New to traveling

[Three50freak]

Looking to take a trip across the US for about a month with my family of 5 no pets. I need to buy a truck and camper. I'm going to be staying away from diesel for a few reasons and would like to stay around 30 or 40k total before maintenence and upgrades. I'm leaning chevy 1500 gas. Which means I should look towards a 5 to 6k lb trailer. Any suggestions on truck and camper would be great. It will need to pull the rockies fyi. I plan to boondocks a bit and stay on campgrounds for a few days along the trip, day every 2 or 3 days ish. Ty again

[Grit_dog]

Three50freak wrote:
The price isnt bad for either. Im just more curious which would be better. Im a chevy guy but that model f250 is supposed to be quite nice from everything ive read. Just trying to see if anyone here has experience with those year models.

Grit dog wrote:

Three50freak wrote:
So after some research on best years for 3/4 ton trucks I've found a 19 chevy 2500hd duramax and a 2016 f250 6.7 ps. Both are roughly the same price and milage. They are both in the sweet spots of good years. Any suggestions. Ty

Either of those trucks will tow twice as much, as easy as what you said you were planning, but don't let the RVet get to you. It's more about what you're doing with the truck overall, than 1 month trip, IMO.

A big ole diesel is attractive, but this still isn't the right time $ wise to buy a diesel, IMO, unless its really needed or money is of little concern.

The L5P Duramax with the original Alli is a great combo. It’s past the CP4 days which the 2016 (and current models) still uses.
Plus the 2016 Super Doody is still sitting on basically a 20 year old chassis design. Nice trucks but I’d get a L5P hands down over an earlier 6.7 Powerstroke.
Both are totally overkill for your use (not a bad thing).

Although I too am perplexed where your find a comparable diesel in your price range unless it has over 100k miles.

[Thermoguy]

Three50freak wrote:
So after some research on best years for 3/4 ton trucks I've found a 19 chevy 2500hd duramax and a 2016 f250 6.7 ps. Both are roughly the same price and milage. They are both in the sweet spots of good years. Any suggestions. Ty

Just got back from a 600 mile round trip towing a 7-8000 lb trailer over the mountain passes in WA state. My 2015 Duramax didn't skip a beat or even slow down going over the passes, was able to keep speed limit all the time, even using cruise control. If you can find a 2019 Duramax in your price range, as long as it doesn't have 300K miles, I would jump on it. I don't have a Ford, but went to dinner with a friend who's Ford is a year older than mine, with twice the miles as mine. It's fine, but needs work. Night and day difference between the 2 trucks in my opinion as far as mechanical. He has a muffler issue, a door doesn't close correctly, It runs fine but the miles have been harder on his than on my Chev. Last year he had to buy new tires while on a trip with a trailer due to something he called the death wobble. Just my experience. I would be OK with a Ford or GM. Have friends with Ram that love their trucks.

[valhalla360]

Three50freak wrote:
So after some research on best years for 3/4 ton trucks I've found a 19 chevy 2500hd duramax and a 2016 f250 6.7 ps. Both are roughly the same price and milage. They are both in the sweet spots of good years. Any suggestions. Ty

Where are you finding these in your price range? Let me know which one you don't buy because assuming no major issues, I'd grab either in the $10-20k price range.

Either is more than suitable assuming no major issues are present. I'd probably go with the newer one as age does play a role in resale prcing.

[Three50freak]

The price isnt bad for either. Im just more curious which would be better. Im a chevy guy but that model f250 is supposed to be quite nice from everything ive read. Just trying to see if anyone here has experience with those year models.

Grit dog wrote:

Three50freak wrote:
So after some research on best years for 3/4 ton trucks I've found a 19 chevy 2500hd duramax and a 2016 f250 6.7 ps. Both are roughly the same price and milage. They are both in the sweet spots of good years. Any suggestions. Ty

Either of those trucks will tow twice as much, as easy as what you said you were planning, but don't let the RVet get to you. It's more about what you're doing with the truck overall, than 1 month trip, IMO.

