What truck do I need to pull this trailer

I have a 2014 Ford 350 with DRW and full bed. I’m pulling a 39 ft. Beacon by Van Leigh. The unit is heavy probably close to 15000 lbs. This truck pulls it beautifully. The DRW makes a lot of difference.

I have the Ram w the HO and Aisin. It is a great setup. However any of the big three after 2012 if they’ve been well kept care of will serve you well.

Travelnfam wrote:

BurbMan wrote:

Travelnfam wrote:

Dry Weight 14,095 lbs. GVWR 17,000 lbs. Hitch Weight2,800 lbs.

Here's how the math works. Dry hitch weight of 2800 divided by dry weight of 14095 gives you a pin weight of 19.8%. Multiply that by the GVWR of 17000 and you get 3377, or what the pin weight will be when fully loaded.

2 parents = 350 lbs
3 kids = 300 lbs
stuff in the truck = 200

Total weight in the truck = 4,227 lbs. (These numbers are just placeholders, use the right ones for your family.)

I just bought a 2015 Ram 3500, crew cab, long box, single rear wheel, Cummins diesel with 81k miles for $37k. This is the Laramie trim with heated/ventilated leather seats, heated 2nd row seats, etc. it's rated the carry 4300 lbs net based on the door sticker, but with your weight I would look for a dually.

I had a nationwide search running on all 3 major used car sites for over a month trying to find a truck under $40k that wasn't a short box or a dually. Dually is only $1200 option on the Ram, so the majority of 3500 diesels are duallies. Of course I also wanted one owner, clean CarFax, etc.

I personally would never buy a Ford diesel after their issues with the 6.0L and 6.4L. GM has had a consistently good powertrain with their Duramax diesel and Allison Transmission (except for 04-05 overheating issues) but trying to find out ratings and GVWR when shopping used was a nightmare.

I settled on Ram because the Cummins diesel had been a strong performer, and you can pull up the original window sticker on any used Ram and see what options it shipped with. Some may not be obvious like HD alternator, rear axle ratio, etc. The HO Cummins with the Aisin transmission is a great combo but difficult to find a decent used one under $40k.

Great info. They ran two transmissions? What is the benefit of the Aisin of the other?

Yes the 68RFE AND THE Aisin.
The difference is the Aisin is rated for more power.
The Cummins with 68RFE in 2016 was rated at 370 HP and 800# of torque.
The Cummins with Aisin in 2016 was rated at 385 HP and 900# of torque.
They are easy to tell apart, the dip stick for the 68RFE is on the passenger side, the Aisin is on the drivers side.

This is a Link to the Ram Cummins power chart for all years.

Also you could look at a Ford F450 stripped down. I still like a Ram better but the Ford is a very good dually.

I see a nice f450 at Texasauto.com fir $43000 w less than 70000 miles. Yes there are a few out there in your price range with less than 100,000 miles. No worries if you buy one of these with weights.

Couple of things to think about. Toy haulers have a high dry pin weight. I think some of that pin weight can be nullified by how you load the toy hauler space. I would go to the forum of the model you want and see if this is true for your model and see if anyone has real world weights.

I have a 2018 Ram CTD CC SRW HO with a 3825 lb payload. My Creek started out at 12,800 lbs and I run about 14,500lbs w a GVWR of 16,200 lbs. If you don’t want to worry about weights, you have to buy a dually. That would be my guess because you’ll want to take everything and the kitchen sink on that kind of trip. Don’t buy and old dually. Some of the old ones have less payload than my 2018.

I have a 46 gallon aux tank. I can go about 750 miles towing. 1400 miles not towing. These are indispensable for a trip out west. Your going to be stopping every 250 miles to fill up and that can be problematic out west.

With a slider hitch for a short bed and the tank that’s an extra 600 lbs. I’m running 3400 lbs payload, that’s w no water, no washer dryer and only stuff we need packed.

Another suggestion would be to look at a fiver that is the same layout but starts at 11,000 lbs. or even look at a bumper pull toy hauler.

I also run 295/70R18 tires that have a 4080 lb rating versus 3640 stock. The stock rear tires take a lot of wear at higher pin weights and these tires are 2 inches wider which distribute the weight better.

