what to buy - truck wise

[mark10]

so I posted that a truck and TC is in my future. thinking of ford. but when I go onto the ford site and try 'building' my own, the various options are mind boggling. what size bed, what wheelbase, what suspension, etc.

options like what radio I can deal with.

I haven't look around here a lot, but is there some place I can go to which will define all this stuff.

like why a longer wheelbase?
bed I guess would define which TC will fit.

[Kayteg1]

jimh425 wrote:
you cut probably put a bigger and better one on for the same price as OEM.

Yeah. Like $900 navigation, or $500 spray bed liner.
The additional options add $20k to base price (not talking about diesel for $8480)
That is why I tend to go for base model and add what I want at the price I want.
The build navigation sucks and that is what salesman said as well.
On wife Mercedes the $3000 navigation wants us to go opposite way than closest freeway ramp for unknown reasons.

[jimh406]

Why does the DW have to cook? Seriously though, in my area, you generally only get to buy a loaded pickup or stripped one on a lot. Otherwise, you'd have to order it. If you buy used, you can get a loaded one a lot cheaper, so that is what I did.

Worse case is you'd have to add a rear stabilizer, so that's not really a big deal if it comes with one or not. If it didn't have one, you cut probably put a bigger and better one on for the same price as OEM.

[FreebirdFlies]

Something else to throw into consideration.....
Is the camper going to be mounted all the time/some/seldom?
Reason being the higher the load capability, the harsher the empty truck rides (some are almost brutal empty).
Some guys who know the TC will be mounted up occasionally sacrifice on their TC wants and buy an extremely small lite camper so they don't have to buy a truck that is harsh riding during its primary function as a daily driver.
Just throwing this in the decision mix to complicate the choices a bit more.... 😉

[Tom_Anderson]

The rear stabilizer that came on my truck was pretty wimpy, anyway. I ended up replacing it with a Big Wig, which works much better.

[Kayteg1]

Bedlam wrote:
I'm not sure about DRW, but my SRW got a rear stabilizer bar and upper overloads in the camper package. I think the rear stabilizer bar can only be purchased by getting the camper package on any of the Ford trucks.

Those things are standard on dually.
Choosing new truck is harder than choosing a wife.
On the latest you just notice if you like the looks, check if she can cook and you are about ready to go...

[Bedlam]

I'm not sure about DRW, but my SRW got a rear stabilizer bar and upper overloads in the camper package. I think the rear stabilizer bar can only be purchased by getting the camper package on any of the Ford trucks.

[Kayteg1]

Well... you can hope.
Friend of mine bought Chevy 2500 pickup for work truck.
The fist thing he did was installing toolboxes and lumber rack.
About year later the side panels of the bed show stress cracks.
Chevy denied any warranty becouse he put tool boxes on work truck.
He keeps driving with roll of duct tape behind driver seat.

[blueglide]

Kayteg1 wrote:
You might want to know that on dually the "camper package" is giving you ONLY stronger front springs.
Loaded camper takes load off front axle >>> why would I want stronger spring there?
Some dealers do "spray on bedliner"
What you guys thing about it under camper?

I got the camper package for one reason only and it had nothing to do with equipment upgrades. For a small price I had a truck built by Ford that was intended to carry a camper and they couldn't claim later if there were any problems that my truck wasn't built to carry a slide in camper. Will it actually save me any problems in the future??...time will tell but the 'camper package' clearly shows my intent. I also had the Tuff Bed spray in liner done and it looks every bit as good as my Line-X I had in my previous Ram PU. I still have a rubber bed mat in the truck for use with the camper.

[Kayteg1]

You might want to know that on dually the "camper package" is giving you ONLY stronger front springs.
Loaded camper takes load off front axle >>> why would I want stronger spring there?
Some dealers do "spray on bedliner"
What you guys thing about it under camper?

[mkirsch]

To answer your question, the Ford website would provide the best actual "definitions" of the various options.

That said, most of them should be obvious, especially if you play around with the configuration tool a bit.

Right off the bat, you should notice that the wheelbase is not selectable for a pickup truck. It is tied to your choice of cab and bed length. File it under "Nice to know."

Cab style should be a no-brainer. If you don't know the difference between a standard cab, extended cab (aka Supercab), and crew cab (aka SuperCrew), a standard cab has one bench seat for up to 3 people, a SuperCab has a second row of seating for short/small people for up to 6 people, and a SuperCrew has a larger second row of seating for normal size people.

Bed length depends on whether you want to haul 6.5' long stuff or 8' long stuff. Truck campers are classified as "short" (6.5') or "long" (8') bed campers. There are many more long bed than short bed. Short bed will limit you on what campers you can choose from, but a long bed crew cab truck is a serious boat to maneuver in parking lots, so you have to take that into consideration.

[blueglide]

I ordered from the factory...used the online Ford 'Build' tool to get just what I wanted and then sat down at dealership and used the printout to order truck. Get the camper package and 4.3 rear end...the rest is bells and whistles. I went gas over diesel for a bunch of reasons but thats another discussion. The long bed dually crewcab will let you get just about any TC out there with no problems (I'm well under weight fully loaded with Arctic Fox 1150). The only unknowns are if you plan on towing with the TC...then maybe the diesel and or 450/550. My .02

[wvabeer]

I bought a short bed truck so it would fit in the parking garage at work,other than that I would have bought a long bed. Go to your brand truck, I went to ford, build your truck the way you want if you need a dual wheel truck get it as if you get a big camper you will need it. Then wait 6 weeks and its yours.

[Tom_Anderson]

rwiegand wrote:
I really don't "get" short bed trucks.

I like mine because it fits in my garage, is much easier to park in parking lots, and doesn't get high-centered as easily off-road.

[Kayteg1]

I had short bed F250 with custom flatbed and did carry 4200lb of gravel on it.
Load distribution is an issue even with older F450 that has axle at 50% of bed length.
Per my experience truck till 550/5500 are build as grocery getters with short wheelbase for easy parking at liquor story.
For 2016 I noticed F350 has axle way past 50%, what makes it better choice for camper.
Coming to pricing, I found used F350 for $55k, the 2016 new dually diesel with base options sell for $49k.