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Picked up a new to us 5th wheel trailer.

tRustyK5

tRustyK5

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We just brought home a 2013 5th wheel trailer. My wife and I have been looking and wanting one for many years now. The time wasn't perfect with inventory here being so low, but the time for us personally was right. It's about 27 feet long, three slides, power everything and within the abilities of my GMC 1500 pick-up. Dry weight is a tick over 7000 lbs, 1100 lbs at the pin.

Being a short box (5' 8") required a fairly spendy Demco 13K "Auto slide" hitch. I was a little butt hurt at what it cost, until I put it to the test at the dealership this afternoon. Was able to easily get it to 90 degrees without even coming close to hitting the cab or anything else. The best part is it's all automatic, it just does what it needs to without any extra steps or other shit to remember...

This was the first one they had seen in person there, and jaws dropped. It's pretty slick!

PXL_20210806_231415584.jpg
 
I kinda wanted a bumper pull in the 24 foot range, but my wife wanted a 5th wheel. They make em much smaller than this one, and of course much larger. I measured the overall length this morning, and it's 28 1/2 feet. This is the perfect size for Deb and I and the occasional grand kid. For the 10 mile drive home from the RV lot, it seemed to tow fine...and it was windy AF as we were about to have a good old thunderstorm at the time. It will take a little getting used to, but the truck seems to do fine with it.

Our son in law works as an RV tech at the dealership we bought this from. It's nice having someone "on the inside", and they did treat us very well. We got a modest "friends and family" discount, and at cost in the accessory area on pick-up day.
 
Just got back from our maiden trip. 700 miles through the mountains to the west coast of BC, then 700 back home of course.

Really a 1/2 ton torture test, it was either gonna be OK, or I'd be shopping for more truck in the next couple of years. Honestly, it towed just fine and even though my pick-up has the 5.3 rather than the 6.2 I rarely felt I needed more power. "Active grade braking" did it's thing and was a big help coming down "smasher" of the Coquihalla highway. There are some long evil grades on the Coq but we made them all jut fine. Seemed to get down to roughly 50 mph and just stay there. Temp would creep maybe 10 degrees then stay there.

On flatter ground I had no trouble running at as much as 75 mph, although 65 was way easier on fuel. average for the trip was 9.9 mpg (US gallon) which I thought was just fine.
 
He said 7k.
my 99 6.0 liked 7500 pretty good, but 11k was a killer in the rockies. 20mph on a couple pulls.
The Dmax just gets it done, but no better than 10 for my 3500mi round trip.
congrats Rene’ and Deb. I hope you wear it out! Most rigs are like new 15 yrs later because they hardly get used.
 
That's what I pull, hope you have big fuel tanks. 5.7 9klbs about 6.5mpg if there's any elevation change. Does the job fine but range is a killer.
 
JoshHefnerX said:
That's what I pull, hope you have big fuel tanks. 5.7 9klbs about 6.5mpg if there's any elevation change. Does the job fine but range is a killer.
Click to expand...
The stopping is what will kill me. In the Frankenliner, I would travel at least 800 miles before the first pee stop.
 
JoshHefnerX said:
How much did that trailer weigh. Pretty good mpg. My POS pulls ok, but the mpgs avg about 6...
Click to expand...

Dry weight is 7100 lbs. I figure with all our shit, plus the weight of the auto slide hitch (320 lbs) we're at or slightly over 8000 lbs. I'm a hair heavy on payload, but well within the towing rating for this truck (9200 lbs). I think the tank is 25 US gallons, the most I've gotten in it is about 23. I did have a little range anxiety, but have made this drive many many times and know where all the fuel stops are. I got better mileage in the mountains, than closer to home in the flatter areas. Overall, speed makes more of a difference than terrain. A bigger tank would be nice, but as it is it was still OK.
 
max 02 said:
No pics!?

Did you make it over to Nicks new place?
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We tried many "plans" but nothing made any kind of sense. Nicks wedding got exponentially bigger, with a ton of his friends and family showing up well before we would. Nick wasn't even going to be home when we were planning to be there. We just weren't gonna get to spend any time together so we just pulled the pin on that part of the trip and spent three days driving home instead.

the only pic I took. We camped in Fort Langley.

PXL_20210823_233038200.jpg
 
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