Towing Your Fifth Wheel Safely

While fifth wheels aren’t as challenging to tow as you might think, there are still some things to concern yourself with to ensure the safety of yourself and others. Fifth wheels are large and heavy trailers that require some special care to tow them properly. These tips should help you to stay safe and tow responsibly.

Understand Your Weight Limit

Both your towing vehicle and your fifth wheel have weight limits that you should not exceed. Before you purchased your fifth wheel, you should have made sure that your towing vehicle can handle its weight as well as cargo and passengers. You can use highway weigh stations to weigh your loaded-up fifth wheel before you embark on your journey. Try to pack lightly and balance cargo evenly between the left and right sides of the trailer.

Use Care on Inclines

Whenever you drive up or down hills or through mountain passes, you’ll need to exercise extreme caution due to the weight of your fifth wheel. Shift into a lower gear when you’re going up a hill and slow down. As you descend, watch for runaway-truck ramps you can use in case your fifth wheel starts to go too fast.

Keep Tires Maintained

The biggest cause of roadside issues is typically poorly maintained tires on either your fifth wheel or your towing vehicle. Before you depart, you should inspect the entire towing set-up, but make sure you pay particular attention to all the tires. Air up each one to the psi levels specified in your owner’s manual. Inspect the tires for signs of undue wear or embedded objects. If you want to be really safe, invest in a tire-pressure monitoring system for your fifth wheel to take the guesswork out of tire maintenance.

Stop by to see us at our location in Rochester, NH, to check out our wide selection of new and used fifth wheels for sale. We can even assist you with financing options on your fifth wheel purchase. Rte. 125 RV & Marine Inc. serves the New England states of Maine and Massachusetts.