Will It Tow That? Can I Get Away Without a Dually Truck to Tow a 39-Foot RV Trailer?

We recently received the following question from Scott G. It boils down to “Can I safely tow a large 5th-wheel RV trailer without a dually truck?” (Note: please send your truck questions or comments to ask@tfltruck.com )

Scott writes:

I want to tow a fifth wheel trailer a Vanleigh Vilano 365RL. It’s a 39-foot long trailer. Here are the specifications:

– Trailer GVWR 16,000 lbs

– Dry Weight 13,100 lbs

– Hitch Weight 2,800 lbs

I’m fairly confident that you will recommend a one ton truck. I would love the answer to be a SRW truck, because it’s going to be my daily driver. The truck and RV dealers are telling me that a SRW truck is fine, but I don’t want to regret it later.

This is a very important question!  Should I get a dually truck, which is a bit less efficient and more of a pain to deal with on a daily basis? On the other hand, will a single rear wheel 1-ton truck handle the weight and be stable enough?

First, you need a turbo-diesel heavy duty truck for this job. However, it does not have to be a dually. It will have to be a 1-ton Single Rear Wheel (SRW) truck to handle the extra payload and provide additional max. towing rating.

The biggest limiting factor is the maximum payload rating of the truck you are buying. Many one-ton SRW trucks have a payload rating around 3,800 – 3,900 lbs (and a max. tow rating of just over 17,000 lbs). Is this enough for you to carry the trailer, people, and any additional gear inside your truck?

Naturally, the GVWR and GCWR limits should also be respected for safe towing.

The second limiting factor is towing stability.  The 39-foot trailer you have has a lot of surface area and will be pushed by cross winds on the highway. Usually the longer the wheelbase of your truck and the wider the truck – the more stable it is. This is an argument for getting a dually, but I understand why you don’t want to deal with a dually on a daily basis.  A crew cab 4×4 with an 8-foot bed will provide the longest wheelbase in a SRW 3500-series truck.  This is the truck I would look at next.  The 8-foot bed will also allow you additional utility to carry an additional fuel tank, or other supplies for your trip.

What do you guys think?

We test many 3500-series dually trucks, but this GMC Sierra HD 3500 SRW is one of the few