed pin weight of that fifth wheel is likely the dry weight and ~1300 pounds, you would be significantly over capacity with that trailer once you add propane, batteries, water, and gear to the trailer. You would easily be a couple hundred pounds over capacity just driving off the lot (assuming your family is with you), don’t mind loaded down for camping.

With a thousand pounds of headroom for pin weight at best I would absolutely recommend moving to a bumper pull.

Bumper pull trailers have a recommended tongue weight of 10-15% of overall trailer weight. If we take the upper end of that to be safe (depends on loading and trailer design where it will actually fall), 1000/0.15 is 6700 pounds.

So 6700 pounds is the maximum loaded trailer weight your truck can carry, limited by payload capacity (based on the remaining payload calculated above; adjust according if that’s actually lower because of additional gear). Nowhere near the “tow rating limit”, but that’s because the truck is loaded down with people as well.

Now, personally I’m pretty conservative with this stuff and I would round that down to 6000 pounds for good measure, but that’s all personal risk evaluation. I don’t want to run my gear at capacity on the regular, or when driving at highway speeds. Others are fine running at or a bit over capacity and have done so for thousands of miles with no issues.

When you’re looking at a trailer, look for the GVWR. That’s the maximum the trailer can safely weigh as determined by the manufacture (same as GVWR for your truck). It will be on a sticker on the side of the trailer. Use that as the loaded weight of the trailer unless you’re confident you’ll be below it.

So to sum up, for your family and truck, IMO you should be looking at bumper pull trailers with a GVWR of 6700 pounds or less, and for me personally it would be 6000 pounds or less to add some margin. This assumes no gear in the truck.

Conveniently, Big Truck Big RV recommends 6000 pounds as a good maximum for half ton bumper pull RVs, and we’re basically in line with that. :)

(Technically, going purely off of payload capacity, you could tow a fifth wheel if it weighed around 1000/0.25 = 4000 pounds loaded but good luck ever finding one that light. :ROFLMAO: )
 
Yep! That’s the one! Worth noting, when you’re looking at RVs on the lot, you’ll find similar stickers on them listing out the payload capacity, GVWR, pin weight, etc. They will be specific to that individual unit and means you can evaluate things on the fly. Usually they’re on the side of the trailer near the front, fully exposed without needing keys.

So starting with how your truck came from the factory (including full tank of gas) you shouldn’t add more than 1780 pounds of weight to the truck at one time. This includes all modifications, gear, cargo, and people.

You say you’re looking at around 650 pounds of people so that leaves you with 1130 pounds of payload capacity from people alone. Let’s take another 100 pounds off for a hitch (could be light for a fifth wheel hitch, could be heavy for a weight distributing one for a bumper pull).

That leaves you with ~1000 pounds of weight for any additional cargo in the truck, modifications, and pin/tongue weight. If you’re carrying gear in the truck (bikes, coolers, hunting/fishing gear, first aid kit, straps, tools, firewood, etc) that all takes away from that number further, but I’ll run with it for the rest of my post.

Given the listed pin weight of that fifth wheel is likely the dry weight and ~1300 pounds, you would be significantly over capacity with that trailer once you add propane, batteries, water, and gear to the trailer. You would easily be a couple hundred pounds over capacity just driving off the lot (assuming your family is with you), don’t mind loaded down for camping.

With a thousand pounds of headroom for pin weight at best I would absolutely recommend moving to a bumper pull.

Bumper pull trailers have a recommended tongue weight of 10-15% of overall trailer weight. If we take the upper end of that to be safe (depends on loading and trailer design where it will actually fall), 1000/0.15 is 6700 pounds.

So 6700 pounds is the maximum loaded trailer weight your truck can carry, limited by payload capacity (based on the remaining payload calculated above; adjust according if that’s actually lower because of additional gear). Nowhere near the “tow rating limit”, but that’s because the truck is loaded down with people as well.

Now, personally I’m pretty conservative with this stuff and I would round that down to 6000 pounds for good measure, but that’s all personal risk evaluation. I don’t want to run my gear at capacity on the regular, or when driving at highway speeds. Others are fine running at or a bit over capacity and have done so for thousands of miles with no issues.

When you’re looking at a trailer, look for the GVWR. That’s the maximum the trailer can safely weigh as determined by the manufacture (same as GVWR for your truck). It will be on a sticker on the side of the trailer. Use that as the loaded weight of the trailer unless you’re confident you’ll be below it.

