Towing 10k+ with a 'Burb.......Duraburb or ??

Jettix2 wrote:

Jarlaxle wrote:

azwildcat99 wrote:
I agree. Keep your current truck. We did 3 across in car seats in a Honda Pilot and it worked fine. Kids don't care. Even now they are 11,10 & 5 and do fine in our crew cab. Looked into Burbs too but ran into similar hitch and payload limitations. Now we're looking at a camper shell. That's where we would put a dog if we ever got one.

Important point: will a CC Super Duty accommodate three car seats LEGALLY and SAFELY in the rear? Many vehicles will NOT.

This brings up a very important discovery that I made last night.

1) The 2011 Super Duty Crew Cabs do not have LATCH tethers on the rear seat.....(they have top anchors on the rear wall, but no tethers in the seats, meaning the car seats need to be buckled in with a regular belt). This always seemed (super) ass-backward for 2011, but I was able to get my 2 outboard car-seats buckled in nice and securely using the truck belts that will "rachet" if you pull them out all the way.

2) I test-fit (rather, attempted to) an extra carseat that we had on-hand that measures about the same width as the infant seat we're about to buy. It won't fit 3-across. Well, actually, it WILL, but the car-seats are damn tight.....as in, I have to push and pull the outboards away from center in order to squeeze the center seat in.....(so tight that the bolster fabric pulls loose and I have to pull it back on the seat). Whether I can actually get it BUCKLED in there, who knows. I don't like the fact that all 3 seats are physically compressed into each other (seems like much less safety in a side impact this way).

3) So I went to use the factory belt to see if I could buckle the center seat in, and Lo-and-Behold, it doesn't have the built in ratcheting mechanism in it. WTF! So not only do we not have LATCH points, but Ford doesn't fit the center rear seat (theoretically the safest spot for a single kid) with a ratcheting seatbelt.

.....with this knowledge, I decided that:

Duraburb is out. I'm going to be several hundred lbs over GVWR by the time I am loaded with family and tongue weight, once the Duramax is installed.

Seriously considering a new MegaCab Ram 3500 Cummins. Drove one today, very nice truck (and I'm not a Dodge fan) and has 3 LATCH points across the rear seat AND an extra 2-3 inches of width at the narrowest point (armrest).

Thanks again to all for your help!