advice on tow vehicle

[exav8tr]

Rich, I kinda thought we were addressing the OP's question by presenting him with facts about tow weights, such as in the Ford site. It would be nice if someone had a site like that for GM and Dodge so the OP could compare "apples versus Apples".

[SlickWillie]

Simply put, in Art's case, I would upgrade suspension. If buying a new TV for the weight the OP listed, I would buy a one ton or larger. JMHO

[richfaa]

We we starting to drift away from the question which was tend to do at times. The OP, since he has no truck is in the ideal position to purchase what will meet his needs. If we have the truck or purchase one that does not meet our needs perhaps because of miss leading informaton, then we are sort of stuck with it as it is now a money issue. Most of us would do as Will mentioned above. I did with a previous truck because I could not afford a new truck. When I went with the 3400 we had learned and knew better and went with the bigger truck.

[Art-n-Marge]

SlickWillie. You are right! I must consider upgrading my suspension and turn my truck into an F-350!

Prior to purchasing my last two trucks I checked out the differences for the F-250 and F-350 and found they have the same towing capacities for the years I looked. The only difference was payload in the truck (especially truck bed) because the F-350 has better springs - THAT WAS ALL. The engine, tranny and brakes are the same! You can increase tow capacity with a higher differential, but that can be done with both the F-250 AND F-350 equally but it does NOT increase CCC. If there was a commercial that said the F-350 was more powerful that an F-250, they probably compared a V10 Ford F-250 with a 3.73 diff versus a 6.0l Ford F-350 with a 4.10 diff. They don't state that it was an apples to oranges comparison because that doesn't make for good television.

To answer maintechfotog's original question, I highly recommend if not already done so, listen to Richfaa and get the F-350 and still have SWR. The GVWR for the trailer can be easily towed by both BUT the pin weight will VERY quickly eat up the GVWR of the F-250 TV. So while the F-250 and F-350 have the same 5th wheel tow rating, the difference will be that the F-250 will have a reduced payload when towing the rig.

Now I will seek the better suspension (versus buying a new truck) to gain some leeway back. In the meantime, I keep cargo to a minimum and reluctantly leave things at home until I do so. I do have airbags but that just improves the ride and truck profile - it DOES NOT increase capacity as I have mentioned in other posts; forgive my insistence but anyone who claims so, is incorrect or has been misled.

Others with 3/4 tons (including me) have towed and will continue to tow with probably no problems as long as we are careful because we are "barely" still within spec or even overweight. But I have learned that when it comes to RVing DO NOT settle for spec - give yourself a lot more whenever you can. The extra consideration will be eaten up by our continued purchase of more stuff, extra gadgets and that just-one-more-nicety that you will end up carrying.

Cheers,

[Dean A Van Peursem]

Art-n-Marge,

We have had this discussion before and I agree that if the OP is going to buy something new, the F350 is the best choice in this application. And I too recommend only the SRW version primarily due to the DRW clumsiness when not towing. However, you and I are are dealing with how to configure an older F250 to try to accomplish the same thing. I'm currently running a 2003 F250 Lariat with the 7.3L D engine, 4 x 4 SC LB. I too have added Firestone Air Bags and everything is pretty much OK with the exception of one minor irritant that pops up occasionally. Maybe two or three times in 1600 miles based on certain road conditions. It only lasts for a few seconds but I would like to get rid of it. And this is something I call "Bobbing". The 5th wheel pin and hitch(rear of truck) will occasionally bounce up and down(Oscillates) for a period of time induced by a dip/bump in the road. It settles down quite quickly but.... it bugs me. Changed the OEM shocks to Bilsteins with some improvement and have also noticed that higher airbag pressures also reduces it but then the rear end of the truck is a bit higher than I like even when fully loaded.
However, I recently became aware of of an aftermarket add-on called "torklift stable load" which essentially causes the standard F250 overload spring leafs to come back into play when using airbags for heavy pin weights. According to the sales pitch one can reduce the pressure in the airbags a bit when using these and still accomplish the same thing. I've ordered them and will see how things work out. I've never liked the fact that the overload spring leaf wasn't used any more with the airbags. With these add-ons it will play a part again.

While I'll agree that airbags do not increase any of the ratings on the truck such as GVWR or GCVWR or GAWR but they do increase the pin weight(effective payload) that can be carried in the bed of the truck and still keep the truck level. I call that an increase in payload capacity. Sorry!

[richfaa]

My particular truck as a GVWR of 13,000lbs. The truck with full fuel, two aboard, bird, cage, and everything in the bed that we carry for camping weighs in at 9314lbs. here is nothing more I can put into the bed of the truck except the pin weight of our 06 3400 . We have 3586 lbs left over to do that. I don't know what the pin weight of the 3400 is but it will be far below 3586lbs. That difference as many have alluded to is primarily because it is a dually and if it is a dually it is a 1 ton truck. Even if that is the only difference between the two trucks..it is a difference..and a big one.

