Starting the new truck hunt

[dugwms]

We currently pull a Flagstaff 26RLWS, 30' and 7500lbs or so, with a 2002 Chevy 1500HD. Ole Red is getting a little long in the tooth and it's time to consider a new tow vehicle. Looking at Ford, Chevy and Ram 250/2500 trucks. When/if we upgrade the RV, it won't be with anything considerably bigger than what we have. Have been very happy with the 1500HD. It's basically a 3/4 ton truck in disguise. 3080lb payload, 6.0, 4L80 transmission, 8 lug wheels and 373 rear end. Tows very well. Anyway, I would like owners impressions of the differences between the manufacturers. Not just ratings but, having lived with a truck for a few years, what are your impressions and experiences? Reliability? There doesn't seem to be a major cost difference between any of them of any significance and the capabilities are very similar for what we'll be dealing with. Not considering a diesel, just doesn't work for us. Greatly appreciate everyone's input.

[Samsonsworld]

Fordlover wrote:


I wouldn't place many bets on Don's experience. I get the feeling he'd rather walk than ride in a FoMoCo product.

for some prospective:
Ford testing aluminum beds

If a mining company, utility company, and construction company survived with aluminum beds, I'd think the local Parks and wildlife guys could make it work as well. But let's be honest, who really 'loves' their stripped down base level work truck anyhow?

FWIW, My sis and BIL's 2017 F350 has carried their truck camper on a 15K mile cross country trip pulling their Jeep, and the aluminum bed didn't fall off even one time on the trip, can you believe it?!?

Had a guy arguing Ford was having trouble with their aluminum frames bending this weekend. Haters going to hate. :S

[travelnman]

What ever truck you go with keep gas prices in mind. They are going up with this new administration's plans for repairing roads and everything else. Some who think the time has come for a gas tax increase like tolls also and are pushing the states to get involved in helping rip up the roads and replace them. All this is going to cost billions and guess where they will get the money, no one seems to care that many of us can not afford this so they will probably end up with nice shiny new highways with electronic tolls that no one uses. We accidentally ended up on a toll road near Denver. We were the only ones on it except for a couple of other out of state lost souls. The fancy collection system was impressive almost worth getting lost except grabbing my wallet was not fun with all the seat belts to unhook and hook every twenty miles. This new toll road was bright and shiny almost like no one every used it! We have a 04 Suburban it does well except in mountains where you need 1st gear and then the locals pile up behind you using sign language to describe your effort to climb the hill. We are going to use this suburban until it has a heart attack then put an end to decades of camping as the new tow vehicles are not worth the kids college accounts or our 401K. I think if every congressmen and the president were not so hyped on raising the gas tax we might consider an older Suburban or Yukon Denali but those old giants burned a lot of gas so your caught between a rock and a hard place. Maybe diesel should be considered I know we will be looking at hybrids and electrics. One of those should take care of our needs until the Feds figure out how to tax these new 50mpg vehicles, wish we could find one that tows 7,200 lbs maybe some day!

[dugwms]

So, we spent yesterday looking at trucks. Drove a Ram 2500 and 3500 and a Chevy 2500HD. The ride was the best on the Chevy but the power of the Hemi was seriously impressive. When we left the lot with the Chevy, I kept checking the parking brake to make sure it wasn't set. It seemed seriously down on power compared to the Hemi 6.4 in the 2500 and 3500. The Ram trucks had 3.73 rears and the Chevy was 4.10 so it wasn't a gearing issue. That Hemi was impressive.

[jerem0621]

I wouldn’t discount the new 6.0 GM trucks just yet. Seems to me that in the side by side comparisons/towing tests the 6.0 has held up very well next to the Ram 6.4 and the Ford 6.2.

