Work & Play Truck

[castlewood57]

I realize that everyone here is using 5th wheels.   I need to keep the truck a working truck for a few years before adding on the 5th wheel hitch, so has anyone set things up for a bumper pull trailer?    I realize it's a bit of overkill but it's going to need to do some regular work every spring and fall for a few years before it just pulls a 5th.

If not, it will just be a working truck for a few years.

Thanks all!

[rickeieio]

Hopefully Steve Dixon will chime in.  I'll see him in a couple of hours and put a bug in his ear.

[Lou Schneider]

An RV 5th wheel pin is the same size as a commercial trailer's pin so a 5th wheel RV will mate with the commercial hitch.

The problem is the greater mass of the commercial tractor sending too much energy through the hitch to the trailer when you hit a bump, possibly causing damage to the trailer's frame.  Put an air ride pinbox on the 5th wheel and you're good to go.

Combining commercial vs. recreational usage on a single vehicle for logkeeping and insurance requirements might be more of a hassle, though.

[castlewood57]

5 minutes ago, Lou Schneider said:

An RV 5th wheel pin is the same size as a commercial trailer's pin so a 5th wheel RV will mate with the commercial hitch.

The problem is the greater mass of the commercial tractor sending too much energy through the hitch to the trailer when you hit a bump, possibly causing damage to the trailer's frame.  Put an air ride pinbox on the 5th wheel and you're good to go.

Hi all, I have a camper with a bumper hitch now, but I will be pulling some fully loaded commercial grain trailers a few weeks per year, so I don't want to change the commercial hitch for now, that is why I am asking about having something for a bumper pull hitch that could either stay on for a while if it clears a regular semi trailer, or something removable. SInce the truck will only be working a few months each year.   
We will not be doing any long hauls with the camper and truck with the bumper hitch - about 40-100 miles at most.

 

 

 

[Exile]

There are air ride bumper hitches available, recommended to keep your trailer happy  

 

and yes, several guys on this forum pull bumper hitch trailers

 

as I understand it, you will remain commercial until you stop hauling grain, so will have to hit all scales and keep logs.  And insurance  

 

at least one guy on here also uses his truck for commercial use.

[jkoenig24]

"I realize that everyone here is using 5th wheels."

Ummmmm, not exactly. There are several members with HDT Super-C rigs. 

[Big5er]

43 minutes ago, jkoenig24 said:

"I realize that everyone here is using 5th wheels."

Ummmmm, not exactly. There are several members with HDT Super-C rigs. 

I believe he was referring to the type of trailers people TOW since he can not use a motorhome conversion to TOW his commercial trailer. 

[beyerjf]

I am the guy who uses a commercial tractor to pull my 5th wheel. When I move my RV 5th wheel trailer it is as if I am pulling a customer trailer. Apportioned Indiana Plate( $1700 per year) CDL, Medical, logs, roll scales if they ask me nice (the light on my Pre-Pass is red, indicating I have to go in. 

I have a 2008 Work and Play 34FK, which is essentially a cargo/ race car trailer with living space. i have an air ride pin box on it and of course a Jost standard 5th wheel plate rated at 100,000 lbs. The frame and particularly the pin box area of my trailer is probably a little more stout than the average 5th wheel RV unit. 

 I have moved the trailer 11,000 miles in 3 years. I do not see any significant stresses put on the trailer. Because the plate does not twist I am careful not to put my self in an uneven terrain situation that would damage the pin box. But I don't do many campgrounds so avoiding that scenario isn't difficult. 

By the way, there are at least 2 major RV delivery carriers in the Elkhart Area I have noticed that are routinely leasing tractors with commercial plates and delivering larger 5th wheel trailers from the manufacturer to dealer. 

 

[Star Dreamer]

We have a bumper hitch on our HDT. It is currently built into the bed but prior to building a bed we made some brackets up and mounted it to the truck frame near the back.

There are a few people that use bumper pull campers behind their HDT.

Hopefully they will chime in.

Dave

[noteven]

Look at the pin area of this trailer - you will see a fore and aft shaft that allows the upper 5th wheel to oscillate. This is to prevent undue stress on the unit and loss of traction by the tractor on uneven ground.

