Sports chassis and similar units becoming obsolete?

“I know they'll last longer but...”

Based on who’s data?

Couple differences that I see...

That Freightliner will still have a substantial value in 10-15 years, the pickup won't.

That Freightliner has great comfort features like air-ride seats, can't get that in a pickup yet.

That Freightliner likely doesn't even "need" trailer brakes, the pickup truck will need some sort of help slowing down at higher weights.

But, for people that like bling, a new pickup truck offers lots of gadgets and gizmos and will haul decent weights with respectable power.

Spoon, I'll agree with most of what you said except the part about not even needing brakes. We lost the brakes on our 17K unit and had it towed to the shop by a 10 Wheel semi-heavy tow rig and we followed in our TV. The driver blew through a few Red lights because as heavy as his Rig was he couldn't stop our trailer without lots of space to slow down.
So I wouldn't want to be pulling a heavy unit without brakes very far.

It's also illegal in most states to tow anything over 4500 lb with out brakes. So the tow truck pulling that 17k trailer in reality was illegal.

With that said, it is true most true full size mdt's will outlast a pickup by 2-3x as many miles etc. You can set them up nicely. BUT as noted, with current power specs of the 35dw pickups, getting an MDT with at one time power specs double to triple pickups, no need to step up to an mdt in the rv world.
To say they will be obsolete! ROTFLMAO ?? a 35 series rig does not have the power and payload to do as I do, look up a 12-15 k trailer, and haul 3-6 tons of my case topsoil, bark, plants or some combo legally, safely etc. Or 6-8 tons of cargo only!
Commercially speaking, the MDT is a better unit in most cases from experience than a 35DW rig.
Current 35's, as are any pickup in ANY class 1-3 realm, better than the last 70s when I first started driving pickups.

Marty

I would say that in the relatively small realm of Rving, yes the more capable pickups have largely made MDTs obsolete. A buddy of mine had a mid-2000s F650 to tow his 40' fifth wheel and he says his new F350 6.7 is superior all the way around for towing his trailer. But the real world of medium duty trucks is doing work that pickups simply can't do no matter how much power and torque they have- hauling a 24' van body full of freight, a dump box with 5 yards of gravel or a flatbed with six or eight pallets of concrete block.

^This.
But sports chassis haulers are super cool!
Disagree with spoon though on value compared to pickups. I believe that pickup trucks retain just as good a % of retained value, compared to new.

Great points made. I should have clarified in my original post I was only referring to the rv market part. I have a 2012 mack pinnacle with a automated manual I use in my business and love it but wouldn't really want to use it pulling my camper and then sight seeing in it. Too big,restricted places it can go, can get stuck easier, etc. I guess the point I was making was with pickups ever increasing capability, the advantages of a medium duty like a freightliner class 6 are disappearing unless you're pulling one massive 5th wheel. And with changes happening so fast in the industry now and so many new advancements do you really want to keep a truck that will last forever? Thanks for the comments. They've been great.

MDTs have always been specialty items and have never made up a significant percentage of the RV market.

Most that I've seen have been in the carney business. If you are doing 50-75k miles per year towing massive 5th wheels, the long term durability may make sense. For a more typical full timer doing 10-20k/yr, it's more a neat toy and I'm betting most of the people buying them will continue to do so.

From what I've seen, they don't retain value significantly differently, they still need trailer brakes and modern pickups are darn comfortable to ride in.

I think they'll make a come-back soon.

Biggest detractor is lack of a good 4x4 option. Any true MDT with 4x4 is too high for towing most 5th wheels.

Once somebody offers a series-hydrid powertain, front electric motors will make 4x4 (or really AWD, but in some ways this can perform better) feasible without raising the chassis-height.

Articulated transit buses already offer a similar powertrain. Diesel gens-set is mounted at the back. Rear and center axles are electric-powered.

carringb wrote:
I think they'll make a come-back soon.

Biggest detractor is lack of a good 4x4 option. Any true MDT with 4x4 is too high for towing most 5th wheels.

Once somebody offers a series-hydrid powertain, front electric motors will make 4x4 (or really AWD, but in some ways this can perform better) feasible without raising the chassis-height.

Articulated transit buses already offer a similar powertrain. Diesel gens-set is mounted at the back. Rear and center axles are electric-powered.

I don't think 4x4 is really a factor. MDTs are usually towing monster 40ft+ 5th wheels...not many people drag those off road.

If you are thinking to go off roading once unhooked...a diesel dually 1 ton, is a lousy off road option. If you are into off roading, it usually means a toy hauler and the toys are used for off road play.