When is a 3/4 ton needed?

blt2ski wrote:
Towing ANYTHING, having proper chassis to handle trailer behind it weight wise. ALSO one needs the proper drivetrain for how you use the rig too! Are you literally under 50-55mph local roads? Steeper grades, IE greater than say 15%! Are you on an interstate wanting to hold 60mph on a 2-3% freeway grade?
Their is not a single truck made in an LDT form currently, that you can order to suit your needs. It's down to a one size fits all. That size, no matter the chassis, may not fit your usage!
I have no problem admitting, current tow rating gcwr specs suck in how I use my trucks pulling hauling etc. Geared way check too tall!

Marty

You just aren’t willing to spend the money to get the right truck. No one makes a 200hp straight 6, high gvw, double low range 4.88 geared C2500.
BUT I betcha an Aisin trans 4.10 geared pickup will not stall out in the mighty mountains of Kirkland!

Too funny. The OP has a high wall pop-up and it divulged into all this.

OP - I think you mistated your weights. Here is a link to the brochure for your stated trailer.

https://www.jayco.com/tools/archive/2008-select-ct/

As to your original question, it depends on the setup. I had a 07 CCSB Sierra with the 5.3 and a 9000gvwr (6500 dry) 27ft trailer. That combo sucked even with a properly adjusted WDH. Switching to a 07 2500 Duramax was awesome and not so much for the power but the stability was night and day. Power was great too. I now have a HW popup like yours (2010 Niagara) that we tow with our 07 Exp and it's great. A little sag, but no issues.

Towing ANYTHING, having proper chassis to handle trailer behind it weight wise. ALSO one needs the proper drivetrain for how you use the rig too! Are you literally under 50-55mph local roads? Steeper grades, IE greater than say 15%! Are you on an interstate wanting to hold 60mph on a 2-3% freeway grade?
Their is not a single truck made in an LDT form currently, that you can order to suit your needs. It's down to a one size fits all. That size, no matter the chassis, may not fit your usage!
I have no problem admitting, current tow rating gcwr specs suck in how I use my trucks pulling hauling etc. Geared way check too tall!

Marty

If the truck is empty and you can spare 6000 extra on the drivers that’d work.

About towing RV trailers, going down the road there’s a general rule of thumb, you’re always happier with more truck than you need than you are with less truck than you need.
You can tow a pretty huge trailer with a half-ton (which includes Suburbans, Expeditions, etc.) but you’re just better off with something stouter.

Burning man,
I normally did not deal with trailers over 15k, 26k total. With that said. Iirc, three tandem axles, on probably a tilt flatbed, one can put 44k or 45k and still be legal. Put excavator far enough forward such that the trailer has 6000+ lbs of hitch weight. One should meet the federal and state bridge laws. Also assuming, the TV has enough payload to handle the HW and still meet bridge laws also!

Marty

When is an HD needed? With respects to a TT if you are going to regularly tow / camp with something with a camp ready weight of more than 8k you would be better served by a HD. Unless you are too lazy to get a WDH and set up your axle & tongue weights by scale results then you might decide to lower that to 7k.

You might want to educate yourself on Idaho Bridge law. Believe me been through enough ports to know.

You cant pull that with the truck full or you would be overweight.

ksss wrote:
I pull a 20 ton excavator with a pintal hitch, three axle trailer that dry weighs about 10K with a 4 axle Mack dump truck, that Mack dry weighs about 24K. So this roughly follows Marty's rule of thumb, but the idea that the power unit cant weigh less than what is being towed is ridiculous.

Your trailer is overweight if you do that, that’s 50,000 pounds on three trailer axles, unless you have a heck of an axle spread.

I’m a heavy-truck guy too, mostly cranes, also dumps and flatbeds.
I’m not saying you can’t pull a trailer that’s heavier than the truck, just that it gets sketchy on a bumper hitch. You can’t say the lighter truck/heavier trailer combo drives better that the heavier truck/lighter trailer.
You never drive a dump truck with the truck box empty and the trailer full.

Me Again wrote:

2manytoyz wrote:
Just know the old nomenclature of 1/2 ton or 3/4 ton doesn't mean much anymore.

And how does the rear axle bearing setup on a 150/1500 compare to the 250/350/2500/3500?

What holds the axle into your differential on you F150? What surface do the bearings(AKA weight) ride on?

The F150 uses roller bearings compared to some others that use ball bearings in the rear differential.

^ Yes but this is rvnut.com, where a lot of the "experts" became experts by weekend warrior-ing campers 5x a year. Or they used to be experts but now forget what they used to do and due to reasons not directly related to towing have now become very conservative, or "weight cops" as a term someone coined here many moons ago.