Likely to regret

[ddm502001]

Was a HDT Wrench for over two decades, worked around any and every imaginable machine over those years, changed career path to Power station spending another over two decades in a Nuclear Power Plant. Now retired, got the itch to travel where wife is coming closer to retirement, so I did some horse trading into a Project Truck.

Is HUGE just over 28' long, 2005 Kenworth W900L, has more than enough HP Caterpillar engine, Gearing and Brakes, eight bag air ride tandem. Weights 19800 by itself where intend to purchase a ~30' toy hauler fifth wheel as is only Wife and I to use, have no children.

I have overhauled engine, updated head and other attachments, repaired most all that had been left go to rot and repainted where I am now fitting full rear fenders I received also in trade essentially for free.

Fully understand parks can be tight to non maneuverable so am I going to regret this beast?

[TenOC]

Assuming you are old enough to get the 1/2 price camping pass at all government parks COE, NP, NFS, and BLM you are going to be TOO BIG. Sell the truck for a "more conventional set up". Our Chev 2500 HD pulls the steep western mountains at 70 MPH. No problems.

Why do you want a toy hauler?

Boondocking is the best way to see the USA and you are too big.

[C_Schomer]

No comment about your RV but I bet the nuke plant I came from was a stupider place than the nuke plant you came from!!!

[joebedford]

time2roll wrote:
Toy hauler? Many of these never go to an organized park.

The only un-organized parks we take our toy hauler to are Walmarts.

[JRscooby]

wapiticountry wrote:
Going to be a heck of an inconvenient daily driver when you get to wherever you are going.

This is true, although shortened down to singe axle day cab parking/maneuvering (w/wo trailer) would not be worse than a 4 door pickup. (And I think driver can see better out of the truck) Getting in/out of cab would likely be good for my health.

MFL wrote:
I was in a SP, and a big rig tractor pulled in, towing a 30ish ft FW. If you enjoy attention, visiters/looky loos, that set up will work great.

Bottom line...if you like your project rig, enjoy driving it as needed, it will work in some camping areas.

Jerry

LOL, you want to see the "Look at THAT!" gather be in COE CG where a lot of elders stay when Brother pulls up in '48 'burb towing a '40 Vaughan TT.
As far as parking a trailer, what I hate to see (more hear) is Billy Bob Redneck in his lifted, big tired pickup. Most of them mount the tires, then the truck won't move at fast idle. So he deletes the mufflers. Still has no power to move a trailer. So here he is Geein and Hawin, back and forth, Last week, one rolled by my site as I was putting coals on the cornbread oven. We where scraping plates when he finally stopped yelling " LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! I CAN'T DRIVE FOR SNOT! LOOK AT ME! I CAN'T DRIVE! LOOK AT ME!

[ddm502001]

wapiticountry wrote:
Going to be a heck of an inconvenient daily driver when you get to wherever you are going.

That is purpose of Toy hauler 30 footer, we ride and used to ride out to places on our Harley, packed light lived in Hotel rooms, this makes convenience in getting there, safety in size and equipment where have a SD F250 7.3 dsl, bought new in '99, 340,000miles and had pulled a general 5ver for a few years, wind prone, hard on the lighter trucks, hard on brakes. Been witness to too many flip overs, caught a edge and went offroad to crash incidents, worked Vol Fire for a number of years and can unabashedly state, today's pickups can pull a RV fine, however they are prone to bad circumstances doing so.

Have had a Class A for over three decades, truck size is not a bother but a boon for myself. Dragging a 5ver behind it will be as running empty where can back off throttle possible push over 8mpg. My 7.3 on a good day towing 12000# gets 10 but runs out of power to maintain momentum.

[Lwiddis]

At 19,800 pounds for the TV alone, some campground bridges will be...challenged IMO even if you can negotiate the loop.

[MFL]

I was in a SP, and a big rig tractor pulled in, towing a 30ish ft FW. If you enjoy attention, visiters/looky loos, that set up will work great.

Bottom line...if you like your project rig, enjoy driving it as needed, it will work in some camping areas.

Jerry

[wapiticountry]

Going to be a heck of an inconvenient daily driver when you get to wherever you are going.

[JRscooby]

I had planed to delete sleeper, and 1 drive axle, shorten frame of my old Pete when I retired. Expecting OAL of 17-18 ft. Don't think I would have issues in most CGs I use.

[Durb]

The way I read it, you have already gained maximum enjoyment from the tractor by fixing it up. Time to reap maximum enjoyment from your camping experience by driving a right-sized truck.

[midnightsadie]

ever think of mounting a rv on your truck.

[BB_TX]

I also agree with most above. That is far more truck than you need for a 30' trailer. The truck will outweigh the trailer by several thousand pounds. We have been in state and COE parks where that would rule out many of the sites. And the longer sites are typically the most in demand and 1st to be claimed.

Generally not a problem in commercial RV parks. If you plan on boondocking in less developed areas, then the size is less of a concern.

I know you said only you and your wife, but with a TH in only 30' length the garage doesn't leave a lot of living space. Could get pretty small on extended stays. Look over all the floorplans carefully before writing the check.

[time2roll]

Toy hauler? Many of these never go to an organized park. Rather they park in an open range area on BLM or similar land and pull out the toys and run the trails.

Not sure it would be much worse than a 45' class A pulling a second vehicle or trailer. I see plenty of these on the road.

[JIMNLIN]

We tried a class 8 tractor pulling GN trailers up to 22000 gvwr getting into work sites and loading yard off pavement situations..... made for LDT size trucks. Similar situation to where rv trailers go.
The HDT was too much overkill for that type of work our LDT's did with ease.

Will a HDT work for you ??

Depends on how and where you want to camp or travel. You have the HDT so try 'er out first. It may work for the places you want to go.

[Second_Chance]

I'll have to agree with everyone above. I've always coveted a Freightliner SportChassis (quite a bit smaller than your truck), but even it would be overkill for our 15K fiver. The F350 dually does the job just fine. You also don't say what state you live in and getting the truck to where you can register it as an RV (if your state allows it) is extra trouble.

Rob