Best Truck For Mountain Driving

[firefight1981]

Hello forum,

My wife and I are getting ready for full time RV living.
We will be spending the majority of our time in Colorado, Northern California, Washington and other states with mountainous terrain.

Our fifth wheel will be 38'.
I have not decided if we will get a Chevrolet, Doidge or Ford 3500 years from 2011 to 2013.

I have been told to go with a Dodge for the towing weight advantage. People say stay away from a Dodge because of engine or transmission problems.
They say go with a Chevrolet or GMC with a Duramax diesel and an Allison transmission. But we will lose on towing weight compared to a Dodge.

Conflicting truck recommendations depending on who I am talking to.

Question: Since we will be spending the majority of our time driving in mountains, what truck do you recommend? (has to be automatic transmission)

[Cummins12V98]

Me Again wrote:

Me Again wrote:

I thought at least the RAM/Dodge boys would pick up on this special truck???? Cummins12V98 and NC Hauler know, and should let others figure it out.

Chris

It is a unique beauty! Personally don't need a MegaCab but if I had one I sure would do the long bed conversion. Very nicely done!

I keep looking at that color!

[Bionic_Man]

45Ricochet wrote:
They call it a " Long Hauler" or something like that. Mega cab long bed with a big fuel tank. No three point turns for it though :W

Close, but not quite the LongHauler. That was a concept truck that was floated a few years back. It had an additional fuel tank between the bed and the cab. This one does not.

There are a few aftermarket places that will do the converstion to a Megacab long bed. The one in Utah is what I hear the most about. I have seen a few of them driving around town in person.

Glad someone is willing to spend $65k on a truck, then spend another $15k on a conversion, and likely void the warranty on the truck. It sure wouldn't be me.

[larry_barnhart]

Now that everybody tells what is best I will add my thoughts.

I think the proper match to truck to trailer best. Many are not matched with enough truck but do not believe theirs is one of them. I am matched very well and at the time of the 2500 dodge and 32 ft alfa ideal we had I felt the same.

Just sayin of course.

chevman

[larry_barnhart]

Me Again wrote:

larry barnhart wrote:
love the 2 tone color.

chevman

Larry, if I were ordering a new one that is the color combo I would get. Chris

The color would look good on an older truck so do it.

chevman

[Me_Again]

larry barnhart wrote:
love the 2 tone color.

chevman

Larry, if I were ordering a new one that is the color combo I would get. Chris

[larry_barnhart]

love the 2 tone color.

chevman

[Me_Again]

Turbo Diesel Register has a complete write up on this recent $8400 conversion which was done in an Utah body shop. Truck was a brand new 2015 that the owner drove from Phoenix to Utah for the conversion.Turn around was less than two weeks.

http://www.turbodieselregister.com/threads/251888-My-Mega-Cab-Long-Bed-conversion

Chris

[45Ricochet]

They call it a " Long Hauler" or something like that. Mega cab long bed with a big fuel tank. No three point turns for it though :W

[Bionic_Man]

Nice mega long bed conversion.

Hope they don't need to get into a parking garage.

[cummins2014]

Arcamper wrote:

up2nogood wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:

WeBeFulltimers wrote:

TucsonJim wrote:
Love our '13 Ford F350 with a 6.7 diesel. But please consider getting a dual rear wheel truck. A 38' FW will have a lot of pin weight, and if you get a diesel truck, your payload will probably not be sufficient with a single rear wheel truck.

My 38' Montana has a pin weight of 2440 verified by CAT scale. My SRW legally handles it just fine.

Not calling you a liar but did you have any personal belongings inside the 38' Montana? That's a very light pin!

I will back him up, my 38' foot Montana has a pin weight of 2420, partially loaded. Everything I haul in the basement was loaded ,only thing added up front was clothes, the fridge food, but thats far enough back that it is not getting the total weight on the pin . I too was surprised that the pin was that light. I am going to be fully load here in about two weeks for a trip, and I will weigh again, but I don't expect it to be over 2700. Hopefully that 2014 Ram will handle it.

I don't haul a bunch of junk like some I have seen . I have been towing fifth wheels for about 10 years, and pretty much got it figured out what I don't need. I like to be able to see inside my basement , and find what I do need, not like some I have seen.

My 2016 36ft Montanna has over 3k lbs on the pin with no water but it does have a washer and dryer in the front closet. My Ram will pull it all day dropped into 5th gear with the cruise on at 70 mph on any hill around here.(not the west where the hills are bigger)The only part that hurts is watching the fuel mileage drop to 4.

My Ram handles that Montana fifth wheel of mine with no issues. I have yet to pull any mountain pass here in Utah, Idaho, and Montana that I can't maintain the speed I want.

Actually I have never got worse then 8 , and 12 at the best towing.

[Me_Again]

Me Again wrote:

I thought at least the RAM/Dodge boys would pick up on this special truck???? Cummins12V98 and NC Hauler know, and should let others figure it out.

