Random Questions

Grit dog wrote:
I agree with everything you said. And to be fair, it's the best option for your use (and a very sweet setup!)
Also, I have not been in a newer 4th Gen or 4.5 Gen 4500/5500 although my guess that they ride as rough as any other med duty couldn't be too far off.
My point was, the OP provided no other info on how they intend to use the truck other than haul a camper and e bikes n stuff (Twice a year, full time, somewhere in between) and whether it will be a DD and how much of it will be spent DDing it around our chitty western WA highways and streets.
I could surmise they are older and retired by their signature. Or maybe they're 35 year old DINKS with 2 little dogs and 2 full time jobs and go camping 3x a year.
For me, we literally go camping 2-4x a year average. Couple weekend trips and usually one "vacation" over a week or 2. For me, 20 days a year spent with a camper (we had TC's up until a couple years ago) and 345 days a year parked in the shop or doing soccermobile duties would make a class 5 truck highly impractical and just a waste of expensive rough riding tires and springs, lol.

Just trying to provide a more complete perspective than the common "it's perfect, do this" or "it's horrible, never do that" responses that seem to fly off of so many folk's fingers on this forum, with little thought as to the actual question or the subjectivity of their "objective" reply.

I definitely see your point and it's not a one-size-fits-all situation. I just wanted to pitch in that a 5500 with some decent weight on it, will tame down to drive like a 3500 DRW.

One downside I failed to mention, is at least with the 84CA models, they don't fit in normal parking spaces, so you have to park farther out. We'll usually look for parking spots where the opposing space is also open, and take up a full space + approximately a fifth of that one, leaving space for a small/compact car to still park there. It's a long truck.