New Truck Advice

[hines57]

Need a little advice here. Lets say you pull a Jay Flight Swift 267BHS at roughly 7,000lbs loaded weight and you are looking to by a new tow vehicle, what would you buy? I currently pull it with a 2002 F150 and it does ok power wise in Florida, but it does throw it around a bit in the wind. Obviously money is an object in this discussion because the huge cost difference between an f150 and an f250 diesel for example would pay for an awful lot of camping gear and trips. I have no plans to upgrade the travel trailer for a very long time as it is new, so I do not need plan for future growth. I am not a full-timer so 6-8 trips a year are about all we will use the truck to pull mostly in Florida. However, I would like to make a trip through the Tennessee mountains once or twice. The make of the vehicle really makes no difference to me, but I am partial to ford and dodge. The problem I see is the 250 / 2500 diesel seem like over kill and the 150 I have now is working hard. Are the new 150 / 1500 trucks better than the 2002 I have now. I appreciate any advice you all have. Sorry for the long post and all the questions.

[Daveak]

I have a 2013 F-150, 5.0, 3.73 and it seems to do very well. The one option I probably should have obtained is the heavy duty haul package. With the tongue weight and family I do not have much room left for cargo in the truck but we are OK in all other areas. You will like the 6 speed tranny with the tow/ haul mode over what you likely have now. We towed out Jay Feather 29Y (about 6000# dry, up to 8000 wet) over the mountains for the first time this weekend. Overall, a good ride.

If you go with a half ton, you have to watch the truck's cargo capacity very carefully. Load it up with options and extras and you lose cargo capacity - on some trucks you can go down to just over 1000# (some are even worse) ( I am at 1490#). This is the biggest limiting capacity on half ton trucks, which is why you may want to consider the heavy load option (if you go Ford). Or just get a 250 and above.

[Aceffemt]

What % of the trucks life will spent towing vs just en empty truck for every day driving?

[Jmooney]

__________________
It is better to tow than to be towed.


X2.

But I may be biased

[clubhouse]

I find the extra $ for a 2500 Diesel to be well worth it. I bough 4 year old truck with ~80k miles in order to keep within my budget. Never have I wished it was a 1500 gasser, and I really appreciated someone else taking the initial depreciation.

[Jmooney]

My older TT was ~4500 lbs.

When I went to the dodge cummins..... holy cow!

Colorado mountains , uphill at 65 MPH

And the exhaust brake was an bonus.

Never going back.

[Nighthawk 96]

I had a 4.7 litre Tundra which was working hard to pull my 26BH. My 5.7 litre Tundra pulls my 27DSRL, which is #1000 heavier just fine. (Loaded about #6700) The newer 1/2 ton trucks with 6 speed transmission and heavy duty tow package should work fine for you. A lot of people seem quite happy with the Ford 3.5 litre Ecobost for a trailer such as you are citing. The tongue weight on 1/2 ton pickups is probably the most critical factor leading to the overloading of 1/2 ton pickups. We have only two people and a dog in our truck and are about #200 under its GVWR, even though well over #3000 under our GCVWR. If you have a lot of people and stuff in your truck, a 3/4 ton gas model might suite you better.

[hbravo]

Why not a 250 with 6.2 gas engine? You get a truck designed to tow with none of the diesel issues. Close to 400 hp and lb ft of torque should haul 7k pretty nicely.

[clutch]

My brother in law tows an Eagle 320RLDS with a 3/4 ton Ford with the 5.4 gas engine and 3:73 axle. It works just fine for him. It handles his trailer well it just doesn't fly up the big hills like a diesel.

[Bobx2]

Since you are looking for towing performance, I would highly recommend a used 3/4 ton diesel. With some shopping around you should be able to find one for a pretty good price. Don't be afraid of a 100,000 miles on a diesel. Today's diesel-powered trucks are good for 2-3 times that many miles. If you ever pull with one, you will wonder how you ever did without. It really is that much better.