A big ole diesel is attractive, but this still isn't the right time $ wise to buy a diesel, IMO, unless its really needed or money is of little concern.

[Grit_dog]

mdcamping wrote:

midnightsadie wrote:
might think about renting a rv . chunk of money, but wear an tear on them.

I like that idea also, why spend the money and find out it's not for you.

If you some how manage to find a used supercrew ford F-150 with both the trailer tow & heavy duty payload pkg you will find room to spare towing a 7k trailer. The ford supercrew offers lots of leg/side room for 4 large adults, a family of 5 should be no problem.

Mike

Or any of the other brands for that matter. Doesn’t even need to be the biggest engine to do what the OP is planning.
I’ll make an obvious assumption here that the OPs trip will be next summer and this is in the early planning phase.
Good time of year now to pick up a camper, cost wise, although given the economy I wouldn’t bet against better deals even next spring/summer.
Not a great time to buy a truck unless you need one now. Since the OP is firmly in the used market, I wouldn’t stop searching for a deal but I also would bet that early next year (which Xmas to tax time is always sort of the “best” time of year to buy in general) prices will be dropping more. They’ve already peaked and beginning to drop from the Covid **** that has driven prices waaay up.

[mdcamping]

midnightsadie wrote:
might think about renting a rv . chunk of money, but wear an tear on them.

I like that idea also, why spend the money and find out it's not for you.

If the OP some how manages to find a used supercrew ford F-150 with both the trailer tow & heavy duty payload pkg you will find room to spare towing a 7k trailer. The ford supercrew offers lots of leg/side room for 4 large adults, a family of 5 should be no problem.

Mike

[Grit_dog]

Three50freak wrote:
So after some research on best years for 3/4 ton trucks I've found a 19 chevy 2500hd duramax and a 2016 f250 6.7 ps. Both are roughly the same price and milage. They are both in the sweet spots of good years. Any suggestions. Ty

Either of those trucks will tow twice as much, as easy as what you said you were planning, but don't let the RVet get to you. It's more about what you're doing with the truck overall, than 1 month trip, IMO.

A big ole diesel is attractive, but this still isn't the right time $ wise to buy a diesel, IMO, unless its really needed or money is of little concern.

[valhalla360]

Three50freak wrote:
I'd go diesel but all the ones I'm finding in my 30k price range for the truck have 200k miles. Now I know a dmax is ok at that but not wanting to spend 30k to turn around and put a long block or transmission in too soon. That's 4500 a pop if I do the work.

You don't need diesel. But, seriously consider moving up to a 3/4 ton truck.

A 5-6k GVWR trailer is pretty small for 5 for a month. If you are talking 5-6k empty weight, you will be up around 7-8k once loaded.

Keep in mind a lot of 1/2 ton trucks have miserable payload. Some are under 1000lb. There are some unicorn trucks with 2500lb payload but they are rare. Depending on age, the family alone could eat up 700-800lb of that payload. Fill the bed with a bunch of stuff could be another 300-600lb of payload.

A 6k trailer (fully loaded weight) should be up around 800-900lb of hitch weight, which counts against payload.

Your average 3/4 ton starts around 2500lb payload and has bigger brakes and more mass to keep the trailer under control.

Generally, they won't cost any more than a suitable 1/2 ton truck anyway. Get one with the bigger gas engine and it should do fine.

$30k is quite doable. Currently, have a 2008 F250 with V10 pulling a 2022 trailer that scales around 7400lb. Paid $10k for the truck and $18k for the trailer. Truck does just fine in the mountains. Just put her to bed after 2400miles of towing (plus lots of running around) over the last 2 months. In the spring, we head for Alaska.

Side Note: As someone else pointed out, a full size 3/4 ton body on frame van is a good option for a large family.

