fifth wheel and flat bed double towing

[LT.]

Okay, I am starting to rethink my current set up. I am concerned for my baby with just a pop up tent trailer and have been considering getting a fifth wheel. For those of y'all that have double towed a fifth wheel camper and a flat bed trailer with your off road toy on the flat bed. How was it? How did you like it? Was it worth doing? What would you do different?

Thanks in advance for your help.

LT.

 

[NYCEGUY01]

I tow a 33-35' 5th wheel and a 16' enclosed trailer behind it.
I take it easy and drive 60-65mph and have had no issues at all.
Most will say that backing up is impossible. They are almost correct.lol

I just make sure to fuel at a truckstop and dont turn down a road if I dont know there is a way out.
I have either walked or taken a quad or rzr for a quick trip into a campground before to check things out if I was unsure.

Both of my trailers have brakes on both axles and my truck stops as good as empty.

Its not for everyone for sure. I on the otherhand like having a nice place to sleep and shower when I get somewhere.

Ive seen the laws regarding doing this posted wrong several times all over the net.

For sure in UT as long as the 1st trailer is a 5th wheel you can have 61' total trailer length. They will not measure the tow rig. This is non commercial.

I keep the UHP and UDOT boss guys cards in my wallet just in case as alot of UHP dont even know the rules they are trying to enforce.

You can contact any of the ports of entry and they will easily verify this in person or on the phone.

 

[LT.]

Gotcha'. Thank you for your response and your ideas. They are greatly appreciated. I think this may not be the answer for me after all. For the price of the fifth wheel I could buy a big motor home a few years older. Maybe that is what I should be looking into.

I am not too sure what to do. I am really trying to eat my cake and have it too. Confused as usual here.

LT.

 

[NYCEGUY01]

I had a motorhome for 3 or 4 years.
It seems as after we are camped almost all trips needed a quick run to town for more beer, parts, beer, or 1 of a thousand other reasons.
Much easier to just hop in the truck and go compared to finding someone else to bring parts or having to pack everything up to take the coach...
JMO. Im much happier with taking the truck

 

[Ima9er]

I tow a 33-35' 5th wheel and a 16' enclosed trailer behind it.
I take it easy and drive 60-65mph and have had no issues at all.
Most will say that backing up is impossible. They are almost correct.lol

I just make sure to fuel at a truckstop and dont turn down a road if I dont know there is a way out.
I have either walked or taken a quad or rzr for a quick trip into a campground before to check things out if I was unsure.

Both of my trailers have brakes on both axles and my truck stops as good as empty.

Its not for everyone for sure. I on the otherhand like having a nice place to sleep and shower when I get somewhere.

Ive seen the laws regarding doing this posted wrong several times all over the net.

For sure in UT as long as the 1st trailer is a 5th wheel you can have 61' total trailer length. They will not measure the tow rig. This is non commercial.

I keep the UHP and UDOT boss guys cards in my wallet just in case as alot of UHP dont even know the rules they are trying to enforce.

You can contact any of the ports of entry and they will easily verify this in person or on the phone.

you said if its a 5th it can be 61 ft, but what if your not pulling a 5th, and say you have 2 bumper pulls. (and i know people are going to bash me, but i have done it thousands of times and never had a problem)
so i know im not that long, but i pull a 19ft tandon axle flat bed, and a 15ft tent trailer behind that. so i'm about 55ft with my truck, give or take. is there a different length if you have 2 bumper pulls?

 

[NYCEGUY01]

Truthfully I cant remember for sure.
It remember 65' total as the total max length. The big thin is with 2 bumper pulls they include the truck in the max length.

On the 5th wheel's they only measure the total trailer length.

 

[LT.]

It seems as though the fifth wheel frames are a little weak for double towing a trailer that can weigh as much as 10K lbs. Not that it can't be done but, it seems like it is a lot of work. Towing a trailer that weighs half that is more normal.

I like having my tow rig separate from my camper for the same reasons as above. Easy just to jump in and chase parts, groceries, or any number of other reasons. I like the idea of having camp, a street legal rig, and my off road rig being separate. But, I also want something more secure than just my little pop up camper.

LT.

 

[NYCEGUY01]

Some of them are pretty weak.

I looked at several before I picked the one I bought. 10" I beam front to back.
On my 1st 5th wheel the frame wouldnt have held up.

The salesmen guys always thought I was strange when I was shopping. The girlfriend would go inside and I would climb underneath...lol

 

[LT.]

Sounds about right!

LT.

