Ideal vehicle for a newbie?

Jim-Linda wrote:
1 ton dually.

Jim

x2

......but with what your looking at most modern 150/1500 series pickups would easily handle 5000lbs GVWR trailers.

If you want to keep your options open......get the one ton truck.

You could get away with a Tacoma, Frontier or the new Colorado/Canyon. They all have 6000lb+ tow ratings. Your 3000lb trailer loaded should have a low enough tongue weight for those trucks.

IMO if you're looking for a tow vehicle and size is not a big issue then a 1/2 ton would be ideal.

I'll give you a personal experience example. We had a 22', 4050lb loaded TT and initially towed it with an 06 Frontier V6 2wd extra cab. It handled fine but it was down on power for the area we camp. Hills and mtns of Oregon. We sold it and bought an 08 F150 5.4 2wd 3.73 gears SuperCab. Night and day difference. MPG went up from 8.5 to 10.5. The truck had plenty of power and even though I hate to say it, it felt like it wasn't even back there. Plus with the larger (26gal) as opposed to the smaller (21gal) and the added mpg increase gave us a longer travel time between fill ups. Almost 100 miles more increase.

You don't need a big power house truck either. Any of the newer ones with a V6 is plenty for that size TT.

Jim-Linda wrote:
1 ton dually.

Jim

:S

Ignore this kind of non-sense. There are those who think you need a one dually to tow a pop-up because they made some bad towing mistake at one time and overcompensated out of fear.

You have to ask yourself what kind of vehicle do you want? How big are you looking to go? Most of the mid-size SUVs will tow that trailer just fine. What I'm talking about are vehicles like the Chevy Traverse/GMC Acadia, Ford Explorer, and others in this class. Most in that range have 4500# - 5000# capacities. Which should give you plenty of margin.

You could also look at mid size PUs or even full size half ton trucks, either in a crew cab configuration. Having a bed to haul stuff is great. We towed with nothing but large SUVs for years, this is our first PU and I wish we had done it years ago.

Watch the payload, found on a sticker in the driver door. Your passengers, your dog, and anything you carry inside count against the payload. So does the weight of your trailer's tongue. So if your passengers and stuff weigh 400#, your trailer tongue weighs 400#, and your payload is 900#, you are still in good shape because you have 100# of margin. Hope that make some sense.

1 ton dually.

Jim