Tow Vehicle for 22,000 Pounds Plus

Back to the OP's original question:

If you WANT to tow your 22K 5th wheel with a MDT or HDT, you certainly can. However, as has been demonstrated with the ratings and performance of modern 350/3500 series duallies, you certainly don't HAVE to use a MDT or HDT to tow a 22K 5th wheel.

Rusty

NC Hauler wrote:
Some of these HDH people don't want to hear it Ron..Most of them don't realize you don't need a semi tractor trailer rig to tow 18,000-24,000# anymore.

Since 2013..Ford, GM/Chevy and Ram have made their 1 ton dually's to be able to now do the job that once needed a MDT or a HDH. You'll hear how much comfortable the HDHG is...how much better breaking is, and even, you'll never know it's back there. It's kinda like the garden of EDEN. I've seen on the Escapees forum that one would need a HDH to tow a 16,000# 5er...that is inanely ridiculous,. I pretty much had to leave that forum to save face...They were right, I was wrong..no room for argument.

BUT, my truck is a 4 wheel drive that I can use anywhere I go, to tow with or daily drive...I can haul stuff around in my little puny pick up, I and the wife and two dogs can get in and out of it easily. Not that easy to climb up into and leave that HDH..I know, we've all tried.

Initial cost for a USED HDH may be less, but most of these HDH owners usually buy YET another car,,most of the time an itty bitty, not very safe, smart car...more cost, more insurance, oh, gotta put gas in it too.

Never seems to fail we have all hype and all Pro's on the HDH's, but never any of the negatives. I don't want to park my 5er and run around town in a HDH..I don't want to take it to work..I don't want to drive it around in a snow storm, and on and on..heck...I'll be dead before I put a couple hundred thousand miles on a vehicle, much less a million miles:E

So, One could tow, QUIET SAFELY, as Ron has shown, that a 1 ton dually can tow 23K...I figure I'll have no issues towing new 20 GVW TH i purchased..Heck, truck in my sig never hiccuped towing CAT scaled 16,300# 5er...though I was berated by quite a few that one needed a HDH to do that with..It's SO MUCH CHEAPER?!? I want a new truck with full warranty and a truck I can tow safely with and use 365 day's a year in a practical manner..Now a day's..one has the option to do that with a 1 ton dually. I'm stupid that way:)

Seems you have your share of negative (and uninformed) "hype" in your missive above!

Hmmmmm - "HDH" - do you mean HDT?

The Escapees Forum/s are -
MDT - Medium Duty Truck/s
HDT - Heavy Duty Truck/s (which is most often a Class 8 tractor, "singled" - although some owners leave 'em tandem).

The new breed of Heavy Duty pickups - are very cool, with lots of creature comfort.

Unfortunately -
not all states treat them kindly when it comes to registration fees - as compared to a Motor Home -or- an *HDT* "Motor Home".

Example: A "pickup" in CA with a GVWR of 11,500 lbs or more must stop at scales. (You are "home free" with your out-of-state plates)
Also - the CA truck requires *commercial* plates.......
.....make that *EXPENSIVE* commercial plates!...:(

"Who Must Stop At Scales"

Scroll down to - - "Do These Vehicles Have To stop At Scales?"

Even if you don't have to keep logs ("ify"), etc. - the fees for the load carrying capacity of the HD pickups or an MDT will annually empty your wallet.
Not so with a MH.

"Old" comparison.
My 2005 1T SRW Dodge plates where $650. when new.
The load capacity fee ($225.) never changes.
The cost of the truck was about $42K.

Neighbor bought a 2005 $85K gas-burner MH.
His plates were *less* than mine.
His annual registration fee ('tags') decreases with age.

Oh yeah - he did the CA 90 day rule and (legally) paid no CA sales tax, which was about 7 percent then.

Also unfortunately - it's almost impossible to register an HDT as a MH in CA anymore, so..........the Bottom Line is -

.....true "Light Duty" pickups towing light 5th wheels or TTs are still a good choice - however a MH (in CA) is a better choice over a 5th Wheel that req's a HD pickup or an MDT as a tow vehicle...:(

BTW - lots of great deals on used CA MDTs, 'cause owners are feeling the "heat" - which isn't from the CA sun!..:W


~

GM and Ford = CP4.2 injection pump which is noted to be less reliable.
RAM = CP3 injection pump which is noted to be more reliable.

Ram 3500 crew cab, long bed 4X4Dually equipped with the Aisin tranny and 4.10 gearing gives you 385 HP and 900 TQ ..GVWR of 14,000#, RAWR of 9750#. GCWR on the 16' I have on order is 39,100#..Ron who tows the 5er in pictures also has rear air assist..I also ordered that..