Look this up on the Ford site build your own truck

Identical trucks one a F-250 the other a F-350 I know you won't believe me so look it up..

Both trucks Lariat,CC, LB 6.4L,4X4 auto xmittion 3:73 diff

did not go into the extra option packages

F-250 50,990 F-350, Dually 50,840 (that's less) Payload F-250 2550 Lbs F-350 Dually 4910 The F-350 SWD payload 3740lbs

Look it up for yourself..

The 09's by the way have a higher tow capacity and CC than my 08..

[deadeyenevermisses]

I doubt you'll ever second guess yourself for having too much truck..................

[Dean A Van Peursem]

The only way one might second guess themselves on buying too much truck is if they run out of money in the process.

[Dean A Van Peursem]

I have finally found the Keystone/Montana web site that provides some specifications on the 2001 Montana 3575RL. Unfortunately no shipping or GVWR weight is given but but dry pin weight and carrying capacity is:

Carrying capacity: 4210 lbs
Hitch weight: 2120 lbs

Therefore I could easily see that the pin weight could easily exceed 2600lbs and even approach 3,000 lbs depending on how the RV is loaded. INHO that completely rules out any 3/4 ton truck immediately. So when selecting a truck make sure there is at least 3000 to 3500 lbs left over in cargo capacity after all the passengers and goodies are loaded in the truck. I don't know the newer truck specs but I think this may even force you into a dually. The carrying capacity is huge if that is used up and depending on how the RV is loaded it could get to be a very heavy pin weight.

The web site I'm referring to is:

http://keystone-montana.com/?page=specs&year=2001

[RickW]

quote:Originally posted by exav8tr

Rick, That's a very good AND interesting site. Do you know if GM has a smiliar one?? Very easy to read and notable that the newer ('06 and further) 250's and 350's are pretty much the same in their capacities, albeit small differences.....

Phil,

I am sure that Chevy/GMC & Dodge have something similar but I have not seen it (or looked for it). I have had this page bookmarked for quite some time and it is quite handy when looking up Ford specs.

[richfaa]

The differences in Cargo capacity and that is where the pin weight goes, is significant.As noted above 09 F-250 2550, 09 F-350 dually 4910, F-350 SWD 3740. There is a 1190lb diference between the F-250 and the F-350 SWD...same truck.

[maintechfotog]

Hi all,
Thanks for terrific info. We have decided on a 1 ton, SWD. We will let you know how we do, and our results. Forums like these are the life blood of enthusiasts, looking forward to meeting many of you in the flesh.

Thanks again, David & Aileen.

[exav8tr]

DJM congrats on your choice, I don't think you could go wrong with any of the one tons, even though I am partial to GM. Of Course, IF GM goes belly-up not sure what I would do for warranty work...

[maintechfotog]

I was warned off getting a GM diesel by a long time trucker, yet I see many GM rigs listed among the owners rigs. I do not wish to open a 'can of worms' so I'll not ask which make to avoid, but what forum posts identify reliability issues, and then I can make an informed decision.

[richfaa]

Good and wise choice. IMO all of the big three diesels do a good job and are reliable. You may have figured out that I am a numbers guy. We looked at all the numbers on all the trucks and came up with the Ford F-350 dually to pull our 06 3400. Would not have hesitated to purchase any of the big three diesels if they meet our needs.

[SlickWillie]

The Duramax is a fine engine. I would say the Allison transmission is the best on the market. Being a long time loyal GM buyer, I might lean towards Ford at this time. I sure would hate to have to depend on the feds for my warranty work. With Chrysler being in bankruptcy, there is no way I would purchase anything from them.

[exav8tr]

DJM, IF you're looking for additional info on the diesels you might try googling "diesel forums" several come up and may be helpful also. I can't vouch for the validity of the info as I don't frequent them.

[Art-n-Marge]

The year I bought my 3/4 ton Ford had the best towing/loading capacity of the big three.

Since then Ford and Chevy and I think even DODGE upgrumped their capabilities. Chrysler is having some major financial and quality issues (my bro-in-law has one) and GM is looking to be broken up and I am biased, but the new Ford's look real badass (Another bro-in-law just bought the F-450 MONSTER which makes my F-250 look like a Tacoma). I preferred the look of the GMs until recently (I am just not into their new look, yet), but it's all about the utility first! Quality wise everyone's got horror stories about all of them, so ignore the naysayers.

Starting with the SWD, 1 ton, get the biggest baddest one you can that exceeds your weight needs and you shall do fine. As long as it's diesel you should be good to go. The diesel will have overall less cost for fuel but more importantly provide the strengths (torque and HP) over a gasoline engine and translates to Load/Towing capacity. For those who want to complain about the noise and the stink, just do what the rest of us do - keep the windows rolled up. Actually diesels have come a long way to improve emissions and noise. These aren't your father's diesels any more.

We are anxious to hear your decision.

[illapah]

Pretty tough to get too much truck.

[Art-n-Marge]

Yup, but it's real easy to get too little. For us SWDer's it's easy to do, yeah?