Downsized both Tow & RV

jerendeb-CLIF wrote:


Cost and upkeep of the truck was way out of control.

If you don't mind me asking, was there something wrong with your truck? I know the 05 had some cooling issues but thought that would've been warranty work. Were there other issues?

Completely understand downsizing. DW & I went from a 30' 5th wheel to a pop-up truck camper, 8' floor length a couple years ago.

Even though I washed it with undercarriage spray every winter after every storm I had severe problems with rust & corrosion. Brakes, Gas line, bottom of doors, all bare metal rusting & flaking, bumper okay but from the inside I could see it getting cancer. Of course front & back brakes, rear differential seal & cover. I am not capable of doing my own work due to lack of training & a place to work on it except my driveway plus lack of good tools. I spent almost $5k in the last year just to keep it up. I also had dropped my camper on the bed and had that repaired. I got a fair trade-in of $14. Considering the Kelly Blue Book for a Fair condition dealer trade it was right on. It just seemed anytime I had the truck in for something going wrong I left over $1500 at the shop. Car payments of $4200 per year although painful are not as bad as the maintenance. The actual engine was trouble free. I just think I would have been driving around on a rusted frame with an engine attached to it! LOL. That's the gist of it.

As far as mileage per gallon the truck got about 16mpg on my 25 mile/35mph commute. Towing the 6 ton camper in the Hudson Valley hills got me about 9mpg.

The Traverse so far is coming in with 18.3mpg for the same commute. Towing the camper home got me about 13mpg.

jerendeb-CLIF wrote:
Just wanted to make it known that I've downsized quite dramatically. I went from a Chevy Duramax 05 2500 to a 2014 Chevy Traverse (Crossover) & a Sunnybrook Bristol Bay 08 (36') to a Premier Bullet by Keystone. (21'). Weight dropped by 2/3. 12,000lbs. to a little over 4000lbs. The only experience I've had towing with this new setup was last Friday, towing from Camping World to my home. About 50 miles. What a smooth trip! So much easier to park in my terrible driveway that is on a State Highway!

We decided to almost give it all up. Cost and upkeep of the truck was way out of control. Then the DW came up with a plan. We're no longer dreaming of fulltiming it or taking that 10,000 mile trek to see the country. When I guestimate it the rate per mile with diesel is $1.50 give or take. I can do better than burn over $10k on fuel. So we will become simple RVers again.

This unit is most similar to our 1st RV. It was a Fleetwood Pioneer 19T4 02. We are now on #5.

Any comments or questions welcome except downright rude criticism. Save that for the evening news please.

You've done the exact opposite of what the majority on RV.net promise will always happen...'you'll go bigger.'

I've been happy with 21 feet for nearly 7 years now, and I'm pretty sure there is no 5th wheel in our future!

Enjoy the new combo!

We are going to do the same thing. Going to sell our 2005 duramax and go to a half ton PU and a smaller camper. After having two diesel trucks ( one dodge and a duramax) I will never own another. I don't have the kind of money to keep up or to repair a diesel pu and having the biggest and fastest truck and camper is not important to me.

macsplinter wrote:
We are going to do the same thing. Going to sell our 2005 duramax and go to a half ton PU and a smaller camper. After having two diesel trucks ( one dodge and a duramax) I will never own another. I don't have the kind of money to keep up or to repair a diesel pu and having the biggest and fastest truck and camper is not important to me.

Half ton trucks are more capable than ever before. I believe diesels will continue to shrink in sales especially if/when the younger set becomes involve in RVing. When you take in consideration that you can tow 7,000 pounds with out issue and the Ultra Lights are in that range, there is no reason for a diesels for the casual RVer.

As I have mentioned before-last year I completed an 8,000 mile, 8 month trip around the country with my 2011 Silverado half-ton towing a 28 foot 5,500 pound travel trailer and had ZERO ISSUES. The diesel guys like to pull the reliability card, but the gas motors are every bit as reliable.

I'm impressed. Have to admit I often dream of doing the same thing. In my case, it would be back to a 1/2 ton SUV and 21 ft TT or less. I liked the days when my TV fit in the garage and I had much less to take care of.

Did the same also !! best thing we did !! simplified but still enjoy all the same benefits. Went from a 32 ft 8500 pound tt to a 28 passport ultra light still pull with the same half ton suburban with 200,000 miles on her, just pulls now like its not there !! I feel the big diesel truck hp and torque is all out of wack !! they just keep upping power so we can pull a house 15 seconds up a mountain with the cruise on !! Good choice on the traverse!! GM sells traverse, acadia , and enclave combined more than any suv. People love them!!

CKNSLS wrote:

macsplinter wrote:
We are going to do the same thing. Going to sell our 2005 duramax and go to a half ton PU and a smaller camper. After having two diesel trucks ( one dodge and a duramax) I will never own another. I don't have the kind of money to keep up or to repair a diesel pu and having the biggest and fastest truck and camper is not important to me.

Half ton trucks are more capable than ever before. I believe diesels will continue to shrink in sales especially if/when the younger set becomes involve in RVing. When you take in consideration that you can tow 7,000 pounds with out issue and the Ultra Lights are in that range, there is no reason for a diesels for the casual RVer.

As I have mentioned before-last year I completed an 8,000 mile, 8 month trip around the country with my 2011 Silverado half-ton towing a 28 foot 5,500 pound travel trailer and had ZERO ISSUES. The diesel guys like to pull the reliability card, but the gas motors are every bit as reliable.

Pretty amazing that the new V6 model half tons (not the ecoboost) can tow 5600-7450 lbs between the three lines depending on the model and still pull down 20-25 mpg empty.

The lighter engines all make around 300 hp and 269-305 ft lb of tq. The new Dodge Ram Pentastar V6 with the 8 speed transmission seems to be really amazing.

Just doing an unscientific study of my local dealers websites it seems that there are a lot of new Rams being ordered with this V6, also the new 2014 Silverado's are selling well with the 4.3 (305 lb ft of tq, over 7000 lb towing with 4x4)

Of course, Ford has been selling the 3.7 V6 by the bushel loads since 2011 and in a crew cab configuration (2wd only) its rated to pull 5400 lbs... I expect Ford to up that rating soon in order to "keep up".

There are going to be many consumers who are going to ask for more efficient vehicles that can still tow decent loads.

Here is an example of a trailer that would work with the Pentastar Ram or the 4.3 4x4 Silverado Crew Cab... I am thinking with a family of four, and needing bunks.

Apex Trailer

Anyway, thats just an idea. I am very excited about the future of RV'ing.

That is a real nice trailer for a half-ton and is a fine example of what were talking about!

jerendeb-CLIF wrote:
Even though I washed it with undercarriage spray every winter after every storm I had severe problems with rust & corrosion. Brakes, Gas line, bottom of doors, all bare metal rusting & flaking, bumper okay but from the inside I could see it getting cancer. ...

I've got a 2004 Chevy 2500HD and just replaced all the brake and fuel lines due to rot. Well documented issues with 1999-2008 Silverado's rotting underneath. Only have 51000 miles on it as we use it primarily for towing the fiver so it does not see much winter use. I look at the price for a similarly equipped new truck and shake my head at the $45,000+ cost of admission.