Does 5th Wheel Pin Weight Count Towards the Truck's Payload

Published 02/14/2020

Question:

I am looking at buying a fifth wheel camper. I have a payload if 2417lbs. The dry hitch weight of the fifth wheel is 1435lbs. With passengers and the fact the weight will go up. I will be close to the 2417lbs. Do I get more weight because it’s a fifth wheel. I put my vin in a decoder and it says I have a max fifth wheel hitch weight of 4175lbs I’m confused. Does the hitch weight not go against my payload? Thank you!

asked by: Randy

Expert Reply:

I'll start off by saying that I don't normally trust the VIN decoders available on the internet when it comes to being accurate with capacities and such, and the highest payload capacity I've seen in my research for the 2011 Chevy Silverado 2500 is about 3700-lbs. You also do not get a higher payload capacity because it's a 5th wheel trailer, and your pin weight does come out of the payload of your truck when towing a 5th wheel.

However, there is a fail safe way to find your truck's payload; if you check your door jam there should be a spec sticker there that will give some numbers that you can do the math on. To find your payload capacity you'll want to find the GVWR of your truck and subtract the Curb Weight to find your payload capacity. Your payload capacity will also not include 150-lbs that is built in to compensate for the driver of the vehicle and a full tank of gas.

If your 5th wheel has a pin weight of 1435-lbs, that will increase a bit when you add in cargo. With your payload, the weight of passengers in the truck, any cargo you're carrying inside the truck/truck bed and the weight of the 5th wheel hitch (the Reese # RP30051 weighs about 140-lbs and the # RP56001-53 rails weigh about 75-lbs) will count towards your total payload. From the numbers you've mentioned, you'll have about 1000-lbs to work with when it comes to adding additional passengers, a 5th wheel hitch and cargo in the trailer that increases the pin weight or gear in the truck bed. In all likelihood, you'll probably get close- especially if your propane tank(s) or battery(s) are towards the front of the trailer.

In this case, you may want to reach out to your local Chevy dealer to see if they can confirm the payload of your truck to give you a little bit of peace of mind; another good source is going to be the owner's manual of your truck since it will often explain the differences in payload between the different engines and trim packages.

It would seem to me that you've likely got enough payload to work with this trailer-but it's going to be close. I've linked some installation and review videos for the rails and hitch that you may want to refer back to in the event that you don't have a hitch and are going to be installing everything yourself.

expert reply by: Erik B