Can a Solitude Overload a Daully?

[Aridon]

Yowza!! The Momentums can get seriously heavy, that's for sure!

Depends on the model and how you load it I guess because we run 3800 lbs on the pin.

His 5800 pin seems excessive as our mobile suites atlanta wasn't even close to that but he might load it differently or who knows maybe all 397's are super pin heavy. We'd need a few more owners to hit the scales and post but I'm dubious they are all like that.

[Aridon]

Seems to me those high payloads are only if you get a near stripped RWD WT model (work truck). But if you want niceties like a quad cab, 4WD and maybe even a truck bed, then no you won’t be seeing payloads much above 5000. What I’m really asking is the likelihood of upgrading my rig to one of the 40+ ft Solitude, or better maybe an Open Range, without going to a medium duty truck or semi tractor, none of which work well as a daily driver.

Not true at all. Not sure if you've even looked at the weight charts published by the manufacturers but your statement is incorrect.

We have the AISIN, quad cab RAm and our payload is near 6k LBS. Hardly bare bones single bench with no rear seat type truck. No it isn't leather everything 4wd but we didn't need or want that nor would I pay an extra 20k for it either.


If you want to pull with a MDT or HDT go for it. They are cool units. They really aren't necessary though.

[Keebler]

I see two schools of thought in the towing discussions. One school would tell you that if you tow anything more than a pop up camper with a half ton truck, then you are seriously overloaded, and the 5ers should only be towed by daully or semi tractor. The over, equally as proposterous, would hook a triple axle toy hauler to a three-quarter ton truck because it’s under the 18,000 pound towing capacity. So yesterday I went to dealers for Ford and Chevy, and looked at F350 and 3500hd SRW and DRW trucks, specifically axle ratings. I didn’t see many differences between the axle ratings of my 2500 and the 3500 SRW. Payloads of 3500 and 350 SRW trucks varied between 3000 and 3680 lbs, but I saw no differences over mine other than a leaf spring. Also, the 3500HD daully that I did find had a payload of 4700 lbs. I’m certain a Solitude or other drop frame 5th wheel with a 3000 or 3200 lb dry hitch weight could easily exceed that when loaded and with a 250 lb driver, full tanks and a steel 5th wheel hitch added. The real difference with the daully was the axle rating (over 9000lbs). So WTF? Will i need a class 7 semi tractor or other commercial truck to tow a Solitude? Or is it that you can only buy certain daully—maybe only Dodge can do it because I didn’t look at those... Or is handling the hitch weight really in the axles?

Back to the original post. I have not looked at the toy haulers, so I exclude them from my statement. That said, there are plenty of DRWs that can easily tow any Grand Design 5th wheel (again, not commenting on the toy haulers). When looking at trucks, I only looked at F350 Platinum DRW, so they were all option rich. I did not see a single one that had a capacity less than 5,100 pounds. This is not to say there aren't any out there with lesser cargo capacities, just saying there are PLENTY out there that are more than capable. As I stated earlier, I am rated at 5293 pounds and pull one of the larger Solitudes EASILY. The ride couldn't be more stable and comfortable.

[BB&LAB]

To the OP a Solitude is likely not going to overload a DRW, unless one heavily loads the truck and exceed the 5th wheel's GVWR. The DRW increases the payload capacity of the truck to numbers that give plenty of margin. For example when I was shopping for a truck, the 3500 SRW's I saw ranged in the area of 3200 to 3,600 pounds of payload, while all the DRW's I looked at were north of 5K pounds of payload. My truck's payload capacity is at 5,600.

[JCR GD]

Hate to be a spoiler but you guys would be overloaded pulling our 5er. Hitch weight 5,800 lbs and a GVW 22,900 lbs

That hitch weight seems about 2,000 lbs high since that unit is nearly identical to mine which runs 3,800 on pin with nothing in garage. Maybe that includes the RZR up front on the truck?

[CWSWine]

That seems high till you think about it it really not that far out of line. At 15% that would be a 3435 - At 20% that would be a 4580 - at 25% that would be a 5725. I have noticed that most TH are on the higher end of the percentages. That is why even if you think you'are with the spec you should take a trip to the scales to verify it. I know I was shocked to find out I was over GVWR and within 200 pounds of axles ratings with a 310GK and GMC 1 ton with 3722 payloads.

Hate to be a spoiler but you guys would be overloaded pulling our 5er. Hitch weight 5,800 lbs and a GVW 22,900 lbs

[WhittleBurner]

The heaviest trailer GD makes Solitude or Momentum is 20k#'s GVWR. If you factor that at 25% pin weight (which is a lot) that is 5k#'s. Capable for any DRW. I believe GD makes it a point to keep the weight's down to that point so a 350 DRW is capable of towing any of them. If you go over your GVWR (which is easy to do and often done) then you need to have your set up weighed and decide from there what you want to do.

[Barbara & Dave]

Keep in mind that with a tow hauler, the loaded pin weight should be lower than the dry pin weight.

Dave




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[JKellerJr]

The F450's are rated to tow more total weight than an F350 due to the ginormos rear axle in the 450. The payload is always less in a 450 because the total GVW of both trucks is still 14000 pounds. So the 450 is aimed at the horse trailer crowd that don't have as much pin weight as an RV but more trailer weight.

And that's more do to the Ford wanting to keep the F-450 as a class 3 truck instead of a class 4. Its about the class not the capability. (also the argument of the pro 250 crowd but I'm not going there )

With the growing capability of the new pickups the I think whole class/weight issues needs to be updated.

[Aridon]

That seems high till you think about it it really not that far out of line. At 15% that would be a 3435 - At 20% that would be a 4580 - at 25% that would be a 5725. I have noticed that most TH are on the higher end of the percentages. That is why even if you think you'are with the spec you should take a trip to the scales to verify it. I know I was shocked to find out I was over GVWR and within 200 pounds of axles ratings with a 310GK and GMC 1 ton with 3722 payloads.

The highest GVW on the Momentum is 20k so right off the bat we are starting with numbers that don't many any sense. Given quite a number of us have the same sized Momentums that have been weighed and the CAT weights are shared here there isn't something quite right with what is being said.

When the GVW is off by 2,290 LBS right off the bat I'm skeptical and when I see the massive pin weight that is 2k+ LBS more than my own, more or less the same model, well I take the info with a grain of salt because he is either mistaken or doing something so very different load wise that the numbers he is offering are not likely what someone would actually experience under normal circumstances.