CONSIDERING NEW TRUCK

With our truck, the 5th wheel runs nose high but there is not much I can do about it and still maintain the 6" bed rail clearance. The truck is completely stock other than slightly larger (265 instead of 245) tires.

TennesseePapaw wrote:
My trailer is a 2011 Rockwood Signature Ultra Lite.

I think you would be OK with this trailer.

When I went from a 2005 chevy to a 2011 chevy I had to raise the hitch to the highest position to get the 6" of clearance.

If I were purchasing a different truck I would go with a F350 - probably not allot difference in cost and you will have a higher payload (reason I went with a 3500HD in 2011 (11,600 lb GVWR) instead of a 2500HD (10,000 lb GVWR). It does not take much to exceed the GVWR of a truck when pulling a fifth wheel.

We just moved from a 2008 Chevy 2500 4x4 to a 2014 F350 4x4 and the new truck is 2" higher. The old truck we had air bags on it, the new one drops 3" and we run level. Not sure I like the idea of the truck dropping that much. We tow about 7-8,000 miles a year and I hope it's not going to create a problem.

BB_TX wrote:
Take a tape measure, measure the height of your truck bed rails, then go to a dealer and measure a new truck. I think you will find a 4x4 much higher than the old truck. Too high? Figure 6" above the bed rails and see how that affects the level of your trailer.
And yes, lowering the hitch will affect bed rail clearance.

Exactly what i did. Oh and the local Ford dealer always has some awsum pop corn in the machine. :h

yep, 7.3 powerstroke is true and tested for sure.
I just bought my 4th 7.3 powerstroke. All 4 still run strong. I bought this one that is a 99 F350 crew cab dually to pull my 5ver. Previous owner had it since new and I bought from him with bad trans.

7.3 might just be the last truly good Ford diesel made. Ask the guys that had injection pump failures on new 6.7 and had Ford deny warranty! 10.5K to replace any single piece of the fuel system, including the tank!!!!!

Might be great trucks, but also might be ticking bombs. The diesel in the US does not meet the Bosch spec for the injection pumps on the 6.7. GM uses the same pump, however they quietly take care of warranty problems with these pumps, not blaming the user like Ford has been doing.

Chris

We have a Ford 2011 F 250 4X4 HD and a 2003 Holiday Ramble Alumascape 29'....we just got the Ford this spring and had used a 2001 Chevy dually........the difference in height is there. We had to move the hitch up all the way to clear the 5th wheel and now we run a little nose high. And we just have 6" rail space. I'd like a little more than that as we do hunt and go off hwy often. Don't really have any problems with it, but we are watching it closely.

The newer trucks definitely have higher beds. I went from a 2008 GMC 2500 6.0 gas to a 2011 Ram 2500 Cummins & had to lower the hitch in my bed. I am still about 1/2 in high & only have 5.5 clearance. I purchased the TV before measuring & first thought I may have to raise the 5er. I assume Ford is similar in height so as others suggested, measure first.

Take a tape measure, measure the height of your truck bed rails, then go to a dealer and measure a new truck. I think you will find a 4x4 much higher than the old truck. Too high? Figure 6" above the bed rails and see how that affects the level of your trailer.
And yes, lowering the hitch will affect bed rail clearance.