Donald manaly
colorado
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Joined: 11/01/2009
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A newbe here. Can anyone tell me at what lenght and weight I should be looking at a 5th wheel with 3 axles instead of 2.
Thanks, Don
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bldrbuck
Boulder, Colorado
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Joined: 02/11/2001
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Good Sam RV Club
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No because different manufacturers have different ideas of where 3 axles are necessary. I would guess that a trailer over 34 feet might have 3 axles. My 35 foot King of the Road does. But I have seen 40 footers with 2.
93 Ford F350 Turbo Diesel, DRW, Crew Cab. PullRite Hitch. 90 Nomad 28' 5er, 375 Watts Solar, 2800 Watt Yamaha Generator, 1750 Watt Inverter, 4 Trogan T105 Batteries, Spare tire and wheel and folding ladder. Me, wife and 2 spoiled Maltise furkids.
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rckrwlr
Canyon Lake
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Joined: 05/16/2004
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I have a triple axle on my WW FS3000 it's 35' from hitch to bumper. It tows very easy in a straight line, even in high winds. but It does grind up tires when I turn. Don't get me wrong lane changes and hwy on/off ramps no wories, But turns from intersections and U turns (if I dare) leave nice black lines on the road.
But the main thing is the axle rating, that will tell you if you need a single axle or a ???
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Luke Porter
Not on the road :(
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Joined: 10/03/2000
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Why a builder would use 2 or 3 axles isn't so simple.
There might be three 5200# axles when they could have used two 7, 8 or 9k axles.
Newmar builds unit that have 2 9k's and eight tires with a GVW of 20K. But on their toy haulers they use three axles.
I think a lot of it has to do with marketing. Some guys just think three is more or better.
* This post was
edited 11/01/09 12:33pm by Luke Porter *
States I have spent the night in my current rig, bought three years ago.
Have RV'ed through 49 states and been in all 50, just short of my half-century.
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Mountain Mama
N. TX
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Joined: 03/28/2008
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Ours is 37 ft and has two 7000# axles.
2003 Holiday Rambler Alumascape 34RLT
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jonrjen
Ovilla, TX
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AS pointed out above, it depends on the manufacture. Our Travel Supreme is 40' and is a triple axle unit. I think it was Newmar that was doing 40' fifth wheels on two axles, but they were dual wheel axles.
One thing to keep in mind about a triple axle trailer is that in tight turns there is a lot of flex and stress placed on the axles. You can see this in how the tires tend to push off to the side of the wheels....not a pretty sight to look at. Caused a lot of pressure on the sidewall of the tires.
2008 F-550 Regency Hauler 6.4 Crew Cab towing beast
2006 Ford F-250 Reg cab V-10
1997 Travel Supreme 40' Triple slide 5th wheel
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ML
Livingston TX
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Joined: 02/14/2004
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Just depends on how much weight you plan to carry. The extra axle may give you a little more flexibility
Another thought, with a triple axle if a tire blows (every RV'er has or will have a tire failure story) there are (hopefully) still two tires left on that side to hold the load.
ML
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thecampingman
Wilmington, OH, USA
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Joined: 10/15/2004
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If I were looking....I'd look for something with 2 axels. If it was over 12,000# one with 17.5" wheels with "H" rated tires.
There's always more problems with tires than axels. (plus nobody's going to install tires with a greater weight rating than the axels)
The simple thing to do would be to look on the tire, multiply by 4 (or 6) and compare the total to the weight of the camper. My rule of thumb is tires loaded to 75% of capacity.
There's toy haulers out there that only have tire/axel combinations that are only sufficient to carry the camper empty! It's a real "buyer beware" situation.
'03 GMC 4500 Topkick with Duramax/Allison
'04 36' McKenzie Medallion triple slide
Honda Magna motorcycle mounted on the front of the truck
Snowbird W/Ohio camper dock
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christopherglenn
a little over an hour from Yosemite
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2 axle is better in tight turns, 3 axle has 50% more brakes.
For highway traveling, 3 axle is better, for city driving / campgrounds 2 axle is better. Larger towhaulers tend ot have 3 axles for better weight distribution, but 2 9k axles + pin weight will exceed the gcvwr on any dually.
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boiledcrabs
louisiana
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Joined: 12/25/2005
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Of course the best thing is tandem duals. Mine is 40' and has triples but I would rather have tandem axles with dual wheels. I've only seen one or two that had them.
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