Downsized the house....now the truck???

[Mike_E_]

Hey folks,

Well, we moved from our house of 15 years where our 3 boys pretty much grew up and are now into a townhouse.....big change.
We were able to pair down alot of stuff, and after quite a bit of shelving/storage construction we are now able to get a vehicle into the garage. Note: garage is a single wide, but about 45 feet deep.

My "plan" was to put our '14 Ram 3500 SRW crew cab inside the garage and let it sit until we needed it....our new place is within 15 minute walk of rapid transit, so I'll never drive to work again.

Thing is, I can get the truck into the single wide garage, but getting out of it is a challenge, and trying to shimmy past it is VERY tight....not really a bunch of fun when trying to get to the freezer/storage etc.
So, for now I have it parked at work, which is a secure facility. I checked our facilities "Parking Policy"...yes, we have one....and there is no mention of extended parking, just no trailers etc. However, I'm just waiting for a complaint to be brought forward about "someone storing their truck here", which will leave me with not many options....and yes, where I work there are people wandering around with apparently nothing better to do than make such complaints. It is what it is....sigh.

If I get booted out of parking at work the only option left is street parking behind my townhouse complex, which is on a downhill stretch of a moderately busy street. Neighbour told me his car got vandalized a couple times when he parked back there. Not something I want.

Currently we do not have a trailer, and the purpose of the Ram was to get a nice 5th wheel to do as much camping as we can. Now that we have moved, we would have to pay to store it somewhere.
Add into the equation that our oldest son just got his Masters degree in France and is now working in Paris (with no intentions of coming back to North America anytime soon), my wife's idea of travel has changed. "We will HAVE to got visit him at least once a year." I'm all for that, and have suggested that we perhaps should scale back our RV investment if it isn't going to be our main arena of travel.

Hang on folks, I'm about to get to my question 😉

Do I sell the Ram and get a mid-size truck that'll fit in the garage?
The Ram would haul anything we would want. A smaller truck would limit us to a small-ish travel trailer, which doesn't bother me that much as there are some nice "older couple" floorplans out there. Bummer is that I installed a 5th set of rails and have a hitch ready for a 5th wheel in the Ram, and would never have to worry about payload if we ended up with a travel trailer.

I sat in a Chevy Colorado today, and was quite happy at how I fit @ 6'2" 235lbs.
The Ram 1500 is slightly narrower (I think) so that may be an option too.

My gut tells me "Keep the flippin' Ram ya fool", but logistically it MAY end up being a pain.

So......if anyone has gone through the same type of thing, please chime in.
If you haven't gone through something like this, please feel free to cast your opinion as I'm just thinking out loud here and am ready for the "Snap out of it moron" that I'm sure will come 🙂

Cheers,

Mike.....
Oh yeah, the Ram is paid for. Bracing for the "Snap out of it" onslaught for sure now 😉

[kw_00]

I can only tell you that MBIL did something very similar. They have decided to cruise a lot since my nephew still has high school to go through yet. So they sold the big F250 an camper and went to a Tacoma and no trailer at this time. However they plan to purchase a small retro type trailer in the future. Their Tacoma will have zero issues with the weight. So I personally have thought about it a few times but will stick with my 2500HD and trailer until my daughter goes off to college. After that then a small class B or C with a Colorado 4x4 diesel will be towed behind it. But hey that like 8 years away....so I got some time yet. OH I forgot to add: he did mention how nice it was to park and drive the Tacoma verse the F250. I can see that...

[Grit_dog]

Buy a Prius. Your neighbors will love you for it!

[gafidler]

Park at work , take the truck home once a week and park in driveway in front of garage, take back to work park in different location .. Problem solved.

[minnow]

10" of space should be more than adequate for parking the truck. Just go slow. I think you need to have a serious conversation with the other half about the reality of actually RV'ing in the future. Between your new travel plans re: visiting the son and your townhouse arrangement, I question if you'll actualy ever get an RV. If thats the case then sell the truck for a much more practical vehicle.

[Mike_E_]

troubledwaters wrote:
45-foot deep garage and you have so much stuff in it that you still have to have stuff stored along the side of the truck (like the freezer) taking away from the full width of the garage. Is that a fair assessment?

At the end of the garage I built floor to ceiling storage for my DW's teaching stuff....she's now a Principal but just has to keep it all. 🙂
Add 6 bikes, workbench, tools etc and the space is quickly accounted for.

The truck does fit in, but I only have about 10" or so with the mirrors folded to get by it.
The truck is roughly 87" wide.
And as far as a trailer, we will have to store it somewhere else. There are quite a few self-storage places around, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem....except for not being able to keep an eye on it.

[troubledwaters]

45-foot deep garage and you have so much stuff in it that you still have to have stuff stored along the side of the truck (like the freezer) taking away from the full width of the garage. Is that a fair assessment?

[Tvov]

Well, if you have to, then you have to - but I lean towards keeping the big truck if possible.

Storing at your "secure facility"... make friends with the Security people (if there are any), and / or the maintenance guys. They may be able to tell you where to park that won't bother anyone. Also, as mentioned, find out the "official" rules on extended parking.

More I think about it... Where would you store a camper?

[sch911]

Powerdude wrote:
Why bother? You already have a truck that is bought and paid for.

Convert it to an SRW, so that it is not as wide in the garage.

Problem solved. All you need is a set of wheels with the proper offset, and some body shop to take off the dually fenders.

You don't even need to change axles, you just need the SRW hubs.

Easy !

The OP already has a SRW truck...

[Powerdude]

Why bother? You already have a truck that is bought and paid for.

Convert it to an SRW, so that it is not as wide in the garage.

Problem solved. All you need is a set of wheels with the proper offset, and some body shop to take off the dually fenders.

You don't even need to change axles, you just need the SRW hubs.

Easy !

[Redwoodcamper]

Smaller truck won't be much easier to get by. It's a truck, park it on the street. Keep it insured for the time it gets vandalized. Traveling overseas isn't much fun in my experience.

[TurnThePage]

It might be easier to back into the garage and exit forward. The mirrors work great for that. In fact, you can really snug one side close to the wall that way with a little practice. My passenger side rear bumper is almost always less than an inch from a work bench and my passenger side mirror is within about 4" of a shelf. Been doing it that way for over 20 years now. You can use reflective tape or something else to make little landmark reference points. This might leave enough space on the other side to maneuver your body and garbage can. Just a thought.

On the other hand, I kind of like that idea of downsizing too.

[Old-Biscuit]

Have you discussed with the powers to be AT WORK about storing/parking truck on site OR 'just parking it' until WHACK!

Garage 45 feet deep??

Lot of garage area left in front of truck......
Shimming out will be tight regardless of truck. Smaller trucks are not that much narrower.

Paid for..keep it.