SRW or dually.

Not sure why you think maint is less on a srw. Other than 2 less tires, pretty much the same truck regardless of what flavor you're looking at.
if I was hauling for a living it wou,d be a dually no question.
Right now there's a 2014 Ram dually cummins, loaded with like 20kmi for $33k on Craigslist out here. It's got a branded title, but if it's put together right, that would be the deal for a high miles hauler.

I would say that the dually would only be a few hundred more than a SRW. I guess you have your heart set on new and a manual transmission? The automatics are very popular, and actually get better mileage on many cars.

Even engine braking is much better these days with a automatic than in years past. Also you are limited to towing less weight with the manual transmission, due to the fact that the truck and trailer must reach a certain speed while going up a grade and starting from parked, in order to meet the 'recommended towing weight', and still not burn up the clutch due to to much slippage. . .

So I would also recommend a auto transmission.

As for towing fifth wheels or delivering trailers for a living - not with my $50,000 truck, or a new one, especially. THink of it this way. The $50,000 truck will become a $15,000 truck in 100,000 miles or so. That is $35,000 hit on the truck's value by driving it the first 100,000 miles, or around 30 cents per mile. It is no wonder the RV dealerships can not find anyone to deliver their RV's for less than $1 per mile or so. And you would normally be making the return trip for free.

So say you need to travel 500 miles to Indiana to pick up a travel trailer, take it to say Florida, and drop it. Return home for free. That is say a 2,400 - 3,000 mile trip, and they will pay you for say 1,200 - 1,500 of that.

I understand that you would be able to tow your own gooseneck or fifth wheel delivery trailer to move campers, pop-ups, and such, and get paid to move 2 or 3 RV's at once, this would pay pretty good! But I don't think they will be sending a whole bunch of campers and pop-ups instead of travel trailers or fifth wheels.

I guess it would be impossible to predict that a truck going from say the Lance factory to the Lance dealership is hauling a camper for a fee or a personal camper on their own pickup. However I have seen some delivery trailers that have 2-3 campers on the trailer, so I know those are delivery of new or used units, not owner operated RV's.

So IF you happened to live near the Lance factory, and could haul one camper, and tow a 26' lightweight camper at the same time, then the dually will work.

You might also consider a used Dodge dually - you might find one with a 5 speed. Ford rarely installed 5 speeds, and changing to 6 speed manual did not sell much better, so they dropped manual transmissions on trucks less than a F-650. You likely will find it difficult to locate a used manual transmission.. . .

I don't know when Ford dropped it's manual transmissions, I know that the 6.7L Diesel did not have them, and could not with a straight face recommend a 6L or 6.4L Ford diesel. . .

Good luck,

Fred.

click

Read here for a bit ,debates get heated but its mostly people who do this and have done it.

consensus ? Seems like a lot of driving on your own dime because you rarely get a 'back haul'.
There is a reason why "we are always looking for drivers"

05 was the last year for Ford pickups with a manual transmission.

You might consider a chassis cab and put a flat bed on if wheel wells are a problem.

If your going to be pulling large, high profile trailers for a living, I wouldn't hesitate to go dually. One trip across North or South Dakota with 40 mph crosswinds and you'll be glad you did.

Check with your intended employers as to what equipment they require.

ol' grouch wrote:
I'm thinking of a life change. Come March of next year, I'll have 40 years at the company I work for. I don't plan to retire completely but sort of semi-retire. I'm looking at RV trailer transport. I have an opportunity to haul for some local dealers and they say there's never enough haulers to keep up during the peak sales season. I do NOT want a full time job.

I'm currently pricing and looking at specifications to tow vehicles. I plan to get a 4 door cab, diesel and manual transmission. I haven't decided on the maker yet as I want to look at how I can get one equipped. When I tried to spec out a Ram, it kept removing things I wanted. Since they build vehicles for the dealers and not consumers anymore, I expected that. I'm leaning towards either a GMC/Chevy or a Ram. I have an F250 and it's a good truck but my Ram 2500, while it's a gasser is better at really hauling the mail. It's a lot more thirsty though. That's all in the future though.

I have a trailer lined up if I want it. It's a 5th wheel cargo trailer that will haul several trailers. That can be pulled by a single wheel truck. I'm wondering if i need to go the dually route for larger 5th wheel RV trailers. Since it's a transport truck, the trailers will be pulled one time. With an nvestment of between $40,000 and $50,000, I want to make sure I have the right equipment the first time.

A dually will haul anything but will limit if I need to move a slide in camper as the jacks won't clear the rear fenders. SRW will haul the smaller trailers fine and there are more of those sold than the big 5vers. I can carry 3 or 4 popups on the cargo trailer sitting at a storage yard. I'm leaning towards an SRW truck for lighter maintenance load down the road.

What say the denizens here?

If your healthy (got a lot yrs left before they put you to pasture) then go for it. A dually would be nice, I would try to find a good used one (lower price/payments.. too many buy expensive trucks and find that the payments are what's is making it hard to do).

Some whine they can't make a living doing RV hauling, those people, although they won't admit it quit because:

- they picked up the wrong trailer got to the dealer only to find out they have to return it on their dime.

- they received high dollar fines from DOT. You have to run log books, fines for improper logs can mean-parking your unit for 8-10 or 24 hrs or more, dollar fines are steep.

- they sleep in hotels/motels instead of sleeper berths. (you do not require a sleeper berth if you log "off duty" this allows you sleep in your truck)

- they eat steak every night. when you spend $50-$100 every day on restaurants...it will kill any profit quickly.

- most who quit find out OTR is really not for them, you have to like driving.

the ones that do good, run legal logs, always double check serial numbers on the units they're hauling before leaving, make sure their trucks are always DOT legal, well maintained and most importantly have a good attitude, especially dealing with DOT and LEOs.

BTW... I am a Hot Shot and RV hauler.

If you're buying new then Ram is the only one who offers a manual. Chevy quite in about '07 I think. Ford before that I think.
For professionally hauling trailers I would absolutely get a dually. Then you'll know you can hook up to anything any time.
As for hauling a TC, any truck camper that is heavy enough to need a dually will likely have the proper swing out brackets on it. You could possibly carry some swing out brackets to bolt on an off of a smaller TC if you need too.

Just look at what the full time "independent" haulers tow with........RAM/CUMMINS.

Dually for sure!