Narrowing down needs for tow vehicle - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Narrowing down needs for tow vehicle

fun2travel · RV-Dreams Family Member

We are just starting to plan for our eventual full time RV'ing. Trying to get a feel for the budget. We are buying our RV first, but I am looking a bit at the truck too. My questions so far are, is a 4 wheel drive important, or can we go with a two wheel drive? How about dual rear wheels, does the benefit outweigh the cost in gas, as wheel as the higher cost for the truck? Last question, how about the diesel versus gas? We plan to travel quite a bit for the first few years.

Our eventual RV will probably be a Heartland, around 35'.

Thank you guys, you're all great!!!

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

4 wheel is not always needed it will depend on your off roading recreational needs

dual rear is much more stable and gives better handling

diesel truck will last longer overall and take more abuse on the drivetrain

Soody · RV-Dreams Family Member

Good questions Fun2travel.
I am looking at a new (to me) tow vehicle also. I will be towing about 9-9.5K lbs and will go with a HD diesel rated for 10-12K. I will go for 4x4 capability but have to ask what makes one choose a long bed/ std bed? What makes one a better choice over the other? Thanks.

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

Turning radius and also if your pulling a 5ver it should be a long bed or you will have to watch your overhang or you will hit the cab

jholderbaum · RV-Dreams Family Member

I have a short-bed F250. When I towed a 5th wheel, I had to get the "Slider" attachment for my hitch.
Basically, if I was going to make a really sharp turn, or maneuver in a campground, I would manually have to slide the hitch back in the bed. This kept the 5'ver from hitting the back of my cab. As soon as I was about to leave, I;de have to slide the hitch back into the travel postion. While this worked fine, it was a bit of a pain, especially if it was raining, because I;de have to reach into my bed to hit the release, getting my stomach wet from the side of the truck.
Pull-rite makes a nice hitch that does it all automatically, but at the time it was just too much to spend.
Currently I have a "Gooseneck" horse trailer in the same truck. I can turn to just over 90 degrees without it hitting the cab, but it is REAL close, always makes me worried.

Jess

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Leslie,

Welcome to the RV Dreams forums. You have definitely found a good source of information because the folks here have a lot of knowledge of just about every type of RV. It also helps that we tend to be a "family" of friendly, helpful, and encouraging folks.

As for the truck, you are very wise to choose the trailer before choosing the truck so that you can be sure that when all is said and done, it is not good to realize that one's truck isn't big enough to safely handle the trailer. Whatever you do, check the weight numbers yourself and don't trust salesmen. Whatever they try to tell you, "towing weight" is only a a "guess" as to what is capable with the truck. One needs to know the GVWR (Gross Vehicular Weight Rating) of the trailer and the truck separately. Then one combines those numbers to determine what GCVW (Gross Combined Vehicular Weight) the truck needs to have. Safely handling a trailer includes being able to tow the trailer comfortably on slopes, in side winds, and more importantly, in stopping.

With regards to a dually, you will find that they will allow one to have a heavier trailer than what a single rear wheel (SRW) truck will. However, if you plan on really going to out of the way places, a SRW and 4WD truck would be helpful, but with a 35 foot trailer or more, those places will likely be ruled out anyway. The dually also gives one a lot more stability in crosswinds and in turning.

As for 4WD, in all the years of camping that we did (although with a lot smaller trailer than we now have) I seldom ever needed that feature. I've been told that with a dually, one can be on wet grass and the rear tires will lose traction because there isn't enough weight, but how many times would one be parking on grass?

Diesel engines will cost more to purchase and maintain, but you can go longer between oil changes and other maintenance and they will last longer. One can also notice that the towing capacities (weightwise) will be greater because of the engine being a diesel. We used to have a 26-foot fifth wheel that we towed with a Ford F250, and even though the trailer was considered a "lite" trailer, my wife always felt that the truck was always working hard to tow it. Now, with our F450 diesel and our 38-foot trailer, the truck hardly even seems to be working at all and our trailer weighs 18,500 lbs. It is a real pleasure when towing, but the final test of the truck and trailer on a mountain pass hasn't happened yet. However, a lot of other F450 owners say their trucks have no problems with regards to pulling passes.