We are having a coach built and it is weighing in at 21,470 lbs, minus cargo. Cargo guesstimate is 1500-2000 lbs. We presently own a 2015 GMC Denali dually with which we pulled our '09 DRV MS. We originally had an '08 GMC Sierra, but thought it was a hair bit underpowered so we upgraded to the '15. Its GCWR is 30,500lbs, the truck with us in it weighs 8600 lbs., so we are over when the cargo is added.

We have driven both the Ram 350 and the Ford 350. The Ram is showing more towing capacity with less HP than the Ford, but has more torque, hence the higher towing ability. In our test drives It was also the noisiest of the three as well as the roughest riding. We did like the interior, it was much better than the Ford, however the Ford was quieter and the ride was somewhat "stiffer" than our GMC Denali. DH drives this truck on a daily basis and I drive it to the grocery and such when we are on the road.

I should have given you more information when I originally posted, my apologies. We are most interested in hearing about the rearend that you tow with if you are towing in excess of 23,000 lbs. It, of course, affects mileage and we would like to get one that will do the job, yet not be overkill. Thanks again for your time and comments.

Check out SPORTCHASSIS.COM and drool.

Can get these rigs in 4X4 also.

Texas Roadrunner wrote:
Is anyone towing 22,000 lbs. plus? If so, what are you towing with? Which rear end, what kind of mileage do you get? Do you have any tips? Have you pulled in the mountains, any problems? Thanks so very much for your help.

Can you you give us a better "ball park" GVW of the 5er you may want to tow..24k+ and upward , might merit bigger than a 1on dually..so, you may want to give us a better idea of GVW of 5er you want to tow.

Some of these HDH people don't want to hear it Ron..Most of them don't realize you don't need a semi tractor trailer rig to tow 18,000-24,000# anymore.

Since 2013..Ford, GM/Chevy and Ram have made their 1 ton dually's to be able to now do the job that once needed a MDT or a HDH. You'll hear how much comfortable the HDHG is...how much better breaking is, and even, you'll never know it's back there. It's kinda like the garden of EDEN. I've seen on the Escapees forum that one would need a HDH to tow a 16,000# 5er...that is inanely ridiculous,. I pretty much had to leave that forum to save face...They were right, I was wrong..no room for argument.

BUT, my truck is a 4 wheel drive that I can use anywhere I go, to tow with or daily drive...I can haul stuff around in my little puny pick up, I and the wife and two dogs can get in and out of it easily. Not that easy to climb up into and leave that HDH..I know, we've all tried.

Initial cost for a USED HDH may be less, but most of these HDH owners usually buy YET another car,,most of the time an itty bitty, not very safe, smart car...more cost, more insurance, oh, gotta put gas in it too.

Never seems to fail we have all hype and all Pro's on the HDH's, but never any of the negatives. I don't want to park my 5er and run around town in a HDH..I don't want to take it to work..I don't want to drive it around in a snow storm, and on and on..heck...I'll be dead before I put a couple hundred thousand miles on a vehicle, much less a million miles:E

So, One could tow, QUIET SAFELY, as Ron has shown, that a 1 ton dually can tow 23K...I figure I'll have no issues towing new 20 GVW TH i purchased..Heck, truck in my sig never hiccuped towing CAT scaled 16,300# 5er...though I was berated by quite a few that one needed a HDH to do that with..It's SO MUCH CHEAPER?!? I want a new truck with full warranty and a truck I can tow safely with and use 365 day's a year in a practical manner..Now a day's..one has the option to do that with a 1 ton dually. I'm stupid that way:)

Lots of people are leaving the MDT/HDT market since the newer Dually's are so capable.

Comfort? Well I can say this interior is VERY comfortable!

Dennis M M wrote:
You need to spend some time reading in the Escapees Heavy Duty Truck Forum

A nice HDT can be had for a lot less than any other alternative and is far more capable of towing heavy fivers. A lot more comfortable as well!

Good advice.

Besides a tow vehicle designed to tow (and STOP) an 80 thousand pound (commercial) trailer - with outstanding operator comfort, and all the bells and whistles (including auto tranny)......

A bonus to an HDT over an MDT - - in most states it can be registered as a Motor Home.

Cost of a used HDT can be (way) less than a new HD pickup or the various MDTs.

Some states allow "Private Truck" registration for MDTs, some do not,
and an MDT will *not* meet MH req's.
That equates to commercial registration = expensive and (depending on the state) some new hoops to jump thru.

There is also an excellent SKPs MDT truck forum.


~