Lifted Truck & 5th wheel! Can they mix?

[JoshWelsh]

My truck has a 5" Fabtech on it in the front, but the rear is only lifted 3". I am thinking of nuying a 5th wheel toy hauler, but before I do I first want to know if it possible to tow with my current setup? Is there a special 5th wheel company that would work? Whats the max my lift in the rear can be over stock if I have to lower it down?

 

[klenger]

I dropped the backend of my truck 1-1/4" at the rear axle for my 5er. My 5th wheel is 60" from the ground the to botton of the bedroom. How high is the bed of your truck? If I tried to pull my 5er with your truck, I'd have 3-4" clearance at most and severe damage would be done the 1st time out. Note that my trailer was delivered with the axles alread "flipped", so it sits pretty high compared to some.

 

[Beast2B]

bed rail height, which is pretty high from the factory for Dodge, is the major hurdle. this can be balanced a bit with a mod to the trailer (flipping the axles). ride and handling are moderately-to-severely impacted, depending on conditions. wind causes problems with pickups and large trailers in normal configs, but will be WAY worse with a lift. my setup is a bumper pull toy hauler behind my lifted truck, so the trailer is stock height, and it gets buffeted pretty good.

I'd say as long as you are comfortable with the rig, are CLOSE to specs for GCWR (and under specs for GAWR and wheels/tires), and are willing to skip travelling on particularly bad weather days you'll be good.

 

[jelag]

After banging the bed rails on my trucks... . 01, 04 and 05 I finally changed all my trailers... had to raise my personal travel trailer almost 5 inches to make me happy... for me I had to cut and remove the hangers... and put a piece of steel under the frame to make it work... and than had to lengthen the wires to the axles for the brakes to function correctly and finally move from a 2 step entry to a 3 step entry. .



It sits higher... but its lever and functions well... the frame was getting rusty anyway so we cleaned the frame... . added a piece of 2x3 tube that was 20 ft long on both sides and than another 2x2 tube that was a foot longer than the spring hangers... frame is now stiffer, and the nice thing is that now when I drop out of a parking lot onto the highway the tail no longer drags... did I say we painted the complete frame...



Jim

 

[TowPro]

Now you see why I keep buying 2wd's. I hit the bed on a camper with my 96 1500 4wd, and the camper had already been raised 2". Where it happens is when you pull out of a gas station that is lower then the road. AS you pull out the truck levels out onto the road, but the camper is still on the hill and your bed corner hits on the bottom of the 5th wheel overhang. Its not pretty

 

[tractorseller]

I pull a 32' Jayco 5th with my stock 4WD quad cab dually. The Jayco has the adjustable spring hangers from the factory and they're adjusted all the way up. It just barely clears enough to make me comfortable. I've pulled it all over the country and haven't hit a bed rail yet, but I'm always careful about where I pull it.



I'm against using lifted trucks to tow with. I've seen so many disasters here in southern Arizona. You lift your trailer to match the truck and the trailer manufacturer voids your warranty if something happens. The trucks with lifts I've seen always seem to sag real bad in the rear when hooked up to a heavy 5th wheel. Then your headlights are pointed straight up at night when you're driving. When everything is higher it hurts the stability of your rig, especially with crosswinds. Your center of gravity is too high. I guess if you have the time and money to make all the modifications and you accept the fact that if something happens to the modified trailer the manufacturer will probably leave you out in the cold (so will Dodge if you modify your truck), then go for it. I sure don't need the headaches. I've had lifted trucks and I think 90% of the people that lift them just do it for the "cool factor". They need it lifted like they need a hole in the head, but they think it looks cool. Nothing wrong with that if you're willing to accept all the downside it might cause. Maybe I'm just getting old :-laf .

 

[RonCar]

Here is our setup, front leveling kit and 35's. No issues! #ad


I have a freind who also has a Rampage but has a 6 inch lift and 35's, no problems but his is a 40 footer so his rear end sags quite a bit. If he was to air bag it or do something to level the truck he would have to flip the axles on the trailer then. gOOd luck!

 

[robertyoke]

flat bed?

-robert