[Three50freak]

So after some research on best years for 3/4 ton trucks I've found a 19 chevy 2500hd duramax and a 2016 f250 6.7 ps. Both are roughly the same price and milage. They are both in the sweet spots of good years. Any suggestions. Ty

[Three50freak]

Ty all for the advise. Yours was extremely helpful. Im going to buy a 2500hd and pull a 5 to 7 k trailer. Unless i find a small 5er.

afidel wrote:
I did exactly what you're looking to do about 6 years ago. I bought a 181BH that I was planning originally to tow with a minivan (he it was "rated" to pull 3,600 and the trailer was only 3,100), didn't take but driving home to realize I needed a better tow vehicle. Ultimately ended up picking up a very lightly used (18 month, 15k mile) work truck from my signature. The truck was $30k, the trailer $12.5k. Today I could sell that truck for what I bought it for and the same trailer model lists for $20-25k new. What I'm trying to say is that to stay in your budget you're going to have to shop very wisely for both truck and trailer. Oh, and you don't need a palace, we did 5k miles in 3 weeks with 5 of us in an 18' bunkhouse with my niece sleeping on the dinette.

If I had to do it over I'd buy a 3500 SRW, but finding just the truck in your price range would be very tough.

[afidel]

I did exactly what you're looking to do about 6 years ago. I bought a 181BH that I was planning originally to tow with a minivan (he it was "rated" to pull 3,600 and the trailer was only 3,100), didn't take but driving home to realize I needed a better tow vehicle. Ultimately ended up picking up a very lightly used (18 month, 15k mile) work truck from my signature. The truck was $30k, the trailer $12.5k. Today I could sell that truck for what I bought it for and the same trailer model lists for $20-25k new. What I'm trying to say is that to stay in your budget you're going to have to shop very wisely for both truck and trailer. Oh, and you don't need a palace, we did 5k miles in 3 weeks with 5 of us in an 18' bunkhouse with my niece sleeping on the dinette.

If I had to do it over I'd buy a 3500 SRW, but finding just the truck in your price range would be very tough.

[NamMedevac_70]

forgot to mention that my 2014 Dodge Ram V8 Hemi is 6 speed xsm and 3.55 gear ratio that is better for towing than 3.21.

[toedtoes]

You don't mention the ages of the kids. If they are all under 10, then a crew cab should be fine. But if they are over 10 years, you will be facing a very long drive with three teens stuck side by side. In that case, I agree with JRscooby to consider a van. It would give more room for the kids and their stuff to keep them happy on the drive.

Depending on the ages, a tent or two could allow for a smaller trailer thn otherwise. A hybrid trailer could provide extra beds without having to increase the trailer size.

If looking at bunks, watch the gvwr of the trailer - some of the bunk layouts use up most all the gvwr on lighter trailers. And since you will be boondocking, you will want to be able to carry a full fresh water tank plus all your gear. Also remember that the west is in a drought - being able to fill your fresh tank just anywhere is not likely, so you'll want to intersperse a full hookup site here and there so you can easily refill and dump tanks, as well as charge up the batteries.

[Grit_dog]

Welcome OP!
You’re on the right track and a half ton with a big motor and crew cab will do everything you need with a reasonable size TT. 6-7klbs is not a stretch for any newer half ton that has good power.
You’ve already heard the “you need diesel” comments. And you’ll soon hear the litany of how you can’t haul that much weight, 3 kids and a camper with a half ton due to gvw limits.
Both are not horrible recommendations but both are not totally true either.
Think about your use of the new tow rig outside of that one trip. That needs to be considered as much or more than the trip.
Sure I have a tuned diesel and love the pull anything power. But if budget didn’t allow I’d have just a half ton gasser for most duties. I have one of those as well, have for the last 25 years and I tow more with it than the diesel. (Company vehicle and generally towing for work).
Again, any big half ton set up right is totally sufficient for your goal.