Advice for green newbies

First off, welcome.
Next, you do not have enough truck to carry the load of any full time fiver. Pulling is never the issue, any modern diesel can pull.
Next, the 6.0L has less than a steller reputation, and unless you have done a lot of work on it, sell it!
Fifth wheels have approx 20% of its total weight will be pin weight. So if you look at the trailers GVWR, lets say 15,000 pounds as an example, 20% of 15K equals 3000 pounds of pin weight. Can your Ford handle 3000 more pounds without exceeding its mfg GVWR?
Next, can you and your wife handle living in 350SQFT without killing each other? Takes special people to do it.
Last and not least, full time RVing is not cheap. Add up fuel, maintenance, park rent and you could end up paying more a month RVing than living in a small home. Just add 25 to 50 dollars a day in site rental for a 30 day month. You can get cheaper rates if your paying a monthly rate, but the idea of RVing is the ability to move on when you tire of a place.
With both of you disabled, I think you will find it difficult to properly maintain an RV if you cannot handle a house. I think you would be far better off finding a place to move to that would be more friendly to your health.

Have an exit plan. Create hypothetical situations such as if the engine or transmission needing replacement. Will you still have enough money?

Expect problems down the road like ac unit failure or other less serious nickel and dime items. YES, even if it's a new rig.

They list the 293ers as 1,625 pin weight and gvwr at 12,000 If you are trying to stay within your trucks 3 measures (gvwr, gawr, gcwr) you may not meet them with a 3/4 ton truck.

I'm happy with my 18,000 Pullrite auto slider. I have a 2014 Ram CC srw CTD short bed and a flat front wide body. Depending on the nose design some may say that you could get by without a slider. Again, I like mine because I never have to worry about it. If I get in a bad spot my concentration is in wiggling the darn thing out of there without hitting anything, not on not smashing the cab.

Reflections appear to be good rigs and I'm new at FW but I'm guessing most RV's are going to be hammering the electric meter when parked in a hot environment and suck propane like crazy when in a cold environment.

Good luck to you with your health issues as I know how quickly they can change things. I also agree that cutting down to just an rv and truck will simplify things and keep you from being in an apartment or something with the issue that come with it.

Again, to me, the number one issue is not boxing yourself into a corner. Plan for the worst and hope for the best.

EDIT: After seeing Donn's comments I would also say that you may want to put the big money in the tow vehicle and by a used rv. I bought a new CTD and a 14 yr old FW. If you had to bail out, you would take a huge hit on a new rv and not as bad of a hit selling a rather new tv. If you buy a rig without water damage you next risk is the appliances with the refrigerator being the worst at $1,200 or so. With the TV you have your risk is a $10,000 diesel engine.

donn
Thanks for the reply
Very well aware of the 6.0 issues and mine is good to go
Yes my truck can handle the weight of the Reflection. I am not looking at larger units for that reason. It won't be spacious and we will have to give up a lot but we have lived pretty meager in the past.
My wife and I have been together for 26 years and been through too much to say. God has blessed me with a wife that if we had to stay in a cave we could do it quite easily.
Again, thanks for the advice.

Thanks RJXJ for the advice - much appreciated

chuckster66 wrote:
Thanks RJXJ for the advice - much appreciated

You're welcome, I did edit my post

Once you hit the road, don't be too anxious to find a "home base." When you find it, you will know: "This is the place for us."

Take a year or two just to travel around and see this great country.

donn0128 wrote:
First off, welcome.
Next, you do not have enough truck to carry the load of any full time fiver. Pulling is never the issue, any modern diesel can pull.
Next, the 6.0L has less than a steller reputation, and unless you have done a lot of work on it, sell it!
Fifth wheels have approx 20% of its total weight will be pin weight. So if you look at the trailers GVWR, lets say 15,000 pounds as an example, 20% of 15K equals 3000 pounds of pin weight. Can your Ford handle 3000 more pounds without exceeding its mfg GVWR?
Next, can you and your wife handle living in 350SQFT without killing each other? Takes special people to do it.
Last and not least, full time RVing is not cheap. Add up fuel, maintenance, park rent and you could end up paying more a month RVing than living in a small home. Just add 25 to 50 dollars a day in site rental for a 30 day month. You can get cheaper rates if your paying a monthly rate, but the idea of RVing is the ability to move on when you tire of a place.
With both of you disabled, I think you will find it difficult to properly maintain an RV if you cannot handle a house. I think you would be far better off finding a place to move to that would be more friendly to your health.

I agree.

Sounds to me like you need a modest-size condo in a nice climate, and near a city with good medical amenities. Possibly add a small used motorhome to the mix so you can travel some.

You have heart issues (pots) your wife has heart issues.
Why would you want to travel far from your doctors.
What will happen if you take ill in Wyoming (or other place) and cannot drive the rig? Is your wife capable.

Your welcome,
Friend has one too. It is back in the shop for another turbo to the tune of 2K. If I remember right, your Ford in those years had a 9900 GVWR. With the diesel the truck usually scaled ready to go around 8000 pounds. Leaving you a scant 1900 pounds for hitch, fuel, passangers and personal stuff. Even with a 12K GVWR that trailer will carry far more than the dry listed pin of 1600 pounds guaranteed! My 35 foot Cedar Creek loaded ready to travel scales at 13,500 pounds with a 13,750 GVWR. Yea, I travel loaded, but I also have a 3000 pound pin weight. Looking strictly at the dry specs, my 2500 D/A should have handled it easily. Yea right! Loaded ready to travel the truck was 1800 pounds overloaded. There was nothing I could do to change that. So after three years of worry and countless dollars trying to make a silk purse out of it I bit the bullet and bought what I should have bought 3 years earlier, a dually. Towing is day and night difference.
BTW, do not skimp on living space just trying to accomodate your undersized truck. You eventually will hate your mistakes. As a basic example,have you considered how or where your going to do laundry? Sitting in a laundrymat for several hours a couple times a week is not my idea of retirement. I know lots of folks do it, but.....
Another consideration, can you use the toilet easily and comfortably? How about a shower? Is making a meal easy or a choir in your chosen floor plan? Flior plans that might be OK for a weekend can become a bad experience when living full time in it. Go get rid of the salesman and play house in the model you think you like for 30 minutes or so. Try making the bed, sitting on the toilet, pretend your making a meal. Where are you going to store extra clothes, the outside BBQ? Well you get the idea. Each of you make a list of likes and dislikes,and compare them.
Expenses and exit plans are paramount in your decisions, but so is a floor plan you can comfortably live in for months at a time.

Because you are in Texas and because you have medical issues, I highly suggest you check out Escapees. The main location is Livingston, Texas and they offer CARE(Continuing Assistance for Retired Escapees), an excellent program that helps when the need arises. They also have programs like SmartWeigh that makes sure your truck and 5er are a good match. Because Escapees has been around for years and works primarily with full timers and retirees, they can help answer any questions you might have. It is a great organization/club and worth a look/see. Best wishes to you and your future plans.