Sounds like an awesome trip. You have to get the right truck to make this trip worry free.

Also talking to my dealer today, supply of trucks is way down because of covid. Dealers are asking top dollar fir the trucks they have. Used heavy duty trucks are at an al time high fir a low mileage one.

Check out Kernersville Ram in NC.

When I purchased my diesel, I bought it for the CC trip. The torque is needed for the mountains. Other than that gas will do just fine. Keep in mind a diesel engine is more expensive to purchase than a gas and more expensive to maintain. To give you an idea. Oil change.... 8 qts + filter. I do it myself and it costs about $80. You also have the fuel filter. Also, fuel additives. No diesels arn't cheap but they do make pulling easier. Check to see what each truck can tow. If you are really under the weight, maybe a gas will work. Do not over purchase. Plan on $2000 for repairs on a cc trip, minimum.

Travelnfam wrote:

BurbMan wrote:

Travelnfam wrote:

Dry Weight 14,095 lbs. GVWR 17,000 lbs. Hitch Weight2,800 lbs.

Here's how the math works. Dry hitch weight of 2800 divided by dry weight of 14095 gives you a pin weight of 19.8%. Multiply that by the GVWR of 17000 and you get 3377, or what the pin weight will be when fully loaded.

2 parents = 350 lbs
3 kids = 300 lbs
stuff in the truck = 200

Total weight in the truck = 4,227 lbs. (These numbers are just placeholders, use the right ones for your family.)

I just bought a 2015 Ram 3500, crew cab, long box, single rear wheel, Cummins diesel with 81k miles for $37k. This is the Laramie trim with heated/ventilated leather seats, heated 2nd row seats, etc. it's rated the carry 4300 lbs net based on the door sticker, but with your weight I would look for a dually.

I had a nationwide search running on all 3 major used car sites for over a month trying to find a truck under $40k that wasn't a short box or a dually. Dually is only $1200 option on the Ram, so the majority of 3500 diesels are duallies. Of course I also wanted one owner, clean CarFax, etc.

I personally would never buy a Ford diesel after their issues with the 6.0L and 6.4L. GM has had a consistently good powertrain with their Duramax diesel and Allison Transmission (except for 04-05 overheating issues) but trying to find out ratings and GVWR when shopping used was a nightmare.

I settled on Ram because the Cummins diesel had been a strong performer, and you can pull up the original window sticker on any used Ram and see what options it shipped with. Some may not be obvious like HD alternator, rear axle ratio, etc. The HO Cummins with the Aisin transmission is a great combo but difficult to find a decent used one under $40k.

Great info. They ran two transmissions? What is the benefit of the Aisin of the other?

The specs vary from year to year, but with the Aisin transmission you get the Cummins with a little more hp and a fair amount more torque, vs the Chrysler transmission, and neither is problematic.
JK

Travelnfam wrote:

packpe89 wrote:
I would definitely go diesel just for ease of fill-ups utilizing trucks stops instead of at the pump. Also cross country means mountains and it will pull better in the mountains. I just purchased a certified 2500 Ram diesel MegaCab Long Horn in your price range ($38K) with 50K miles, so you should be able to find something. I have owned or used all three and any will work well. I went with Ram because that is the best value I found. I would not worry about fuel capacity, all three brands will have large tanks and you will want to stop every now and then for a rest break. Again trucks stops are great! An 8' drw crewcab will be a beast when you adventure out, may want to consider the 6.5' bed.
Good luck and have fun.

May I ask what year? I found a 2013 3500 DRW Megacab. I don't really want a DRW but it looks like I'm going to need that and diesel to support my weight through the mountains. It's under 100k but around the same price range as yours.

You'll love the Megacab DRW; we sure love ours!

Mine is a 2016.

JAC1982 wrote:
I don't know what they run now used but we towed a toyhauler that was of a similar pin weight with a 2015 F350 dually diesel and it did great and we had no issues with it. We just traded up to the 2017 when it became vailable because my husband wanted the new body style and didn't like the color we had (insert eyeroll here).

I think a 2015 or up Ford would be very reliable. I just can't find one for a reasonable price. It's incredible right now. I'm sitting in a very similar position. Considering a SRW and downsizing from a toy hauler.