5th wheel coupled rv trailers, especially big ones,  do not have oscillating pin plates why again?

[beyerjf]

It is logical to put that extra equipment on the trailer above in the application it is likely to be used in. That being said, of the dozens of new and used bottom dump trailers I have delivered over the years, I have almost never seen any customer go to the extra expense of ordering that option. And that is the crux of it, $.

[DanBree]

I have a bumper pull which I pull around with my HDT.  I got a 16k 2" receiver hitch welded onto my truck, and this is enough for pulling my 38' travel trailer.  I pulled it to the ECR this past April and it worked well.  One thing I am adding is an AirSafe hitch to help cushion the trailer against the truck, as the trailer did get a bit more of a bumpy ride.

[castlewood57]

2 hours ago, DanBree said:

I have a bumper pull which I pull around with my HDT.  I got a 16k 2" receiver hitch welded onto my truck, and this is enough for pulling my 38' travel trailer.  I pulled it to the ECR this past April and it worked well.  One thing I am adding is an AirSafe hitch to help cushion the trailer against the truck, as the trailer did get a bit more of a bumpy ride.

This is exactly what I am looking for!  I'll start researching the AirSafe hitch for now, and once the hauling work is done on the farm, the big hitch comes off the top and we'll get an ET hitch in place later on.

[Darryl&Rita]

Shocker

[DanBree]

2 hours ago, castlewood57 said:

This is exactly what I am looking for!  I'll start researching the AirSafe hitch for now, and once the hauling work is done on the farm, the big hitch comes off the top and we'll get an ET hitch in place later on.

The hitch shown is a Buyers 1801050L hitch with an additional reinforcement plate which the installer added because of the amount of drop from the frame.  The hitch is about 16" from the ground.

[castlewood57]

On 5/5/2017 at 5:55 PM, Big5er said:

I believe he was referring to the type of trailers people TOW since he can not use a motorhome conversion to TOW his commercial trailer. 

Absolutely!

Few years of spring plantings and fall harvests for our farm, and then it can retire like myself.

[noteven]

13 hours ago, castlewood57 said:

This is exactly what I am looking for!  I'll start researching the AirSafe hitch for now, and once the hauling work is done on the farm, the big hitch comes off the top and we'll get an ET hitch in place later on.

I use one of these on the won ton - works great.  

[noteven]

On 5/6/2017 at 5:37 AM, beyerjf said:

It is logical to put that extra equipment on the trailer above in the application it is likely to be used in. That being said, of the dozens of new and used bottom dump trailers I have delivered over the years, I have almost never seen any customer go to the extra expense of ordering that option. And that is the crux of it, $.

Sorry Jeff my Hanglesh grammars are wrong often 

What I should have said was: an oscillating upper 5th wheel might be useful on light-framed flimsy rv trailers to prevent undue stress regardless of what truck it is coupled to... 

[dan412]

I have a Reese Titan 3000 will pull 20,000 trailer has 3 inch square receiver  and it fits 34 inch frame rails. A bit expensive though 

[jkennell]

Castle:

BE CAREFUL.  The hitch is easy.  The problem is in the registration and insurance.  You need to know the rules in your state, and your insurance company.  I wanted to do exactly what you are doing, RV and grain hauling.  Unfortunately the state of IL said no.  My insurance said no.   (I could have gone full commercial and done both, but the costs would have gone astronomical--and add in all the other hassles.

IL has numerous plate levels.  The RV plate which is $102, a Farm plate which is ~$1500, and a full commercial plate which is ~$3000.  There are some mileage plates, etc, but they end up pretty pricey too.   The farm plate restricts you to solely hauling your own farm products with ~200 miles.  No RV's.  (I told them I would be glad to buy both RV and Farm plates and swap them---but that is illegal!)

My insurance company (Country Companies) is glad to insure my RV hauler and RV, and my farm semi, but not one truck to do both.  Just like the plates above.  They don't cover commercial haulers.  The RV is a couple 100, the farm semi is ~$500. I don't even want to know the full commercial rate.   

Everybody told me, "just get two trucks".  So I did.  BTW---I put 220 miles on my grain semi last fall....$20 a mile for license and insurance.  STILL better than wagons.  If you think a big 5r behind a PU has poor brakes...