Good luck in your search.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[Fordlover]

troubledwaters wrote:
I hardly consider how an employee treats a company vehicle a fair comparison to how someone would treat their own. I know several people that drive aluminum box F150's. Not one of them has dents or a hole in their's, or even scratchd paint. I see it everyday on construction sites. People abusing the trucks that the company owns compared to how they treat their own truck. I've seen 2500 series and 3500 series Chevy, Ford and Ram's beat to shiiit in 3 months. That's the difference between someone that bought and paid for their $50,000.00 truck and someone that drives a truck they didn't have to pay for.

Show me someone's personal vehicle that has holes in it and then we'll talk.
Or how about any of you Chevy or Ram owners that would let me dump a load of blocks into your $50,000.00 truck with a loader raise your hand.

I wouldn't place many bets on Don's experience. I get the feeling he'd rather walk than ride in a FoMoCo product.

for some prospective:
Ford testing aluminum beds

If a mining company, utility company, and construction company survived with aluminum beds, I'd think the local Parks and wildlife guys could make it work as well. But let's be honest, who really 'loves' their stripped down base level work truck anyhow?

FWIW, My sis and BIL's 2017 F350 has carried their truck camper on a 15K mile cross country trip pulling their Jeep, and the aluminum bed didn't fall off even one time on the trip, can you believe it?!?

[Groover]

dugwms wrote:

Ltrip wrote:
Great discussion!! I have a 2018 Ford F250 Crew Cab, 6.75' bed, diesel, 4X4 on order, so I don't have experience with it yet.
One poster said "I will never buy a Ford because of...." Well, I had a bad experience with Dodge, and feel the same way. Probably irrational.
It also depends on what features are important to you. We each have individual preferences beyond all the specs.
For me, I want the high tech that the Ford has. Cameras, blindspot and especially the adaptive cruise control.
Good luck in your search!

We're going exactly opposite. As plain and simple as possible. This truck's sole purpose in life will be to tow our RV and keep the dog out of the nice cars. The less stuff to break, the better. That's what I like so much about our 02 1500HD. Simple as a rock and very little to go wrong when you're miles from anywhere camping.

It sounds to me like you would be best off with the F150 XLT and max payload package. I like the Ecoboost but since you like simplicity the 5.0 is also a good choice. Everybody's trucks are getting uprated and most half tons now pull as well or better than older 3/4 ton trucks and my experience confirms that in my mind. All of the 3/4 ton trucks suffer from old gas engines right now which are durable but not the most efficient around. If you drive much empty I think that you would like the mileage of a half ton truck. I am pulling a much heavier trailer than yours with my F150 and have had no issues with it.

[zztinker]

troubledwaters wrote:
I hardly consider how an employee treats a company vehicle a fair comparison to how someone would treat their own. I know several people that drive aluminum box F150's. Not one of them has dents or a hole in their's, or even scratchd paint. I see it everyday on construction sites. People abusing the trucks that the company owns compared to how they treat their own truck. I've seen 2500 series and 3500 series Chevy, Ford and Ram's beat to shiiit in 3 months. That's the difference between someone that bought and paid for their $50,000.00 truck and someone that drives a truck they didn't have to pay for.

Show me someone's personal vehicle that has holes in it and then we'll talk.
Or how about any of you Chevy or Ram owners that would let me dump a load of blocks into your $50,000.00 truck with a loader raise your hand.

Most people including myself have bed liners in my 2017 f250

[mbopp]

Quantum82 wrote:
From what I've seen, put a bed liner in the back of the truck and the aluminum bed is just fine. Stands up to the same punishment at the steel.

I wanted the lighter truck, to get the higher payload. The equivalent Ram to my truck has an 1100lbs payload rating vs. my 1813lbs rating, which meant I go go with a 150 over a 250 of a different brand truck.

All depends on your needs I suppose.

I'm in the truck hunt also to upgrade my '12 F150 Ecoboost. Gas, not Diesel, and I can buy a F250 XLT for the same price as a F150 w/ Ecoboost and Max Tow. The downsides are the higher cab, harsher ride, gas mileage hit as a daily driver, and higher maintenance costs. 72K miles on my F150EB, no issues.

