GordonThree wrote:
Half ton hate is a bit strong of an accusation.
I get it that folks on these forums seem to recommend extra capacity with an over abundance of caution, but there's also a great kernel of truth learned from experience in there.
I started with a station wagon for towing my small 20ft trailer, and although it got the job done it wasn't the tool for the job.
So I traded a beloved sports car for a new 2013 pickup truck, a half ton. It had enough power to tow my little trailer anywhere I wanted, and didn't have to max out the motor and transmission to accomplish this.
But the half ton was very limited on payload. The tongue weight combined with passengers and cargo quickly overwhelmed the suspension and the poor truck was dragging it's rear end pretty bad. The model I was driving was meant to haul groceries not heavy loads.
So after three years, I traded the 1500 for a 2500 and it's made a world of difference. Now I can tow my trailer and carry a bed full of gear without the rear end dragging.
Ok so maybe I gave up on the half ton too soon? Sure I could throw bandaids like air bags, weight distribution hitches, stiffer shocks etc at it, but they're expensive too and they still don't equal what a 3/4 ton can do.
I shopped around and found a 2500 for not much more than the 1500, just had to give up some bling like satnav and heated seats.
By far am I not discounting the capabilities or needs of a 3/4 or 1 ton truck, but OP asked a capable truck for a specific scenario which a 3/4 ton isn’t necessarily required. I think a lot of people may mean well by offering suggestions for the “buy it and never worry again” truck and not answering the question at hand. I’d agree that this was maybe 3/4 ton payload territory 20 years ago, but even a heavily optioned F150 will have the 1200-1400 payload for this TT. 600lbs TW and 1400 total payload would be far from bandaid territory here. Just don’t want the OP that seems to be looking for a tow rig to get discouraged thinking this will be a hard tow setup. My boat outweigh this TT.
