Anybody consider a semi for a tow vehicle?

wintersun wrote:
These are Class 8 trucks with a GVWR of 33,000 lbs. or more. I can no more see using one of these to tow a 13,000 lb. 5th wheel travel trailer load than using a 1-ton DRW truck to tow a 300 lb. kayak trailer.

More than 80% of the people I see pulling 5th-wheel trailers are doing so with a SRW truck. A 3/4 ton pickup is all that is needed even for the 13,500 lb. gross vehicle weight trailer, and very few 5th wheel travel trailers exceed even 11,000 lb.s gross vehicle weight.

My 2500HD pickup ton truck is rated for towing a 5th wheel trailer load of up to 17,300 lbs., so why would I go buy a Freightliner M2? I don't know about what you can get for $10,000 but a used M2 106 in good condition sells for a great deal more. Current ones listed on www.truckpaper.com are priced at $80K for a 2007.

Every aspect of operating and maintaining the truck is going to be three times as expensive as a pickup and forget about parking it anywhere except on the street (where laws allow). I could not see one of these trucks pulling a 5th wheel getting into 99% of the state and national campgrounds. OK is you like to stay at highway rest areas and at truck stops.

You should ask yourself if these trucks are such a good solution why is that nobody is using them for this purpose? Look again when you see one of these trucks towing a 5th wheel and you will notice that it is pulling a large horse trailer or commercial trailer or multi vehicle trailer and not a travel trailer.

This my thought as well. I own and run class 8's. I personally would not put an 8 on an RV but to each his own. The biggest issue for a person with an average bank account is simply the costs involved. It is all good until you have to have them worked on (before anyone buys one they really need to investigate engine, tranny rebuilds), while I totally get they are made to run, they do break down. Buy a newer one and you get to deal with DPF issues, no small issue with someone who pulls an RV where the engine is barely able to stay warm pulling such a light load. Tires are expensive and there are a lot of them. When your making money with them, the costs of running them is simply a part of business (but it still hurts when you have major component failure), running one simply for recreation would be unacceptable to me. Lastly it is not necessary, with the capability of these new pickup based tow rigs, but if you want to play "big rig trucker" on the weekends these can fill that need. You just need to make sure you have a "big rig checking account" when the truck goes to the shop.