Is My Husband's Idea One That We Should Consider For Retirement Travel?

Ok, I have trusted my husband for 25 years and all in all, his ideas have been pretty good ones, but I (and we) have decided to go to the "pros" to see what you all thought. We are approaching our retirement (in a couple of years) and we would love to hit the highway full time and cover the great USA (including Alaska) and Canada and have been going over several different ways to best do that. We have looked at motorhomes, 5th wheel with 3/4 -1 ton tow vehicles and even just a full-size van and staying in motels every night. All options are still open. Since living space is probably going to be important, we are considering the largest trailer we can pull. Here is my husband's latest idea....He has a friend who is closing his trucking business and selling all his Mack trucks. My husband would like to buy one of them with only 75,000 miles on it and "decking it out" with a matching 5th wheel trailer and he feels we would never have to worry about overworking a smaller pickup truck or having enough power to travel through the mountains. These tractors are smaller than what most of you are driving and only have single drive axles but would probably work well pulling a 15,000# camper trailer. We hope it is OK to share this profile however if that is against the forum rules you will have to let us know. Be safe out there and send us any thoughts that you may have.

Welcome Tina & Dan!

I can assure you today's most powerful pickup trucks can pull any 5th-wheel trailer you could imagine living in. The power of today's engines is very impressive.

The campers nowadays are also very light. It's almost shocking how light they are, even the high-end ones.

I've owned a 5th wheel and a pull-behind camper, and I loved them both. I prefer a pull-behind or a 5th-wheel over an RV because you can unhook from the trailer and drive your pickup around. It's a pain going everywhere in an RV. It's even worse in an RV pulling a car behind because it's extremely difficult backing up.

I think you're best off driving a dually pickup with a diesel engine pulling a 5th wheel camper. Others may have different opinions, but that's what I would do.

Welcome Tina & Dan!

I can assure you today's most powerful pickup trucks can pull any 5th-wheel trailer you could imagine living in. The power of today's engines is very impressive.

The campers nowadays are also very light. It's almost shocking how light they are, even the high-end ones.

I've owned a 5th wheel and a pull-behind camper, and I loved them both. I prefer a pull-behind or a 5th-wheel over an RV because you can unhook from the trailer and drive your pickup around. It's a pain going everywhere in an RV. It's even worse in an RV pulling a car behind because it's extremely difficult backing up.

I think you're best off driving a dually pickup with a diesel engine pulling a 5th wheel camper. Others may have different opinions, but that's what I would do.

Thanks Brett for the good information, Although we are planning on taking our Harleys alone in a rear cargo department to take on day trips, you bring up a good point that getting around in a smaller pick would be much easier that trying to park a big semi tractor in a common parking lot. We have looked at several 5th wheels with the double sides and they are amazing, however that added extra weight to the tow. Feel free to contact us if you think of anything further that might help.

I see you are the Moderator so we will let you know we have already been entertained by some of the threads. Seems like a bunch of laid-back folks on here.

Tina and Dan,

I retired after 44 years as an OTR truck driver and went full timing in a 5th wheel. You can see our rig in my avatar picture.

I always wanted to buy a single axle tractor to pull a 5th wheel just because how cool it would be. I definitely recommend buying a 3/4 or 1 ton pickup. The cost is a big difference and as Brett stated they are very powerful and quite easier to maneuver.

Another downfall is that a lot of Rv parks and campgrounds do not allow "commercial trucks in their parks.

A 5th wheel is the best choice in my opinion for towing and plenty of room. Be sure to avoid the light weight models because they do not hold up as well as an upgraded model.

Check weights, insulation #'s and axle capacities. We did and it makes a big difference and longevity in the trailer.

Good luck.

I can co-sign on the truck with a 5th-wheel suggestion. In addition to better mpg, easier driving around town after you drop the RV and more abundant parts (2,998 Ford dealers vs. 517 Mack dealers) - you will avoid awkward conversations with state troopers and DOT officers about why you didn't pull your CMV into a weigh station and having to prove that you're not for hire every time someone asks.

Here's a link to some 5th wheels which some have rear ramp garages 2 harley's should fit nicely in. Plus the added deck, IF I was doing what you want to do, I'd like 1 of these too. And couple are 40+ footers....

OOOOPSie, forgot to post the link duhhhh here ya go

https://www.rvingknowhow.com/fifth-wheel-with-side-patio/

Tina and Dan,

I retired after 44 years as an OTR truck driver and went full timing in a 5th wheel. You can see our rig in my avatar picture.

I always wanted to buy a single axle tractor to pull a 5th wheel just because how cool it would be. I definitely recommend buying a 3/4 or 1 ton pickup. The cost is a big difference and as Brett stated they are very powerful and quite easier to maneuver.

Another downfall is that a lot of Rv parks and campgrounds do not allow "commercial trucks in their parks.

A 5th wheel is the best choice in my opinion for towing and plenty of room. Be sure to avoid the light weight models because they do not hold up as well as an upgraded model.

Check weights, insulation #'s and axle capacities. We did and it makes a big difference and longevity in the trailer.

Good luck.

I think that is where my husband is at, that being it would be cool but as you say not very practical. I am pretty sure the 5th wheel model is the direction we will go. The restrictions campgrounds have to commercial vehicles is an important one. We do have a 44' park model trailer parked on a seasonal site up here in Minnesota, so weights and capacities are not something that is very important because it never sees the road. Even though we hope to be on the road much of the time we would probably still keep our present weekender trailer because we love the campground and the people. Also, we are very active in the nudist community and that campground is a very rather public campground that allows nudity in certain areas and certain times of the day, and we would hate to lose that. We hope to stay at as many clothing optional campgrounds as we can in our travels so if any of you know of any good ones, let us know.

My youngest brother's $350k motorhome burned up Thanksgiving Eve. The fire department had never inspected a motorhome fire before and considered it arson. With it almost paid off it would be foolish for him to burn it up. He got a settlement for it and decided no more motorhomes and ordered the above trailer out of some place in Indiana. It's 47 ft long (longer than the containers I pull), has a ramp on the back end so he can take his three-wheel motorcycle in it and his pickup is a 1 ton that he uses in his roofing business.

Another brother that has his CDL went with to help drive it back. He said it pulled real easy and if he wasn't paying attention, wouldn't realize the trailer was back there.

This configuration is very doable and would be far cheaper than a used semi truck.

I can co-sign on the truck with a 5th-wheel suggestion. In addition to better mpg, easier driving around town after you drop the RV and more abundant parts (2,998 Ford dealers vs. 517 Mack dealers) - you will avoid awkward conversations with state troopers and DOT officers about why you didn't pull your CMV into a weigh station and having to prove that you're not for hire every time someone asks.

Thanks for the reply PacificPearl, and yea I suppose that would be a bit confusing for the DOT and they would be chasing us down every time we bypassed a weigh station. Not worth the stress, that is for sure. More good information here so thanks again Pacific!