Chris

[Arcamper]

up2nogood wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:

WeBeFulltimers wrote:

TucsonJim wrote:
Love our '13 Ford F350 with a 6.7 diesel. But please consider getting a dual rear wheel truck. A 38' FW will have a lot of pin weight, and if you get a diesel truck, your payload will probably not be sufficient with a single rear wheel truck.

My 38' Montana has a pin weight of 2440 verified by CAT scale. My SRW legally handles it just fine.

Not calling you a liar but did you have any personal belongings inside the 38' Montana? That's a very light pin!

I will back him up, my 38' foot Montana has a pin weight of 2420, partially loaded. Everything I haul in the basement was loaded ,only thing added up front was clothes, the fridge food, but thats far enough back that it is not getting the total weight on the pin . I too was surprised that the pin was that light. I am going to be fully load here in about two weeks for a trip, and I will weigh again, but I don't expect it to be over 2700. Hopefully that 2014 Ram will handle it.

I don't haul a bunch of junk like some I have seen . I have been towing fifth wheels for about 10 years, and pretty much got it figured out what I don't need. I like to be able to see inside my basement , and find what I do need, not like some I have seen.

My 2016 36ft Montanna has over 3k lbs on the pin with no water but it does have a washer and dryer in the front closet. My Ram will pull it all day dropped into 5th gear with the cruise on at 70 mph on any hill around here.(not the west where the hills are bigger)The only part that hurts is watching the fuel mileage drop to 4.

[Me_Again]

ChuckV1 wrote:

Yep that what I have, with new head bolts, new head gasket
and a upgraded tubo (nothing happened for me to change either
I just like to be ahead of the game). To the answer have a driven a
2011 RAM, my sons, it was a nice truck but we were not pulling
anything when I drove it over 2 passes on I90.

I am also not a speed freak and don't abuse my TV and I am not
saying any of you do by no means. I run along at between 60 and
65mph. Before this 2005 F350 I had a 1978 F350 dually with a 150K
When I bought it and close to 450K on it when I finally sold it.

BTW I go up most mountain passes at about 45 to 50 in most cases
and I go down the hill in the same speed and sometimes slower than
what I came up it.

Having driven a screaming jimmy professionally myself, I was thought to run it against the governor then shift. Real trucks are made to be worked, and have drive trains that are designed to be used at the max the motor puts out. These new pickup trucks have computers that allow the driver to use them at there max without hurting them.

The Ford Torque Shift and the Aisin available in the RAM are very robust tranny. The small Allison 1000 behind the duramax maybe it's limiting issue in the HP and Torque races. When the GM numbers catch up they most likely will include a transmission announcement.

I tow with an older Dodge/Cummins that has been modified and has a beefed up tranny. At 20,500 combined it runs up the passed the Cummins12V98 references without issues at similar speeds and I average around 12.5 MPG towing. I would be one of those that passes you on I-90, as in the 4 lane area, I am motoring up it in the 3 lane out. We pulled the Grape Vine a few years back and it was like a horror movie. Really slow trucks in the 1st lane, faster trucks in 2nd lane, me doing 55MPH in the 3rd land, and cars blowing by in the 4th lane at up to 75MPH. I never saw a thing to the left of right of those 4 lanes, except some brake smoke of a couple trucks going down.

It is much easier to NOT get boxed in and trapped in the slow lane on a pass when you are going the speed of the car traffic. It just takes a very alert driver that scans the traffic well ahead of you. But again that is what a professional trained and experienced driver learns.

Chris

[ChuckV1]

Me Again wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:


I guess my question have you towed with a 2010 or newer RAM and have the cruise drop off at 45-48?

A little research found that Chuck has a 2005 F350 with 6.0 Powerstroke. His trailer is a small 2006 Coachmen Chaparral 277DS.

Should pull good. He drove professionally, so should know how to get up and down mountain passes. If Chuck had this special rig, he could be half way to the top before he left the bottom!!

Chris

Yep that what I have, with new head bolts, new head gasket
and a upgraded tubo (nothing happened for me to change either
I just like to be ahead of the game). To the answer have a driven a
2011 RAM, my sons, it was a nice truck but we were not pulling
anything when I drove it over 2 passes on I90.

I am also not a speed freak and don't abuse my TV and I am not
saying any of you do by no means. I run along at between 60 and
65mph. Before this 2005 F350 I had a 1978 F350 dually with a 150K
When I bought it and close to 450K on it when I finally sold it.

BTW I go up most mountain passes at about 45 to 50 in most cases
and I go down the hill in the same speed and sometimes slower than
what I came up it.

[NMDriver]

R12RTee wrote:
The best truck would be a road tractor with a real jake brake. More cost effective and much better braking than any of the pickup trucks.

What he said. No pickup can compare.