[jenoble99]

We have a 267BHS and tow it with an '09 Silverado 1500. I previously towed it with an '05 silverado. The difference between the four speed and six speed is night and day. I kicked around getting a 3/4 ton, but most of our driving is without the trailer, and I couldn't really find something used that wasn't beat to death. If you go 1500 pay close attention to packages. The difference in capacity on my truck with and without the heavy duty cooling package was quite large for example.

[Firefighter78]

I had a 2002 F150 with that 2 valve 5.4 Triton, its not a good pulling motor or truck for a 7000lb rig. I towed a sunline with mine that weighed 7000lb and was not good for the interstates. Spent most of the time with the tach at redline, traded it after the exhaust manifolds broke. In regards to safety consider the affect wind will have on a lighter TV, along with weaker brakes, axles, trans, frames. An earlier post made a good suggestion with going with a 3/4 ton gasser. The new Ford 250 gasser is a good motor with ok fuel economy that can save you the 7k over the diesel. This is plenty of truck to pull 7k. Only thing is if you turn over your TV often, a 3/4 gasser's resale is bad. I have a 2011 single rear wheel F250 6.7 diesel, handles my overloaded 11,000 lb. 334RBTS great.

[hboy]

I've enjoyed the F150 ecoboost. 18-20 mpg when not towing. Only 5-9mpg when towing. Good power/torque.

Some payload packages around 1,800 - 1,900 lbs with max tow.

[hines57]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I figured the response I would get is I am somewhere right in the middle between the 150/1500 and 250/2500. I have a difficult decision ahead and I think I need to just determine how wide I want to pry the wallet open. =)

[NewBlackDak]

Check out the RAM 2500 with the new 6.4L HEMI.

[Stingray75]

If you've been ok with power and concerned only with feeling like you're being tossed around then maybe going to a longer wheelbase 150/1500 with a HD tow package would be an option. The 250/2500's are much better equipped to tow

[pawpaw]

I recently purchased a GMC Sierra 1/2 ton standard bed pick up with the 6.2 liter gas engine and towing package. I couldn't be happier. Although it doesn't have the torque that a diesel has, it has plenty. It has 420 HP and 450 lb-ft of torque.
My TT is about 6,000 lbs fully loaded.
Good luck!

[3'senough]

While I understand the need for economy as a daily driver, there is also the comfort and security in towing. Personally I think a 3/4 ton truck is what is being called for in your case. The key component is the suspension IMHO. There is a world of difference in towing between the 2 when you get above 7K. Regardless of engine I would be looking for a 3/4 ton truck to handle that trailer.

[nylyon]

Diesel's cost more initially, cost more to maintain, cost more to repair and even though I have the dreaded 6.0, when it comes time to replace it, no doubt it'll be a diesel. My only regret is that I didn't get an F350, or Cummins!

Now to be fair, I haven't tested the 6.4L Hemi mentioned above (man that's got to be awesome though) nor have I pulled with a V10 and I'm sure that they are quite nice too. When I get 21.8 MPG at 70 MPH, and 23.3 at 60 (empty of course) I kind of love my 6.0!

[Livinglife2]

I went from a 01 dodge 2500 gas to a 12 chevy 2500 diesel and the new diesel is light years ahead of the gas one I had. I just got back from a 1900 mile trip delivering a camper and I would of never done that in the old truck. The new one drives so much smoother, seats are more comfortable, and I get twice the mpg with diesel. It did sting the check book at first, but it was well worth it. The wife's happy, the kids are happy and Now we can go on longer trips and not get beat up on the ride there bouncing around in the cab. I would be wore out on a four hour drive with the gas truck now we go 6-7 hours away and the truck drives likes it's not pulling anything behind it. The wife was worried that the maintenance would be more, but it has been less since now I only get a oil change about every 8-10k miles as with the gas it was serviced every 3k miles. Since your like us and we tend to hang on to out trucks longer when we sold our old dodge we pretty much gave it away since it was a gas if it had been a diesel we could of gotten 8-10k more out of it. So you pay more up front but you also get it back in the end.