All ActivityMost RecentMost LikesSolutionsRe: Tires & wheels for towingI'm thinking about something similar....how bad do the M/Ts hurt your gas mileage and do they hum very loud on the hiway????Re: Need tow vehicle adviceI am not knocking diesels at all, and I have not tried the newer ones. It I pulled really heavy I would own one because from previoous experience there is no comparison as to what they can pull.... However, I have heard the statement many times to justify buying a diesel that it is worth more when you sell or trade it....and, it truly is. BUT, the purchase cost of the diesel is higher too......so that seems to be a neutral argument....if you need a diesel to pull then you should buy one, but don't buy one because it'll be worth more upon trade-in.. I remember when I was trading in a old F-150 with a 5 speed manual. The salesman told me he could give me another $1000 for the trade if it had an automatic transmission. I said, "well, I saved the $1000 because the truck was that much cheaper with the manual, so I'm even":. The poor guy didn't seem to understand.Re: Need tow vehicle adviceWhen we first started towing an RV in 2004, my first 3/4 ton was a Ram cummins for pulling our new 5th wheel....everyone said I needed a diesel. After a year, I traded it for a v10 Ford gas truck and probably won't own another diesel....just too much hassle for me. First, I froze to death in the winter due to no heat in the cab. A guy told me to "plug it in"....sure enough I found a plug under the hood and started plugging it in at night and it was toasty warm in the morning. Then, a few times I forgot to unplug it....back out of the garage and the darn extension cord was behind my tool box, and over she came....dammitttt.....more than once. Then I opted to change the oil....put a ten quart pan under the truck and didn't realize it held 12 quarts of oil....never did get all the oil stains off of the garage floor.\!!!!! Every time I changed the oil filter I took a bath in dirty oil.... My wife complained daily about the diesel fumes going into the house from the garage....ugh Almost ran out of fuel twice because I couldn't find a station that sold diesel fuel....ouch Everyone told me I'd get 20+mpg...never happened. THe best I ever got unloaded was 16-17 and towing 9500 pounds was 11 mpg. I found the maintenance to be a lot more than I ever would have thought...I do all of my own work, but I found it to be a pain. SO, I traded for a V10 F250 and put in gas, changed the oil, did not have to plug it in, no more fumes, did not run out of fuel, and got 9 mpg towing and gas was about $.75 cheaper per gallon than diesel at that time. Having said all of that, I currently pull a 8000 pound fifth wheel with a Ram 6.4 gas motor, and it does well. BUT, if I was pulling any more than that, I would buy another diesel in a heart beat. You cannot beat them for pulling power, if you need them. We pulled a buddy's 14,000 pound 5th wheel from Arizona to Illinois last summer with his F250 powerstroke....no gas motor would had done that job. Moral is that if you NEED a diesel, buy one...but be sure you need it. My nephew bought one a few years ago because he thought they were cool....That lasted about 6 months and he lost his butt on a trade in..... The cost of the diesel motor is $6-$8,000....you need to keep it a long while to get your value out of it...Re: mileageI'm not sure where you are looking but I believe there are a lot of nice lower mileage trucks for under $15k....I have owned a few, and they are not hard to find. If you are looking at car dealers, you are looking at the premium prices. I almost always look to private sellers for the better deals. The same truck you might find at a dealership would be several thousand $$$ cheaper from a private owner....at least most of the time. Not being a car guy, you would certainly want to have a vehicle inspected by a legitimate mechanic BEFORE a final purchase.....good luckRe: Tires & wheels for towingI found a guy that had swapped out his black 20" factory Laramie wheels for some really huge wheel/tire combination..... His tires had less than 3,000 miles on them, and were in excellent shape. We swapped my chrome clad wheels and tires for his +$300....he wanted my old ones for winter driving. Worked for both of us....thanks for the commentsRe: Tires & wheels for towing Grit dog wrote: If you want to stay stock wheels, the OE 20s are pretty sharp imo. Esp in black. And they're tough. That's what I just bought...they were take offs from another 2016 nad are in excellent condition with 3,000 miles. The only drawback is that they have the Firestone factory A/T tires....can't wait for them to wear out....Re: Tires & wheels for towing jus2shy wrote: Bedlam wrote: vonzoog wrote: Bedlam wrote: vonzoog wrote: OK I'll bite. What in the world does towing a fifth wiheel have to do with the weight rating. Loading 6000 pounds in the bed or putting 3000 pounds of fifth wheel in the bed, what in the world is the difference? Maybe I just totally don't understand. Would someone please explain? Many of the bling rims have a 2000-2500 lb rating which is just fine for a grocery getter but outright dangerous for someone that carries maximum weight in their bed or tows a FW with a heavy pin weight. So what you/they are saying these wheels are useless for any type of towing or load carrying. Then for everyone in this forum my thought would be, did you buy the truck to do a job or did you really what a grocery hauler? My point being is, if you are limited to 2500 lbs.,the whole purpose of owning a truck is useless for what the truck is design to do. It's kind of like the young guys that pay for a diesel only to put oversized tires on it to go "muddin". I must be getting old. I just don't get it. It gets even worse. My F250 PSD was 4500 lbs on the front axle before I loaded it up. Many of these aftermarket rims are overloaded with an empty truck and no driver or passengers... Yep, plenty of "Bro-Dozers" out there. Impractical Lift, huge rims with extremely low profile off-road tires, etc... Some people love trucks for the status, size and looks; therefore they modify to such standards. Some buy trucks for practicality and build to suit their standards. That's America. Heck, I think trucks are just as much a status symbol now a days as a BMW in the 80's and 90's. That's why such super-high-end trims as "Platinum", "Platinum-Reserve", "1892 Edition", "Longhorn Laramie" (etc...) all exist. You are probably doing it the right way. Stay with factory wheels and no worries. I do like yours. ThanksRe: Planning to tow 7500 pounds with Ram 6.4...ok?? Blazing Zippers wrote: We have a 2016 6.4 4x4 CC----and tow a new 5th wheel weighing 10K. Love the combo! MPG between 9 & 10. No power problems at all. Can I ask, is your fifth wheel nose high and do you have much chucking ???Equalizer Hitch Shank Length QuestionI've been searching all over and cannot get a good answer....ugh I am anticipating the purchase of a new Equalizer hitch, but my 2014 Ram 4x4 sits much higher than my old 4x2 truck. Hence, I'll need a longer shank. Will a Reese or Curt shank work or do I have to buy a special shank for the Equalizer hitch. If I have to buy an Equalizer shank, where the heck can I find one?? This is getting more complex than it needs to be, I think, or I am way over thinking this issue...thanksRe: Ram 2500 5.7 hemi mpg.....a bit disappointed 6.7 tow rig wrote: gmcsmoke wrote: you're driving a 3.5 ton brick down the road 75 MPH with a 400 HP engine and you're complaining about MPG? Amen. These posts are ridiculous. It's a truck. It's used for work that only trucks do. If you want mpgs get a vehicle designed for that. Then if it doesn't get the mpgs you want, you have something to be disappointed about. It's like buying a Prius and being disappointed it can't pull a TT. I always appreciate those posts that slam people instead of offering information that might be beneficial to the folks that are actually constructive or seeking relevant information.
GroupsTravel Trailer Group Prefer to camp in a travel trailer? You're not alone.Feb 06, 202544,025 Posts