2nd opinion for tow vehicle please.

I have a 2014 Columbus RL295. We have had it a little over a year and a half and love it. I hope you like your new one as well. Our loaded trailer weight is about 12,500# (GVWR 14,000#). I have the 6.7 Cummins and 3.73. It pulls great. I have been giving thought to going with a new Ram with 6.4 and 4.1 or a new Ford with 6.2 and 4.3. I think their real world performance would be about the same towing.

I live in Louisiana and mostly tow in flatter areas but occasionally enjoy Colorado. I think the gas would do fine and I would be buying for the 95% on flatter land. If you are realistically only going to load about 2K lbs and be at about 14,000 and tow mostly on flatter ground, I think either of these gas rigs (also the GM 6.0 with 4.10) would be fine.

If you will be towing 14 to 16K lbs with a lot of mountains in your future, then the diesel certainly will tow better. I don't know whether we are talking about a SRW or DRW, but make sure you will not exceed the SRW rear axle weight rating if that is the direction you are planning.

This is just my opinion, but that's what you wanted. Good luck and enjoy the new Columbus. Keith

Too bad you are limiting your choices

Thank you for your offer but we work for a company where we can get supplier pricing .

I say go for the GM with Duramax, and I will provide the GM Friends price.

Well you won't load 4000lbs in it so at apr 12,000 dry you'll be around 13,500 loaded. JMO but the 6.4-4.10 is plenty doable for FL all year long. If you plan on heading out on 1000-2000 mile trips covering all sorts of terrain then go diesel. I tow way less but live in Oregon where everywhere we go there's mtns or hilly roads. I choice the 6.7 CTD because I wanted a more relaxed towing adventure.

Easy and fast...41+ foot 5th wheel, 16,000 GVWR = diesel dually 1 ton. You pick the manufacturer and the color.

Boy you folks are fast,we are in florida,so climbing the rocky mtns many times a year, is not a problem. But i know the old saying you can never have too much truck i love how helpfull everybody out there is,thanks so far.

Boy you folks are fast,we are in florida,so climbing the rocky mtns many times a year, is not a problem. But i know the old saying you can never have too much truck i love how helpfull everybody out there is,thanks so far.

I have towed a 41' 5er with my truck, and took videos while doing it (well, the passenger was doing the video recording). They are on YouTube HERE, we even did a comparison to the Cummins 3500 SRW pulling the same RV - mpg and 0-60.

I think it depends on how far and where you plan to tow it. I see you're in Florida. That's flat country.
If you plan to:
- tour the USA
- do a lot of mountain towing
- tow often

Get the diesel.

If you plan to:
- tow a few times a year
- tow short distances in and around Florida

Get the Hemi.

We have finanlly decided on a 5th wheel after years of research questions on this site ,dealer trips and so on,now comes the tow vehicle part, on the ram 3500 the new 6.4 liter gas engine seems impressive,but i know the best choice is a diesel,each of the 3 trucks of their strengths and weakneses,me and the wife are mainly gm people but the ram is hard to ignore,sorry ford fans the columbus 385 bh the one we choose is 15940 gvwr,ship weight,11811cargo capacity,4062, 41.1 length.question will the ram 6.4 v8 with 410 hp and 429 pounds of torque.do the job or not i think i know the answer. But i will like a 2nd opinion.sorry for all the numbers but i try to give as much info as i can. All numbers from the columbus brochure and the ram calalog,at least the 2014 version. Thanks.

A 16,000 pound fifth wheel is at the very top end of the tow rating for the Ram 6.4 engine with 4.10 gears. It is in the middle of the range for the Cummins with the Aisan transmission. My vote, get the diesel.