As to budget, if you decide to go with a diesel, also consider used trucks with low mileage. Low mileage on a diesel is a lot higher number than low mileage on a gas engine, because as someone else noted, the diesels last longer and can get more miles. We "stumbled" upon our 2008 F450 one day and bought it that evening after a 10 minute test drive. It was one year old at the time and only had 46,000 miles on it, but it was about half of the price of a brand new F450. The asking price at the time was only $35,000, but we got it for a bit less. Considering a used truck will allow one to go with a better/heavier trailer if one is so inclined.

Good luck with all the research and planning, and feel free to ask any question that comes to mind. The only "dumb" questions are the ones that don't get asked and one finds out later that they should have asked it to avoid a problem down the road.

Terry

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

fun2travel wrote:
We are just starting to plan for our eventual full time RV'ing. Trying to get a feel for the budget. We are buying our RV first, but I am looking a bit at the truck too. My questions so far are, is a 4 wheel drive important, or can we go with a two wheel drive? How about dual rear wheels, does the benefit outweigh the cost in gas, as wheel as the higher cost for the truck? Last question, how about the diesel versus gas? We plan to travel quite a bit for the first few years.

You questions are very good and are the “normal” ones asked by those just beginning. Good job. Here are my views based on a lot of RVing years and miles:

4-Wheel drive is not necessary, but desirable. This has nothing to do with towing up mountains or off-roading. It has to do with sometimes getting stuck, especially when backing, into some soft ground campsite, including grass, or when going up a gravel incline. We've used it more in the US than when we went to Canada or Alsaka. Much like a spare tire, you don’t need it till you do.

I really don't recommend a short bed truck for a lot of reasons. 8' beds are really the best way to go such that no "slider" hitch is required. You get more room for things like aux fuel tanks, and you never have to worry about the trailer hitting the cab in a tight turn.

Dual rear wheel are significantly more stable than single. Extremely desirable and sometimes, due to pin weight, very necessary. The increase in fuel use is insignificant when towing. Wind resistance of the trailer at speed is far more impacting to fuel mileage. Dual wheels are also much safer. Should you have a blow out the second tire will carry the load till you get stopped. (‘Been there due to a rock cut at an Interstate a pull off.)

Diesel is almost always better than gas for towing a larger trailer such as the one you indicate, especially if you are actually going to travel and not just move occasionally. Torque is your friend when towing, not horsepower. Diesels make torque, last longer (not really a big factor in reality unless purchasing an older used gas truck,) in general get better mileage when towing (sometimes a wash due to the somewhat higher cost of diesel than gas) and many times are quieter when towing up hill. (Gas engines generally need much higher RPM’s to make the grade and that can be unpleasant, again IMO.) Finally, Diesels “sometimes,” depends on the brand and year, have better (stronger) transmissions along with turbo brakes factory installed. (True with many 2011’s and newer diesels– you can retrofit after market turbo or exhaust brakes to some pre-2011 trucks.) These are a really nice thing to have when coming down a mountain. Highly recommended if possible but not absolutely required.

The brand is up to you. We all have our prefaces for good, or emotional, reasons.

Bill

Alie and Jims Carrilite · RV-Dreams Family Member

IMO, Dually makes towing more stable, diesel for more longevity, power, mileage. The 4x4 to me I love, but I also like to ride on our local beaches- Coastal NC.
We haven't been to a campground or area that 4x4 was needed to get into a site. Now with that said, we made a long weekend last month and went to West Virigina to ski, (actually to sit infront of a huge fireplace and drink hot toddies). Where we went was 4 wheel drive mandatory. So it is helpful but not required.