So to sum up, for your family and truck, IMO you should be looking at bumper pull trailers with a GVWR of 6700 pounds or less, and for me personally it would be 6000 pounds or less to add some margin. This assumes no gear in the truck.

Conveniently, Big Truck Big RV recommends 6000 pounds as a good maximum for half ton bumper pull RVs, and we’re basically in line with that. :)

(Technically, going purely off of payload capacity, you could tow a fifth wheel if it weighed around 1000/0.25 = 4000 pounds loaded but good luck ever finding one that light. :ROFLMAO: )
WOW that brings it into prospective a ton. WOW!
thanks.
Now I feel like the truck dealer screwed me a bit but WOW Thank you Man I watch Big Truck Big RV all the time.
Now I guess time to go see what I can find with all this in mind.

Thank you all a ton I some how feel like I would have killed my family not knowing all this. I kind of feel scared to go to any RV dealer now. LOL
 
I've got a 2016 keystone cougar 28rdb 5th wheel I tow with a 2018 Ford F150 xlt 6.5 foot bed with the 3.5. The truck handles the 5th wheel with no issues. My payload sticker is within a few pounds of yours. I've got air bags to help level the truck some, but only have to add about 20 lbs to level it out. I have no problem setting the cruise at 70 mph and driving one handed. Averaging 11.5 towing. This is my 3rd 5th wheel, 1st with this truck. Between this camper and the last 5th wheel l, we purchased a new 25' travel trailer. And I Hated the way it towed. No matter how I set the WD hitch or loaded the camper, it felt like the tail was wagging the dog. I traded the travel trailer in on the current 5th wheel 3 weeks later.

I've got a 2022 F350 7.3 on order. I went 350 this time only because in another year or two I want to upgrade the 5th to.a toyhauler. Otherwise it would be another f150.
 
WOW that brings it into prospective a ton. WOW!
thanks.
Now I feel like the truck dealer screwed me a bit but WOW Thank you Man I watch Big Truck Big RV all the time.
Now I guess time to go see what I can find with all this in mind.

Thank you all a ton I some how feel like I would have killed my family not knowing all this. I kind of feel scared to go to any RV dealer now. LOL
No problem! Glad we could help! :)

Eh, don’t let it freak you out too much. Again, lots of folks run overloaded all the time. But since you’re setting up new, IMO might as well do it right. And when it comes to safety at 60, 70+ mph some buffer never hurt anyone.

When it comes to dealers, just know your numbers and stick to them. Tell them up front what GVWR you’re looking at and make a point of looking at the sticker as the first thing you do when being shown a trailer, before you see anything else. If the GVWR is too high, you tell them you’re not interested and carry on. If they keep intentionally showing you trailers too heavy, find a new salesperson or dealership.
 
I've got a 2016 keystone cougar 28rdb 5th wheel I tow with a 2018 Ford F150 xlt 6.5 foot bed with the 3.5. The truck handles the 5th wheel with no issues. My payload sticker is within a few pounds of yours. I've got air bags to help level the truck some, but only have to add about 20 lbs to level it out. I have no problem setting the cruise at 70 mph and driving one handed. Averaging 11.5 towing. This is my 3rd 5th wheel, 1st with this truck. Between this camper and the last 5th wheel l, we purchased a new 25' travel trailer. And I Hated the way it towed. No matter how I set the WD hitch or loaded the camper, it felt like the tail was wagging the dog. I traded the travel trailer in on the current 5th wheel 3 weeks later.

I've got a 2022 F350 7.3 on order. I went 350 this time only because in another year or two I want to upgrade the 5th to.a toyhauler. Otherwise it would be another f150.
Would be curious to hear what weights you‘re dealing with. Have you ever scaled your rig when loaded up?
 
I've got a 2016 keystone cougar 28rdb 5th wheel I tow with a 2018 Ford F150 xlt 6.5 foot bed with the 3.5. The truck handles the 5th wheel with no issues. My payload sticker is within a few pounds of yours. I've got air bags to help level the truck some, but only have to add about 20 lbs to level it out. I have no problem setting the cruise at 70 mph and driving one handed. Averaging 11.5 towing. This is my 3rd 5th wheel, 1st with this truck. Between this camper and the last 5th wheel l, we purchased a new 25' travel trailer. And I Hated the way it towed. No matter how I set the WD hitch or loaded the camper, it felt like the tail was wagging the dog. I traded the travel trailer in on the current 5th wheel 3 weeks later.

