What TV will handle a 7-8k GVWR TT ?

[aedubber]

I know most trucks will pull , but i want something that will go up and down safely .. I live in NJ so not many of the roads are flat per say . Keep in mind the new TV will be my DD as well so i need something that will handle DD and towing on weekends. First time towing and RVing ! 🙂

We wont be towing every weekend either and we wont be staying out for long trips too.
I plan on getting a TT that is around 26-27 FT length MAX and dont want no more then 7-7500 GVWR on the TT too ... Loading the vehicle and TT will be light since its only me and my gf , but would like the extra payload on the TV and CCC on the TT in case we bring 2 other adults.

I have been thinking of these 3:

Ford f150 Ecoboost
Dodge Ram 1500
Chevy 1500

I plan on taking all 3 out for a test drive to see what i like best for DD but i will sacrifice ride comfort for safely towing. I just want to do everything right the first time and not regret something or get something underpowered .

So any real time experience is greatly appreciated , and hello as a new member !

[bmanning]

Lowsuv wrote:
brother manning ,
you are incorrect on this particular point .
the 17.5 to 1 compression is what creates the braking .
my 2002 duramax / allison does not have a "jake brake " type feature .
I can tell you that I use the 17.5 to 1 engine compression to good use most of the time .
the allison 5 speed is pretty easy to shift down , once you get the hang of it , into any gear you need for braking .
A combination of the tow / haul feature , the tapping of the brake pedal , or manually shifting to 3rd, 2nd , 1st .
my previous rig was also a gm 2500 but with the 7400 Vortec 454 cubic inch gasser .
The engine braking works considerably better with the diesel .
the additional braking comes from the higher compression ratio and the 5 speed auto trans that the diesel has over the 4L80E that came on the 454 .

I stand corrected; I was going by something I read but your real-world experience trumps that.

Though I've owned gas & diesel, tragically when I had my 2002 7.3L it never towed anything more than a 1200lb Polaris Ranger so my experience with using a diesel engine's compression to keep things in check descending a mountain is zero.

[blt2ski]

Is your spouse and your wts bathroom scale wts? or with clothes on, including her purse, boots, maps, portable gps etc? If you brought my wife and I, you would need 450 extra lbs for people!

At the end of the day, the MOST important part of towing is "PAYLOAD"! tow rating is nothing more than a warrenty and performance rating. Performance quite frankly is HIGHLY subjective! look at the gas vs diesel thread. Two motors making 300 hp, one at 3000, the other at 6k. Both will pull a given hill at the same speed. BUT, different gears in the trans. BOTH will not like running for long times at redline. So MOST of us, will lower the actual rpm to around 2500 for the diesel, and 4500-5000 for a gas rig.

If you are slightly under powered, you go up a hill a bit slower. SO you see more! There was a time when buying a pickup, you were lucky to get a 100 hp motor in a 3/4 and 1 ton, with a BIG motor maybe having 200 and barely 300 lbs of torque! Todays motors are MONSTER motors compared to the past. So power is really not an issue. BUT as always, PAYLOAD will ALWAYS be an issue! Hence why, look for payload first, then power a rig to meet you butts needs!

Marty

[aedubber]

Well this would be for only Me 200lbs and my GF 120lbs .. If we bring 2 more people along , then add 350lbs to that . We are a young couple so no kids right now . We all have to start somewhere and i can always upgrade later in life .

We still work , i have a business that i run , and we are just looking to start out in the whole camping and rving world . We wont be going every weekend , and we will be keeping it local in the tri -state area .

[whsk]

went from 2130 payload 3/4 ton to 5435 1 ton dually-lesson learned, expensive I might add-do not worry or fret now over pin weight or "STUFF" in the truck!-whsk

[jerem0621]

blt2ski wrote:
If it were me, I would need a dually. By the time I add my family of 6 at 1300 lbs, dog, rack, canoe, firewood or generator, I am weighing in at 2000 lbs of people and gear, then add the upwards of 1200 lbs of HW and one needs over 3000 lbs of payload!

There is NO simple answer to what truck one needs!

Marty

Best reply in this thread. I have a Dually and will continue to use a Dually for my hauling needs. My family weighs in at about 700 lbs. if the kids take a friend then we are getting close to 1000 lbs. then add several hundred lbs of bikes, coolers, grills, etc and we are rapidly approaching 1300-1500 lbs depending on how we pack. This is before we put 1200-1600 lbs of tongue weight on the hitch. I honestly don't see how many half ton towers (HD and regular half) are not over payload, especially families of four or five. I suspect that they really are.

Classic vernacular for a HD half tower is that "I've got an HD half or max this or that, so I'm fine" or "I'm witching 100-200 lbs of payload on that particular day that I weighed". Sorry I can't interpret a few hundred lbs as excess capacity. I call that minimal capacity. Now, when you have 500-1000 plus lbs of excess capacity then I personally feel safest!

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[zogg]

Went from So. iL to So Missouri over the weekend....four hours each way and lots on ups and downs in the Ozark mountains.
The Ram handled the 8000 pound trailer very well. Most of time it was running about 2200 rpms in 5th gear, ups most of the hille it shifter to 4th at 2800 rpms, and occasionally it would hit 3600-4000 rpms foing up some steep hills. No lack of power at any time and never felt like it was straining...put it in "D" with tow haul and let it run....kept it between 62 and 65 mph, except on the twisty two lane roads.
Overall mpg was 8.9 for the trip. I did run 89 octane as recommended in the owners manual. Not sure how it would have run on 87 octane, which is what I run when not towing.
NOt towing, I get 19+ mpg hiway....great for a 3/4 ton!

