Towing a 5th wheel camper with a 9' flatbed?

[Complete Turf Care]

Today, I went and installed 2 new tires. The ones I replaced had blown out while parked where it is now. They were the original 2004 tires that came with the camper. I went with 10 ply rated trailer tires. The originals were 8 ply.

And, I got the gooseneck adapter installed. Since we were going to move the kingpin down to the lowest hole anyway, we removed it to install the adapter, which made things much easier.

Now, I have about 27" from the bottom of the gooseneck adapter to the bottom of the camper. This should give me about 6" clearance over my toolboxes. But, this will also make the camper ride higher in the front while towing.

I'd rather have it ride high in the front than take a chance of it hitting my toolboxes while towing.

It's still to wet to get to it with my truck and attempt to tow it. Maybe later in the week it will be dry enough to try.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I think you are foolish for not replacing all the tires. A blow out on a Camper is expensive. It usually tears off the fender flares and does wheel well damage causing hundreds of dollars in damage.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

I think you are foolish for not replacing all the tires. A blow out on a Camper is expensive. It usually tears off the fender flares and does wheel well damage causing hundreds of dollars in damage.

The 2 that I did not replace are much newer. The manufacture date is 2011 and they show no signs of breaking down. After I tow the camper to my shop (about 30 miles) I will inspect them again and if I see any signs of cracking or anything, I will change them. At about $100 per tire, they are cheap.

I do not plan to do much traveling with this camper. Just tow it to my shop to make sure everything works, then tow it to my deer lease and leave it there. It's about 100 miles.

 

[Gunny]

If your fifth wheel is pulling nose high, I hope the new tires are on the rear axle, since you'll be throwing a bit more weight on them. According to the RV forums, 5 years is about max for an RV tire, even though they may look perfectly OK on a visual inspection.
A few years ago, I replaced two tires on my fifth wheel that were 5 years old, the front two still looked good. I hooked up and headed for the family reunion. One of the old tires blew less than 30 miles from the house. I threw the spare on and then the other older tire lasted about another 30 miles. The guy at the tire store told me that they were probably ready to go and the extra stress placed on them from having the new tires (with more plys) was just enough to break the camels back.
So, in another year or so, I plan on buying a whole new set, just to be prepared, four to run on, one for a spare, since the spares will deteriorate quickly than a running tire.

I wouldn't try the 100 mile trip with the older tires, like someone said, when they blow, they can cause some real damage to the camper and if they do, you've got all the problems of finding an ST tire at a decent price while you're stranded.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

If your fifth wheel is pulling nose high, I hope the new tires are on the rear axle, since you'll be throwing a bit more weight on them.

The older tires are on the back, and the camper will be towed with the nose high. That's 2 out of 2 replies here that say I should change the older tires also.......

Guess I need to think about this some more......

 

[Diamondpilot]

The older tires are on the back, and the camper will be towed with the nose high. That's 2 out of 2 replies here that say I should change the older tires also.......

Guess I need to think about this some more......

Yes you do. Especially if torsion axles. I have actually weighed each axle on a trailer that keep blowing tires. It was about 2" high on the nose.

What we found was the axle on the high end had about 30% of the load and the low end 70%. We then got it leveled out and magically it stopped blowing tires.

Your 2011 tires are a ticking time bomb. I guarantee you if one blows it will do way more than $200 damage!

 

[Complete Turf Care]

Yes you do. Especially if torsion axles. I have actually weighed each axle on a trailer that keep blowing tires. It was about 2" high on the nose.

What we found was the axle on the high end had about 30% of the load and the low end 70%. We then got it leveled out and magically it stopped blowing tires.

Your 2011 tires are a ticking time bomb. I guarantee you if one blows it will do way more than $200 damage!

This is good information. Thank you. This camper has spring axles.

 

[Deere Dude]

I raised the front of my 5th wheel camper up 2-3" for more clearance because the truck rode a little high for the camper. I started heading down to FL from WI and I had an uneasy feeling about excess weight on the rear axle and tires. I got a few miles from home and decided to take it to a scale I was familiar with and one axle weighed a couple hundred pounds over the other. Like 6750 on the front and 7000 on the rear, or close to that.

Still not sure if it was good or not I went home and put the tongue back to the original position, took it back to weigh it and I don't thing it changed anything to speak of.

The 37' camper wasn't like it was pulling a wheelie or anything and it had leaf springs. That is just my experience, although in my mind it would seem like the rear wheels would be way over loaded, it didn't seem to be the case with me. If it was a foot height maybe, but who knows?

 

[Complete Turf Care]

Success!!!

Weatherman says rain tonight, so my brother called and said "Come get it TODAY!!!"

So I stopped by my trailer dealer and picked up 2 new tires and rims and hooked it up and got it out, then changed the 2 rear tires and headed home. Everything went well. All of the lights work and the brakes work. Clearance above my tool boxes seems to be plenty. The trailer is traveling with the nose up slightly, and I'm OK with that. If I were to get at a full 90* angle while hooked up, it might get to my fuel pump.

Thanks again to everyone for your advice.

 

[1stDeuce]

I love my EZ-Lift adapter, and hopefully you'll like it too!

Judging by the picture, I don't think you'll have problems with that setup, at least not for limited towing. The extended pin box on that trailer is not ideal if you're going to tow it a lot, but it'll be fine for a few trips a year or less. Both the extended pin box and the gooseneck adapter put more stress on the trailer frame than a standard 5th wheel pin box would, and lippert frames are not really known for being overbuilt in the area of the pin box... Just be gentle with the brakes and throttle, and slow down if the road is rough.

No need to worry about being a little nose high. On a trailer with spring axles and equalizers between them, the weight stays relatively even between the axles until you start getting the equalizer really out of level, like near the limit of its travel. (That's why it's called an equalizer...) The ones to worry about are trailers with multiple torsion axles, where there is no equalizer, only the limited "suspension" of each axle. Torsion axle trailers MUST be level to keep the axle loads even.

Hope you enjoy your new hunting "cabin"!