Towing truck size

[Dave e Victoria]

Retread
I am positive you will be very happy with that combination. I hope all goes well for you. It is a big change but sounds like you have your planning well in hand.
Good Luck,
Dave

[sreigle]

My opinion is that any of the big three diesels will do a good job for you. Check actual tow experiences rather than just numbers. The current king of the hill per magazines, online and hardcopy, does not have the highest power numbers. So use numbers just as a guideline.

You asked what we tow with. We tow this Montana with a 2005 Ford F250 crewcab shortbed with the 6.0 PSD and don't see any need for hopping it up despite the Montana weighing 14,360 lbs actual. I am very pleased with how it tows the rig. Ratings for this particular model truck are 10,000 GVWR, 23,000 GCWR, and 15,400 fifthwheel towing. One thing I really like about the Ford is the TorqShift transmission and the variable vane geometry of the turbo vanes. Tow/Haul on the transmission along with the backpressure created by the turbo vanes closing eliminated any need for me to consider an exhaust brake. It's a very comfortable and sweet ride.

As for the Firestone airbags with onboard compressor, I paid right around $800 installed. You can save a couple hundred or so of that if you install it yourself. If you go with an F250, you can order the Camper Package (meant for the slidein campers). That will get you the same springs as on the F350 and also a rear stabilizer bar. We had that setup on our 2003 F350 and had no need for the airbags. This F250 does not have the Camper Package and lacks the overload leaf and stabilizer bar. Thus the airbags. Also, we can adjust the airbags on the fly and that helps the ride (some) when you hit those nasty hippety-hop concrete roads. The 3295RK has one of the heaviest pinweights of the Montana lineup. Ours is 3300 lbs, which is why I needed the airbags. If you are towing a model with lighter pinweight you may not need the bags.

Again, any of the big three will do the job for you so I'd recommend once you settle on getting a diesel you base your purchase decision on other things important to you.

[Wordsmith]

Steve, $800 for the onboard compressor and installed does not sound too bad. We will try to get this addition installed before we break the Montana out for our first trip in 2006.

Thanks for the information!

[Montana_5036]

For those of you looking at the firestone air bags you may also want to check out the Timbren Springs (www.timbren.com ). I have a set on my 2002 Ford F250 Diesel and like them better than the air bags I had in my last truck.

[Dano]

(This is Wife of Dano speaking for Dano) HE says go with the Dodge Cummings Diesel Dually 4 WD. Sometimes we "almost" forget that it's even back there. We have experienced high winds & Tennessee mountains and with the 4:11 rear end, there's plenty of power to take on even the road less traveled. Plus, we can go bigger later if we want to and not have to buy another truck.

[sreigle]

J.D., shop around for the bags. I found a fairly wide spread in price.

[rickfox]

Good Evening All

I don't know what the current specs on the 3000RK are, nor do I know what the new 2500HD specs are, but I do have a few comments.

But, assuming the unloaded hitch weight of the 3000RK is 2275#, and assuming you will load it up with 2000# of stuff, the resulting hitch pin weight will be on the order of 2975# or more. The ready to go weight of my 2003 2500HD crew cab diesel/allison is 7040# with a rear axle weight of 3120#.

If I were to hook up to the above 3000RK (2975# hitch pin weight) my loaded truck would weigh in at 10,015# with a rear axle weight of 6095#

The specs. on my truck are GVWR = 9200# and max rear axle weight of 6,000#. Although I am sure my truck will tow the load, I am over the load capacity of the truck and am certainly looking for trouble since I have overloaded the rear tires on the vehicle.

In my case, the significantly lower hitch pin of my 3400RL allows me to not overload the rear tires, although I am at 9600# on the truck GVWR.

The one ton TV's are rated to handle the load! I doubt that the new 3/4 TV are up to the task specwise. The questions are: how important are the TV specs, and how much do you want to gamble.

[Sweetfire]

Question, are the specifications that Montana has worked up dry weights of weights at full capacity?

I plan to take my rig down to the local scales this spring just so I know for sure.

[sreigle]

The Montana specifications are dry weights and include the most commonly ordered options, per a Keystone exec. It does NOT include battery nor propane bottles, fluids, gear, etc.

Pinweight should, per "conventional wisdom" be between 20% and 25% of total weight of the rig, to have a well-balanced rig. Ours is right at 23%.

Also, if the unloaded pinweight is 2275 and you add 2000 lbs of gear wouldn't you be adding 400 (20%) to 500 (25%) to the pinweight? That would put it at 2675 to 2775, which sounds more reasonable for the length, to me. Just a thought.

[rickfox]

Hello Steve,

I have made quite a few weight measurements on the last 2 5vr's I've owned - I think I should now own about 1/2 of local CAT scale. Since most of the storage capacity is in front of the trailer axles, adding weight will almost always add to the hitch weight. If the weight is added half way between the axles and the hitch pin, then every 10 pounds of added weight will add 5 pounds to the hitch! That's 50%! And when you start loading up the bedroom front clost, you are almost adding pound for pound to the hitch. This is why you can really be surprised at how quickly the hitch pin weight can grow. And that's why it is a very good idea to weigh things.

Rear kitchen trailers fair a little better since there is some storage space behind the axles. However, our rear kitchen Cardinal still added on hitch weight at about 3# for every 10 pounds added and it didn't have much of a basement storage.

I weighed our new 3400RL the first thing before adding any of our gear, then again after transferring everything from the Cardinal to the Monty. Since almost all the kitchen stuff is over or in front of the axles, the scales showed that the hitch pin weight increased 4# for every 10# of added weight - that's 40%, twice the amount of the old wives tale of 20%. And in both cases, we make sure to put only light things - pillows or example - and very little clothing in the bedroom front closet.

With the nice roomy basements of the Monty's, I'm betting that the 3000RK will fatten up the hitch pin weight by at least 3.5# for every 10 pounds added.

I am interested to hear what others have found when they actually weighed their rigs.

[richfaa]

rickfox has a point that should be heard.You can check specs and crunch numbers till you are blue in the face but reality will set in when you put your rig and Rv on the scales.. and you may be surprised. ..been there done that... The first place our new Montana will go is to the scales.

[sreigle]

Rickfox, you are correct. It all depends on location of the items added. I was thinking through the wrong end.