What are your preferences for a towing vehicle?

[carbjetkits]

We bought our new truck with the purpose of towing pretty much any fifth wheel.
We had not decided on a fifth wheel when we purchased a new truck. The truck needed to pull any and all available fifth wheels, be very confortable to drive when pulling or when not pulling.

We ended up with a 2016 Ford F-350 platinum, dually, Long bed Diesel.

Best buy i ever made!!
oh and the fifth wheel we bought is a 2017 Cyclone 3513 toy hauler.

Its like driving a luxury car, pulling or not pulling.

 

[LBR]

We purchased our 5 series MDT in 2005 for our business and just retired it out of its Farm plates last March...it now sports civilian plates to pull our new little toy hauler. It is in great shape, but we are also starting to shop for a replacement 6 series truck....if unable to find the right one, we will end up with another 5 series. I personally would not be happy pulling our CY with any 4 series or lesser LDT.

A 3 series would be great for the OP with his current trailer IMO.

 

[JohnD]

Come on guys . . .

He has a trailer with a GVRW of 6900 pounds and are scaring him into buying something WAY overboard!

Not everyone has the desire for a 20,000 pound 45 foot toy hauler!

And not everyone upgrades their trailer every two years . . .

 

[carbjetkits]

[h=1]What are your preferences for a towing vehicle?[/h]
is the question, not what do i need to tow my 6900lbs trailer.

 

[Kbvols]

I don't believe anyone is trying to scare them. They asked for opinions of course everyone has one. I am not a proponent for truck overkill however I have personally spent money unnecessarily by not thinking ahead a bit or being reluctant to spend a bit extra up front on an adequate vehicle.

My TT weighed 6500 pounds and every time I pulled it with my then 2500 diesel I just smiled compared to the other 2 tow vehicles I had prior to getting the diesel.

 

[LBR]

We are fairly new to RV'ing as really new! We have a 2009 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and a 2017 Mallard M27... The truck pulls the trailer well until we start driving in the foothills and mountains in north Georgia and higher elevations. So, we are now looking into buying a bigger truck. This is no surprise to us as we pretty much knew we would be doing this. *G*

As for our question... what do you "like" to pull an RV with? We know we need to upgrade from the 1500...

What do you like? Chevrolet? Dodge? Ford?

AND Gas or Diesel ???

If you don't mind tell us why?

We appreciate any and all input... we have talked to a lot of people, but would like to hear more!

THANK YOU!

Lisa and Mark

Well, there you have it, Lisa and Mark...welcome to the site....noticed this is your first post and a great one it is. Your title is bang on the money and concerns for not having enough TV for your Mallard are addressed. You definately may want to step up one series so you can have Overkill as was previously stated.

The issue mentioned about getting a TV to cover the next trailer is true....ask yourself if, in the near future, the Mallard may get a bit cramped and a larger unit may be purchased....folks here think that far ahead for their new truck....IF you get into the 3 series trucks, the big decision is SRW or DRW.

Noone means to scare you, as forum sites are to offer correct information and opinions when asked, like you just did. We all love our trucks and trailers, a few more than most...lol.

Usually a step up in series means larger engine and auto transmission coolers, heavier duty frames, rearends (axle bearings), suspensions, BRAKES, etc from the factory...we all have to pay to play.

Good luck with your choice of vehicles...

 

[JohnD]

What are your preferences for a towing vehicle?


is the question, not what do i need to tow my 6900lbs trailer.

That may be . . . but I'm sure that the OP would like relevant responses to his needs today.

Not future needs that may or may not ever happen, or are way beyond what his future needs may be.

Or even buying way more truck than he will ever need.

I'm just trying to be the voice of reason here instead of filling his head with a lot of 'what if' scenarios.

Now, we bought our truck intending on it being more than enough for our 1 1/2 year old Heartland bumper pull trailer, which we planned on keeping for at least 10 more years.

What we didn't plan on was it (trailer) turning into a money pit that stranded us 1000 miles from home.

After getting a $1000 band aid fix to get us home, and the following months of getting it repaired, we just didn't want that trailer anymore.

Thus the new Prowler!

However, at that time I kind of wished I had bought a diesel, but on the other hand, by purchasing a 5'ver that was within the truck's capacity probably saved us a lot of money overall as had we had a diesel we most likely would have bought a much larger 5th-wheeler than what we really wanted or needed.

Not to mention that a larger trailer would have forced us into another monthly payment . . . storage!