[petrel]

Just replaced my 1997 F350 CC LB PSD with a 2017 F450 CC LB PSD. I am not brand loyal. I just looked at everything and liked the Ford best. It drives like a dream, has a huge cabin, and tows everything I hang on it with little noticeable effort.

[FishOnOne]

donn0128 wrote:

troubledwaters wrote:


Show me someone's personal vehicle that has holes in it and then we'll talk.
Or how about any of you Chevy or Ram owners that would let me dump a load of blocks into your $50,000.00 truck with a loader raise your hand.

OK, I just unloaded 5000 pounds of inch and a half minus rock out of the bed of my Ram. No scratches or dents. Could you say the same for an aluminum bed? I doubt it. BTW this is my personal truck bought specifically for hauling my fiver, not a work truck. I like many people buy and use their trucks for everything. Not garage queens.
Buy what floats your boat, and if that happens to be an aluminum Ford glad for you. All I did was point out how unhappy the park rangers were with the choice thrust upon them by the powers to be at the State motor pool. The truck is driven by only a few employees, and while it is used for work they do take pride in their equipment.

.

Ok... Your motive is loud and clear! Here's a video of a Ford bed that hauled 100k pounds of rock for 1 day.

Enjoy... Link

Just so you know I know a rancher that has a F150 that repairs our fences and on any given day has barbed wires rolls and T Posts in the back of his bed. The bed surface probably has very little paint left, but the bed material itself is held up very well.

[Quantum82]

From what I've seen, put a bed liner in the back of the truck and the aluminum bed is just fine. Stands up to the same punishment at the steel.

I wanted the lighter truck, to get the higher payload. The equivalent Ram to my truck has an 1100lbs payload rating vs. my 1813lbs rating, which meant I go go with a 150 over a 250 of a different brand truck.

All depends on your needs I suppose.

[dugwms]

ib516 wrote:

dugwms wrote:
Does anyone have experience with the Ram 6.4 and 373 gears? I've heard that the combination seems to hunt for the best gear and can be annoying.

I had a 2014 Ram 2500 with the 6.4L Hemi and 4.10s. Lost it going through a divorce, but it pulled 12,000lbs worth of 37' 5er no problem.
I'd highly recommend it.

Don't have anything bad to say about the GM and Ford gas engines, other than the GM 6.0L is quite low on power compared to the other two makes.

That's exactly the kind of statement I was looking for. Thanks.

[ib516]

dugwms wrote:
Does anyone have experience with the Ram 6.4 and 373 gears? I've heard that the combination seems to hunt for the best gear and can be annoying.

I had a 2014 Ram 2500 with the 6.4L Hemi and 4.10s. Lost it going through a divorce, but it pulled 12,000lbs worth of 37' 5er no problem.
I'd highly recommend it.

Don't have anything bad to say about the GM and Ford gas engines, other than the GM 6.0L is quite low on power compared to the other two makes.

[dugwms]

Ltrip wrote:
Great discussion!! I have a 2018 Ford F250 Crew Cab, 6.75' bed, diesel, 4X4 on order, so I don't have experience with it yet.
One poster said "I will never buy a Ford because of...." Well, I had a bad experience with Dodge, and feel the same way. Probably irrational.
It also depends on what features are important to you. We each have individual preferences beyond all the specs.
For me, I want the high tech that the Ford has. Cameras, blindspot and especially the adaptive cruise control.
Good luck in your search!

We're going exactly opposite. As plain and simple as possible. This truck's sole purpose in life will be to tow our RV and keep the dog out of the nice cars. The less stuff to break, the better. That's what I like so much about our 02 1500HD. Simple as a rock and very little to go wrong when you're miles from anywhere camping.

[Samsonsworld]

The last two dealers I bought from put liners in all their trucks as an add on. I've gone without, with a mat, with plastic and with spray on. I never found a situation where I preferred to go without, spills included.