[Lowsuv]

brother manning ,
you are incorrect on this particular point .
the 17.5 to 1 compression is what creates the braking .
my 2002 duramax / allison does not have a "jake brake " type feature .
I can tell you that I use the 17.5 to 1 engine compression to good use most of the time .
the allison 5 speed is pretty easy to shift down , once you get the hang of it , into any gear you need for braking .
A combination of the tow / haul feature , the tapping of the brake pedal , or manually shifting to 3rd, 2nd , 1st .
my previous rig was also a gm 2500 but with the 7400 Vortec 454 cubic inch gasser .
The engine braking works considerably better with the diesel .
the additional braking comes from the higher compression ratio and the 5 speed auto trans that the diesel has over the 4L80E that came on the 454 .

[bmanning]

Lowsuv wrote:
there is a another thread on this forum where the gentleman wanted to go up into the mountains . he had not been there previously . to his amazement the grade was 7 % to 10 % .
although he was using 2nd gear in his late model 1 /2 ton and slow speeds going uphill , that was not the issue .
going downhill he was riding the brakes more than he wanted to even though he was using engine braking . the drum brakes on the trailer were toast after halfway down .
one thing the fancy smancy f150 ecoboost do not have is the compression braking of any diesel pickup nor are the brakes on the f150 as large as an f250 .
sure that f150 is flashy and it is an easy sell to your wife but it still is not as capable as any f250 or 2500 when towing .
leather seats , navigation , sunroof found on the f150 are nice for sure .
but if your trailer is 7000 # like mine , it just plain tows better with an f250 or 2500 , especially with a diesel .

You probably know this but engine braking isn't because of the Diesel engine itself, it's the fact that it's an option on late-model diesel trucks.

A diesel without the add-on engine braking actually has less engine braking than a gasoline motor.

Don't mean to split hairs, just clarifying as your wording made it sound as if the better engine braking was due to the fuel being burnt, which isn't the case.

[The_Texan]

Lowsuv, you have NOT done any research on the newer 1/2 T max tow braking abilities. My 1500 max tow(NHT) will hold my truck & TRAILER within 3mph of any speed I set, going down a 7% grade for 5 miles, without my touching the truck brakes. If that person toasted his brakes, it was his own doing and not the vehicle, OR he did not have a max tow setup.

[Lowsuv]

there is a another thread on this forum where the gentleman wanted to go up into the mountains . he had not been there previously . to his amazement the grade was 7 % to 10 % .
although he was using 2nd gear in his late model 1 /2 ton and slow speeds going uphill , that was not the issue .
going downhill he was riding the brakes more than he wanted to even though he was using engine braking . the drum brakes on the trailer were toast after halfway down .
one thing the fancy smancy f150 ecoboost do not have is the compression braking of any diesel pickup nor are the brakes on the f150 as large as an f250 .
sure that f150 is flashy and it is an easy sell to your wife but it still is not as capable as any f250 or 2500 when towing .
leather seats , navigation , sunroof found on the f150 are nice for sure .
but if your trailer is 7000 # like mine , it just plain tows better with an f250 or 2500 , especially with a diesel .

[blt2ski]

If it were me, I would need a dually. By the time I add my family of 6 at 1300 lbs, dog, rack, canoe, firewood or generator, I am weighing in at 2000 lbs of people and gear, then add the upwards of 1200 lbs of HW and one needs over 3000 lbs of payload!

There is NO simple answer to what truck one needs!

Marty

[aedubber]

Or i could try Plan B , and just buy an older used F250 Super Duty and use it for strictly towing only ...

[aedubber]

The EcoBoost ford was a 2013 FORD F-150 F150 4X4 CREW XLT 5 1/2 BOX model with a payload of 1554

It rode extremely nice, it didnt feel cheap and thin. Ford DEF stepped it up , it was so roomy inside the truck . I fell in love with it and its on my list. I just now have to come up with a configuration.

I just got back from driving the 2014 GMC 1500 v8 motor in it . The payload was nice at 1850 but it seemed extremely dull , cheap , thin material , and just too plain for me. I know its a truck , it looks great on the outside , but inside i probably would get so tired of it real fast.

[TomG2]

aedubber wrote:
Test drove

f150 ecoboost - awesome

F250 big gasser - did not like it

Dodge 1500 - felt ford drove better overall and the payload was a joke on it. Looked at a ram 2500 and its just too big and bulky for me.

Chevy 1500 w/ 5.3l v8 payload was 1650 and didn't bother w a test drive.

GMC 1500 5.3 v8 has a nice payload of 1800 and roomy. Test drive shortly.

Out of curiosity, what was the payload on the f150? Also, would the extra 150 pounds of payload on the GMC be sufficient? That is just the weight of one passenger.

[aedubber]

Test drove

f150 ecoboost - awesome

F250 big gasser - did not like it

Dodge 1500 - felt ford drove better overall and the payload was a joke on it. Looked at a ram 2500 and its just too big and bulky for me.

Chevy 1500 w/ 5.3l v8 payload was 1650 and didn't bother w a test drive.

GMC 1500 5.3 v8 has a nice payload of 1800 and roomy. Test drive shortly.