Our Prowler fits in our side yard next to our garage with all three slides out . . . anything bigger wouldn't!

View attachment 52923

 

[carbjetkits]

I guess that most people will keep the truck for many years and a trailer/5th is replaced more often.

Now if you are 100% that you NEVER will go above a certain size trailer/5th, buy a truck that can pull about 20% more.

Thing is that 100%..... can be the right choice and in that case it is the cheapest way to go..just the cost of the new trailer/5th
but that 100% can easily change and the right choice at the time becomes expensive...new bigger truck and new trailer/5th.

hence, the reason we went from a class A to a 5th is just that, keep the truck and change the housing as we like without restrictions.
i had a ram 1500, needles to say that there is not much out there that i could pull or even wanted. So it got sold. 1 year old with under 20k on it.

We now went window shopping for a 5th...found many we liked and many we did not like.
all different weights and sizes, i knew i needed a truck that could pull any of them.
so got the truck and went back window shopping, now without restrictions to weight or size. This made the actual purchase of the 5th so much more enjoyable.
Part of camping is traveling, and traveling now is absolutely fantastic, just put in cruise and forget that there is a 5th wheel being pulled, hills or no hills. No white knuckle driving.
I also understand it is a little more initial investment, but it pays itself over time.

How often have you seen a 5th being pulled by a truck that is undersized? I know you have. Scary stuff!
These people either took advice from the 5th dealer or had to do with the truck they had....

I know it is a what if situation, but what ifs just happening a lot...better be prepared than sorry..

Anyways, good luck with whatever you decide to get.

 

[kf5qby]

Why not just get a class 8 and do a show hauler conversion on it. You can still tow your 5th wheel or travel trailer behind it for the kids or mother-in-laws....

 

[RonTimmer]

When I had my Wilderness, which is about the same weight and size trailer you have I think, I pulled it initially with a 1500 ram but quickly upgraded to a 2500 Ram with the 6.4L gas motor and 4:10 gears. We stuck with Rams because of the Mega Cab. My kids are bigger and that extra space makes all the difference in the world. Other than that Ford and Chevy make a great truck as well. Back to you question though, I never even felt the trailer behind that truck and it was nearly $12,000 less than the same truck with a diesel motor. As far as gas mileage, since this is also my daily driver that was important , I get 13-14 in town; 17-20 on the highway and 11-12 towing the Wilderness. I have since upgraded to a fifth wheel and have decided that I am going to upgrade to a 3500 with a diesel because of the extra weight of my new trailer. If you plan on keeping your current trailer for a while I say save yourself some money and go the route I did. if I had kept my fifth wheel a little bit smaller I wouldn't be trading this truck in because right now the truck does a good job pulling the larger trailer but my pin weight is really too much for a 2500, pulling wise my 6.4L easily maintains 65MPH on the highway pulling 15,000 pounds and still gets around 10 MPG. If money is no issue than of course a diesel will pull better and a 3500 will handle more weight. Good luck with your decision.

Take care,
Ron

 

[lelier]

Thank you to all who replied!

We asked for opinions to give us more to consider and that is what you did. We appreciate it.

We went looking for something that our truck "would pull” so to us that meant small/tiny… and then saw the “lite” trailers… We looked at the ratios and found that our truck is rated to pull that trailer…. and IT DOES! Beautifully... and if we still lived in south Louisiana and never drove to any higher elevation than 100 ft above sea level? We'd be fine! BUT, We live in north Georgia now and when my hubby drives up an incline it's ok up to a point.... As you can imagine, the steeper it is the more that engine "screams" That sound drives this little wifey up the wall!!! *g* But, I digress!

We do intend to upgrade the trailer at some point in time, likely after my husband retires in 5 years or so? But, until then we have the decision as to an upgrade on the truck. We are 57 and 60 and years old with no "children" in the house... though I'm sure we may have a grandchild with us at some point traveling. We also have an elderly German Sheppard with bad hips. Therefore, the larger cab is a must.

Mark will be posting at some point asking questions and replying to you I'm sure. He is the one who understands most of what you guys are talking about... I just do the research! LOL!

THANKS again!

Lisa (and) Mark!

 

[Miller0758]

Dodge
Diesel
Why use 8 when you can get the same or better results with 6


dave

well said Dave, well said.

 

[SNOKING]

well said Dave, well said.

Except Dodge no longer builds pickups!!