I've got a 2022 F350 7.3 on order. I went 350 this time only because in another year or two I want to upgrade the 5th to.a toyhauler. Otherwise it would be another f150.
We did look at that before they were showing us a 2021 halfton corgar. Have you had many issues with it at all?
Seems like you see issues with every RV maker.
Our biggest deal we wanted to find a bunk area for my son. To just have his own space to relax.
 
Would be curious to hear what weights you‘re dealing with. Have you ever scaled your rig when loaded up?
I've never scaled it. Like I said, it hardly squats when hooked up. Only thing in the truck is me, my wife and two kids under 8. I dont keep any tools etc in the cab. Campers pretty empty too considering the amount of storage in this model rv. Water tank is behind the trailer axles and I have a 3500 generator and cooler on rear camper bumper. Sure I'm close to payload, but under axle limits. I've got e rated tires on truck and run with 60lbs. Makes a big difference.
 
We did look at that before they were showing us a 2021 halfton corgar. Have you had many issues with it at all?
Seems like you see issues with every RV maker.
Our biggest deal we wanted to find a bunk area for my son. To just have his own space to relax.
We bought our used two years ago. It's been a great camper. I just had the large slide gearbox go out on me last weekend. Slide would go in. But not come back.out. $80 part and 30 minutes to replace. This is our 3rd cougar and have great luck. Our next one will be a grand design 5th wheel toyhauler. I need a 13' garage to fit my sxs and their model fits what I need. If I wasnt going toyhauler to would be a tough choice between grand design and keystone cougar.
 
We bought our used two years ago. It's been a great camper. I just had the large slide gearbox go out on me last weekend. Slide would go in. But not come back.out. $80 part and 30 minutes to replace. This is our 3rd cougar and have great luck. Our next one will be a grand design 5th wheel toyhauler. I need a 13' garage to fit my sxs and their model fits what I need. If I wasnt going toyhauler to would be a tough choice between grand design and keystone cougar.
How much is the Lbs of your unit? Just wondering.
 
How much is the Lbs of your unit? Just wondering.
The yellow.sticker on the inside of 5th wheel's door says the camper weighs 7600lbs and have am additional 2200 pounds of capacity. It has a huge passthrough basement in the front and another large one in the back. The only things i.carry in the front cargo is a few alum camp chairs and my sewer hose/ water lines, and a rug.
 
The yellow.sticker on the inside of 5th wheel's door says the camper weighs 7600lbs and have am additional 2200 pounds of capacity. It has a huge passthrough basement in the front and another large one in the back. The only things i.carry in the front cargo is a few alum camp chairs and my sewer hose/ water lines, and a rug.
So do you want to put anything that has some lbs on it over the wheels and not in the front storage. You want to just make sure that is where all light stuff goes?
 
So do you want to put anything that has some lbs on it over the wheels and not in the front storage. You want to just make sure that is where all light stuff goes?
That's how I do it. We camp pretty light. There is a large rear storage too. I keep the weber grill, some tools, etc in there. Then the rack on the rear bumper has the generator and cooler.
This 5th wheel has the auto level on it. works awesome. Takes 5 minutes to level, and when you want to hook up. It raises the rear jacks and returns the landing gear to the position you unhooked at.
 

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That's how I do it. We camp pretty light. There is a large rear storage too. I keep the weber grill, some tools, etc in there. Then the rack on the rear bumper has the generator and cooler.
This 5th wheel has the auto level on it. works awesome. Takes 5 minutes to level, and when you want to hook up. It raises the rear jacks and returns the landing gear to the position you unhooked at.
What we were looking at it this
But with what I learned here that might be way too much for me to handle.

So I am looking at other Grand Design bumper pulls now with a bunk house.
I want a bunk house for my son or a bunk area.
 
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What we were looking at it this
But with what I learned here that might be way too much for me to handle.

So I am looking at other Grand Design bumper pulls now with a bunk house.
I want a bunk house for my son or a bunk area.

If you are sticking with your F-150 then you are heading in the right direction - every trailer should have a sticker on it that look like this one. Look for that on any trailer in inventory - as that is put on by the mfg. and shows exact weight of that particular trailer with the options it was made with. I would consider - what trailer you want - then get the right truck to pull it - only buy once! don't compromise on your trailer you want for your family, only to be buying again in 18 months - If you can find a 3/4 or 1 ton diesel truck you will be safer and happier and have a much wider range of trailers to consider. Good luck in your search!

Weight Sticker.jpg
 
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