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[Scottdeb89]

Hello and thank you for the add! My wife and I have been fivers for about 4 years now. Last November we decided to upgrade from our 2015 keystone outback to a 2020 keystone Montana 3761 FL. I'm curious what everybody else is telling with. I have a 2020 GMC 3500 Denali four-wheel drive 6.6 duramax diesel and I've heard that I may be under trucked for this camper. I did a few of those. Will my truck tow this things before I bought it and it said I could. But now my wife is a little bit unsettled as to whether I need a dually or not to pull this camper. Someone suggested even though my back end doesn't side much to add hair springs in the back for stability and that may make it fine. Just I have never had to worry about it before cuz my truck was way more than enough for the last camper. Any inputs would be appreciated and again thank you for the add.

Scott garrison NJ

[Mikendebbie]

I towed our 3921FB for 12 months with a 2014 Chevy C3500 SRW long bed.
It did fine. Exhaust brake was awesone.
Got our dually in Feb 2019. The ride and control is better with a dually.

[Scottdeb89]

Thank you, just want to male sure I didn't buy too large a camper for the truck. Obviously love the camper so would have to upgrade the truck if I did LOL.

[Foldbak]

Your truck is fine. All a DW will do is put more meat on the ground improving stopping and sway. I have a 2020 Denali 2500. I have a bit lees trailer but it tows great! These new trucks are beasts!

[Scottdeb89]

That's kind of my feeling. Also. A friend of mine does all the numbers by the charts and everything else and had me figured that all out. It showed that my truck is a little bit less than what this camper should have. That's where the concern came from. Thank you for your response

[jsb5717]

Welcome aboard! You're asking the right questions.

I can't see all of the yellow sticker. That is where the one important piece of data lives.

"Cargo and passengers not to exceed XXXXlbs" This is your truck's payload. What's that number? That's the amount of added weight your truck is rated for.

There are 2 considerations for driving the correct tow vehicle.

1. Objective. It's just math. What's the loaded pin weight of your trailer? You can take it to the scales to know for sure. Otherwise you can use 23% of your GVWR to use for calculations. Add to that weight the weight of your hitch, gear, and people. That total number is the weight your truck needs to carry. If that total is greater than your truck's payload then you need to consider more truck.

2. Subjective. How safe does it feel. If you meet the numbers but still feel a little squirrelly going down the road when you encounter cross winds then you might feel better in a dually. You might not need it for payload, but it might feel better. Up to you.

Let us know what that yellow stick says for your truck's payload. That will tell us a lot.

[Scottdeb89]

I posted clearer pictures now of what you asked. And the keystone website says that my hitch weight, They don't call it a pin is 2880 lbs

[Scottdeb89]

Thank you by the way, I just want to be safe

[jsb5717]

Thanks, so now you know that your truck's payload capacity is 3648 lbs. The posted hitch weight from the OEM isn't any more helpful than empty weights.

Your trailer has a GVWR of 16,800 lbs. 23% of that is 3864 lbs. That is the calculated loaded hitch weight of your trailer. It's just a ballpark number based on averages. You'd have to take it to the scales, loaded as you will always use it, and get it weighed to get your real number.

But based on just these calculated numbers you are already over your truck's payload before you even add hitch, gear, and people.

Since you have the trailer it would be worth taking it to the scales to get your real number before making any expensive decisions.

[jsb5717]

FWIW, there are many people towing trailers like yours with 1 ton SRW trucks. They may or may not be overloaded based on their real loaded pin weight and truck's posted payload.

Our trailer weighs over 2000 lbs less than yours. But I can confirm that moving to a dually feels a whole lot better going down the road...especially in cross winds. You can't beat the stability.

[Scottdeb89]

Thank you, sincerely

[Scottdeb89]

Sincerely, thank you I did a calculations sheet and came up -625, but thought I did something wrong. I am currently in contact with my dealership just to see where I stand with a dually and if I can find a way to afford the payment. Someone else told me that I could put air springs for stabilization on my truck. That would help but I don't know. I don't want to be close to the max and definitely not over the max!

[jsb5717]

Adding air springs, or other add ons to help stabilize load, will make the truck feel better. There's no doubt about it. But it doesn't change the weight the truck is rated for.

Too many, even on this site, mistake the feeling of stability for actual safety. They aren't the same thing.

[Scottdeb89]

👍👍- Got it, I won't be one of them, that is why I asked the questions that I didn't have the answers for.

[High5er]

As many have said, you have plenty of truck for your trailer. I had airbags on my last truck (2000 Chevy 2500 HD) and it made a huge difference. I traded it in because I needed a 1 ton for our new, heavier trailer and plan to put airbags on it too. From my experience, it absolutely helps with the ride. It doesn't change your payload or any other capacities, but by offsetting any sag in the back it allows your truck brakes share the work better. I can also say without the airbags it felt like the front end was floating a little bit. The steering felt loose and inconsistent, but that was completely eliminated when I pumped up the airbags to return the truck to it's natural stance.

[Scottdeb89]

When you do the math though the truck isn't enough.

[jsb5717]

Originally Posted by High5er

As many have said, you have plenty of truck for your trailer.

Based on what? If you're not doing the math then you're just guessing. Guessing can be dangerous.

[High5er]

Originally Posted by Scottdeb89

When you do the math though the truck isn't enough.

You can't broadly calculate the pin weight of a 5th wheel with a blanket 23% because they're all balanced differently. The manufacturer spec should be very, very close to reality on the empty pin weight. They aren't accidentally going to add another 400 lbs to the front of a trailer through normal variation.

The truck is rated for max tongue weight with a gooseneck at 3165. The pin weight of the trailer is 2880 (empty). There's room for 285 lb of additional weight on the pin. The rear axle is a non-issue with GAWR of 7250. Even if the pin absorbs 25% of total added weight from supplies and gear, you have capacity to load 1,140 pounds if evenly distributed, more if the added weight is in the back, and less if the weight is in the front of the 5th wheel.

I think I saw some others recommend going to the scales. I would recommend it as well as no one can accurately estimate what anyone has added to their trailer, how it was loaded or anything else being carried in the truck. I would definitely weigh before shelling out the $$ for a DRW truck.

[High5er]

Originally Posted by jsb5717

Based on what? If you're not doing the math then you're just guessing. Guessing can be dangerous.

Guessing is absolutely dangerous, and maybe my math is off, but from what I calculated he has enough truck to pull the empty trailer without any concerns and should be more concerned with what and how it has been loaded.

[mhs4771]

Best way to know is: Load up everything, trailer & Truck bed, include all normal passengers, both two & four legged and head to a Truck scale. Make two weighs, one with Truck and trailer connected, then park and disconnect trailer and return to scale with truck only. From there you can compute everything you need to know.