Towing with a lift

[BigWW79]

How many of you pull with a lift on your truck?
I have a 4.5 BDS on mine. About to buy a 5th wheel and was wondering if anyone else if running the same set up. Dealer thinks there might be an issue.

[robkelly]

I don’t have a lift, and haven’t towed with one, but my guess is that you’ll be too tall and likely have bed clearance issues. I have air bags on the truck to help level it out, but IIRC I had about 3” of squat without them.

[eagleback]

Originally Posted by BigWW79

How many of you pull with a lift on your truck?
I have a 4.5 BDS on mine. About to buy a 5th wheel and was wondering if anyone else if running the same set up. Dealer thinks there might be an issue.

You didnt add what kind of truck you have and more clarification on the lift type. also the 5ver your looking at. Its tricky when it comes to the 5ver and ride height and handling as lifted trucks are more forgiving in the suspension and in the end, control.

[BigWW79]

2017 GMC Denali HD. 2500 not the 3500.
Its a 4.5 inch BDS suspension lift.

[eagleback]

Body lifts are more doable than suspension lifts. Even with bumper pulls as you no longer have the stiffness of the OEM suspension to take the load. I would say if you can find the 5th wheel that is light weight being the weight on the pin is light and able to raise the rear axles on the shackles of the 5ver so the bed height is correct and your not nose high it could be done. But i dont recommend it as your using your truck for recreation and not for towing.

[Old skipper]

It can be done with the big but because you may spend serious money lifting the trailer. Running my Chevy 1 ton no lift I still had to do a suspension lift on my fifth wheel. I did 4 inches and would have like 6.
Do you already have the 5th wheel in the truck? Even if you don’t take your truck down to the RV dealer and back up to the trailer and make some measurements.
Good luck because your bed rails are going to be way up there.

[barryg]

We have a 17 ram 3500 srw 4x4 no lift and a jayco 27.5rlts. Had to lift the trailer. Just wasn't enough bed rail clearance at the rear of the bed
We maxed out the adjustments of the trailer suspension, and hitch. Still had to put in a subframe on the trailer of a few inches. Not quite level but pretty close.

If you do go with a subframe I would suggest shopping around at least a bit. I got one quote from a very well regarded trailer repair shop about an hour away. They wanted just over $1600 to do it. I thought what the heck I would go to a very local trailer repair shop that I had heard some good things about over the years as well just to make sure I wasn't getting ripped, they are only about 10 minutes away and just to see if they would do it. I found several that wouldn't do it but they all did recommend the expensive shop which is why I went there to being with. Well what do you know. They did the exact same thing for 775.00. It was just about 1/2 the cost. They used the same square tubing the other shop said they were going to use, they crossed braced it, new hangers, welds looked great etc, couldn't have been any happier well except for not having to do it in the first place.

You wont know for sure until you measure the bed rail height and the level height of the pin and the underside of the trailer then you can try and estimate the drop of the truck with the pin weight on it but it probably wont be more than 3 inches at best if the stock rear suspension is used if the BDS kit put on new rear springs instead of a blocks they may give more.

[TxLoser]

Here's my '16. No lift and trailer rides nose high a little. I guess if the suspension was soft enough it may get close to level. Hard to say.

[SkyBound]

Why not look at a fifth wheel floor plan in a bumper pull? I too love driving lifted trucks and for that reason I stick to bumper pulls. It's very difficult getting a level tow with a 5ver even with some stock truck ride heights these days. Only way I would do a 5th is if I had a dedicated tow vehicle (diesel dually) and drove my lifted daily driver the rest of the time.

[BigWW79]

Well pulling the trigger on a 2019 Pinnacle 37MDQS
Took the truck and had service look it over and said I would be fine without lifting the trailer. Definitely pushing the limit with this one as its close to max allowed weight (I dont have a dually). Just have to pull it 200 miles to our property where it will stay put. Unless a hurricane hits I wont be pulling it much after that.

[Old skipper]

Oh no tell me it not so, you are turning your home into a “park model”.
Congratulations on the purchase just remember she has wheels for a reason.

[eagleback]

Lets get this right. Your going to pull a pinnacle MDQS one of the heaviest with a 3/4 ton with a lift. Good luck. Hope you keep it up right.

[Old skipper]

Although the lift changes his center of gravity his steering geometry stays the same the Pinnacle does not overload his axles and having the pin weight right over the axle will add stabity not take it away. The stock HD 2500 will easily pull this trailer.

[eagleback]

Originally Posted by Old skipper

Although the lift changes his center of gravity his steering geometry stays the same the Pinnacle does not overload his axles and having the pin weight right over the axle will add stabity not take it away. The stock HD 2500 will easily pull this trailer.

He is not stock. He is lifted. And the specs show around max 4000 pound payload on the 3/4 ton base model standard cab 2x4. and i know he dosen't have that model. After the 150 pound hitch and added cargo in the truck, Passengers, fuel, maybe a truck box, Hes already over on payload. even though he is in the towing capacity he will be over weight. Remember its not if you can tow it, it if you can control and stop it. These units are in the 1 ton trucks range and DRW option makes it even more nicer.

[bap]

Originally Posted by BigWW79

Well pulling the trigger on a 2019 Pinnacle 37MDQS
Took the truck and had service look it over and said I would be fine without lifting the trailer. Definitely pushing the limit with this one as its close to max allowed weight (I dont have a dually). Just have to pull it 200 miles to our property where it will stay put. Unless a hurricane hits I wont be pulling it much after that.

If it was the RV dealership service department that told you that you would be OK pulling the camper, I wouldn’t trust it. Most camper dealers will tell you that you can pull any camper with your tow vehicle, even if it is a Smart Car just to make the sale.