New to the forum. A bunch of information here that has been very helpful. But I'm curious!! Owners of 2500's and 5th wheels, what is your pin weight? I bought my '19 CC CTD to tow our 34' TT. But we are contemplating moving up to a 5er. I don't want to get into the whole discussion of payload capacity on sticker vs axle ratings ,blah, blah, blah. There are 1000's of those posts everywhere!! Just want to know what real world pin weights are on the 5er you are towing with your 2500. Thanks in advance!!!
Like you I was concerned when I bought the truck, 2021 Bighorn crewcab diesel, with a payload sticker of 2154 lbs., knowing we wanted to get a 5th wheel. We ended up with an older Artic Fox 27-5L fifth wheel. I have weighed everything at a CAT scale. Just the truck with full tanks, steer axle 4940, drive axle 3180, total 8120 with actual payload capacity of 1880 lbs. With the trailer hitched with the wife and dog and all the gear and full tanks, steer axle 5020, drive axle, 4880, trailer 7780. Actual pin weight is 1780 lbs. Total truck GVR is 9900 lbs. and total combined is 17,680 lbs.
According to the door stickers, I have pretty much max'd out the truck. In actual use however, I have more weight on the front axle than the rear, the truck squats less than two inches, and I haven't noticed any problems with the truck handling the weight. If I was going over 2000 lbs. of pin weight., I would consider adding timbrens or airbags.