 

[Ima9er]

i know of a place that will weld up a second hitch for pretty cheap, and if you ask he can add more support to it. jsut my 2 cents. but i do that same thing when looking at 5th wheels also, to see how big the frame is..

 

[LT.]

I think I am going to have to do a bunch more home work on this. I like the ideas that y'all are giving out but, I am going to have to look under any fifth wheel that we look at buying. NYCEGUY01- this has to be one of the funniest things I have read in a while. In typical wheeler fashion, significant other checks out the features inside while a wheeler checks out the underside with hopes of modifications.

LT.

 

[1adam12]

Another thing to look at is axle placment on the fith wheel, make sure they are closer to the rear of the trailer, you dont want a lot of tail swing. Alot of new 5th wheels are built lite,make sure it is much heavier then the loaded flat bed.my dad has been doing this for years with his jeep amd vonski's old toy,and 30 years before that with boats.(he is also a tripples endorsed CDL holder)

 

[Cherokeester]

Don't they make truck campers anymore? I am going to go that route if I can find a nice self-contained unit. That seems much safer to me but you would not have as much room.

 

[1adam12]

The new campers are really nice,they even have slide outs on them. The only problem is they cost almost as much a 5th wheel

 

[zukijames]

I've always wanted a flat bed trailer with a camper on the front and rock crawler on the back..

 

[NYCEGUY01]

I had a 11' camper several years ago. It seemed like a great solution until I spent 5 days in it once... Lots of rain at the dunes...

I could spend a week in my 5th wheel and not even feel bad about it.

Theres nothing better than coming back in from a long day of riding and taking a nice hot shower then sitting in my recliner and watching a 40" flatscreen while my girlfriend makes dinner...

On bad weather days I can and have sat 12 people inside drinking beer, watching TV and playing cards.

I thought real hard about a toy hauler but I take alot of day trips. My enclosed has a ton of tools, a compressor, generator, extra parts and tires, lawn chairs, and the list goes on.
It all stays in there so when I want to go ride all I have to do is hook up the truck and go. No loading to do at all except for maybe fuel jugs.

I am planning on getting an Onan and a large fuel tank mounted on the trailer permantly soon.
I just havent found a Microlite gen yet...

 

[LT.]

A good sized truck camper is very expensive. A fifth wheel camper is bigger and just about the same amount of money. The other problem with a truck camper is if you need to chase parts. You have to pack up camp to go out. That was what I was trying to avoid.

LT.

 

[Caleb]

I had a 11' camper several years ago. It seemed like a great solution until I spent 5 days in it once... Lots of rain at the dunes...

I could spend a week in my 5th wheel and not even feel bad about it.

Theres nothing better than coming back in from a long day of riding and taking a nice hot shower then sitting in my recliner and watching a 40" flatscreen while my girlfriend makes dinner...

On bad weather days I can and have sat 12 people inside drinking beer, watching TV and playing cards.

I thought real hard about a toy hauler but I take alot of day trips. My enclosed has a ton of tools, a compressor, generator, extra parts and tires, lawn chairs, and the list goes on.
It all stays in there so when I want to go ride all I have to do is hook up the truck and go. No loading to do at all except for maybe fuel jugs.

I am planning on getting an Onan and a large fuel tank mounted on the trailer permantly soon.
I just havent found a Microlite gen yet...

I agree completely. I tried the slide-in route a few years back...it sucked! I now have a nice 35' bumper pull and can't believe I ever did anything different. I've been camping in the middle of a snow storm, and still had a blast. We just threw a bag of popcorn in the microwave, pulled out some games for the adults and put on a couple movies for the kids. Or as you mentioned, coming back from hiking, riding, etc and getting in to a nice hot shower is tough to beat.

Although, I think I'm going to go the coach route for our next RV. It is nice to be able to jump in to my truck and run in to town for things, but I don't ever really need to do that. For as long as it takes to setup camp with a trailer/RV it's not that big of a deal to take 10 minutes, pack up and run in if it was really necessary.

 

[Caleb]

Don't they make truck campers anymore? I am going to go that route if I can find a nice self-contained unit. That seems much safer to me but you would not have as much room.

Not really safer once you add up the weight of the camper plus the tongue weight of the flatbed with your rig on it you'll be at or over max payload for just about any truck.

 

[LT.]

Not really safer once you add up the weight of the camper plus the tongue weight of the flatbed with your rig on it you'll be at or over max payload for just about any truck.

Oh yeah, really. I had thought about that previously but, forgot to say anything about it. And add to that you will most likely need a hitch extension to get past the rear of the camper.

LT.