Different Tow Vehicle

Golden_HVAC wrote:
Are you going to want dual air conditioning?

The Ford wagon window vans have built in rear A/C and that is very helpful to the passengers in your humid area of the country! There are hundreds of E-350 vans out there, for sale. Manny are the cargo type, and will never come with rear A/C. It might be possible to install it, but expensive. Also the window vans come with good insulation too - both noise and heat insulation.

GM made a 8.1L gas engine for their 3500 vans for a few years. Not anymore. Depends on what you are towing, the 5.4L in the E-350 is a great engine, so is the 6.8L V10 - that is also used in the class C motorhomes with a 22,000 GCVWR.

The larger motorhome engines have much larger radiators, and a higher 362 HP engine, with a 26,000 (+/-) GCVWR. The E-350 vans only have a 2 valve per cylinder engine, smaller radiator, and only about a 300 HP engine rating.



Have fun camping!

Fred.

Also note that the 5.4 V8 is down rated to 250-255 HP in the van, vs 300 in the pickup and maybe more in some SUVs, but the rating in the van is for 100% duty cycle. Similarly in the Chevy, you will find the 6.0 in the van rated lower than for the Escalade (Corvette 6.0 is a totally different engine). But again, rating in the van is for long term use of continous power, it is not a drag racing power peak power rating as for lighter duty applications.

My one-ton passenger van has a 3000 pound payload and a 6000 pound towing capacity with the mid-size V8. The limiting factor is GCWR rather than tongue weight, which is the problem with SUVs and 1/2 ton pickups with high tow ratings.

If you buy with the right engine (6.8 V10 on Ford, Duramax on Chevy) a one ton van might go to 10,000 pounds on the towing capacity, but as tongue weight might go up to 1500-2000 pounds, you then have to start thinking about balancing what you carry and tongue weight, to stay within that 3000 pounds. Just as you do for a one-ton pickup.

dadmomh wrote:
Have never seen one before....nice looking.

Thanks! We really like it. And it gets questions / comments in every campground we have been in so far.

Have never seen one before....nice looking.

DutchmenSport wrote:

Heavy Metal Doctor wrote:
... decided to buy an NV3500 for our tow vehicle. ...

Heavy Metal Doctor: Would you mind posting a photo of your van. I'd love to see it.

Here it is:


not a great picture, but with the tt:

Heavy Metal Doctor wrote:
... decided to buy an NV3500 for our tow vehicle. ...

Heavy Metal Doctor: Would you mind posting a photo of your van. I'd love to see it.

I'd like to thank you all. I appreciate your taking the time to offer valid and well reasoned advice. Now to start shopping. There's an RV show coming up, so I'll have a chance to see what fits.
Thanks again.

Are you going to want dual air conditioning?

The Ford wagon window vans have built in rear A/C and that is very helpful to the passengers in your humid area of the country! There are hundreds of E-350 vans out there, for sale. Manny are the cargo type, and will never come with rear A/C. It might be possible to install it, but expensive. Also the window vans come with good insulation too - both noise and heat insulation.

GM made a 8.1L gas engine for their 3500 vans for a few years. Not anymore. Depends on what you are towing, the 5.4L in the E-350 is a great engine, so is the 6.8L V10 - that is also used in the class C motorhomes with a 22,000 GCVWR.

The larger motorhome engines have much larger radiators, and a higher 362 HP engine, with a 26,000 (+/-) GCVWR. The E-350 vans only have a 2 valve per cylinder engine, smaller radiator, and only about a 300 HP engine rating.

Have fun camping!

Fred.

All I can add is that we have had really good luck with Nissan over many years and decided to buy an NV3500 for our tow vehicle. I have driven plenty of Fords and Chevy's in my work and, while I do think the Chevy is great van, I love the Nissan front end / drivers area room much more. It's like driving a full sized truck. You don't "feel" like it's a van, but you do have everything enclosed and it's more versatile than an large SUV, IMO ..and cheaper to buy thand a big SUV, too..... We've got about 4K miles of TT towing in the last year and I am 100% happy.

You will have no problems towing a trailer in your range with a one-ton truck or van of any brand. Glad you are thinking with your head here and going right for the one-ton. You will not ever regret investing in a one-ton if you tow anything.