Researching best 1/2 ton truck for pulling a trailer

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First, thanks to all whom have replied, with some excellent advice.  I failed to explain that I am not new to towing, and understand GVW, as well as the gear ratios that are the best for towing.  I have had both a Chevy diesel, and a 3/4 ton Ford, and pulled a 24' horse trailer. 

My wife wants a fiberglass TT no longer than 18-20 feet.  If we purchased one of the large ones with the GVWR of 5,000 lbs it would be well within the limit of a newer 1/2 pickups that I'm looking at. 

I don't mean to start a war of truck manufactures, but would like to hear if owners of the various truck had problems with their truck, and get advice. Some of you have already provided me with the information I was seeking, and I welcome additional advice. 

This is a GREAT forum! 
 
PapaRoe said:
First, thanks to all whom have replied, with some excellent advice.  I failed to explain that I am not new to towing, and understand GVW, as well as the gear ratios that are the best for towing.  I have had both a Chevy diesel, and a 3/4 ton Ford, and pulled a 24' horse trailer. 

My wife wants a fiberglass TT no longer than 18-20 feet.  If we purchased one of the large ones with the GVWR of 5,000 lbs it would be well within the limit of a newer 1/2 pickups that I'm looking at. 

I don't mean to start a war of truck manufactures, but would like to hear if owners of the various truck had problems with their truck, and get advice. Some of you have already provided me with the information I was seeking, and I welcome additional advice. 

This is a GREAT forum!
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It's good to know you are an experienced tower. We always assume someone new isn't aware of weight restrictions as many aren't and we want people to be safe, hence all the advice on that topic.

Can't help with truck as we have 3/4 Ram which we love!

 
kdbgoat said:
That's one inherent problem with the written word, especially on a forum, it's difficult to decipher what one means when it's just there in print. One can't detect emphasis and inflections of the spoken word. I know I write pretty blunt sometimes, but were I speaking the same thing, it would come off completely different.
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That is never the problem. The problem is people claim I said things I never said.
 
PapaRoe said:
I don't mean to start a war of truck manufactures, 

This is a GREAT forum! 
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I haven't seen an really bad manufacturers wars on here, (thank goodness). Most advice against a particular manufacturer your likely to see here is based upon one's actual experience and doing research for themselves. Ford, Ram, GM, Toyota all make capable pickups and each have their advantages and disadvantages. I'm not sure how the newer Nissan Titan's are doing, as I never hear much about them. It's like I'm pretty much a Ram guy, but see my sig line-I'm pulling with a Ford. When looking for a truck to be able to pull my trailer loaded to it's max, I found that a lot of the Ram 2500's had really low payload capacity. I mean low enough that it would almost be embarrassing to a 1/2 ton. The Ford fit my bill, and was the right price. I'm completely satisfied with it so far. I would have bought a GM if the right one was there at the right time. One thing about the GM's is I think they're butt ugly. That's just my opinion, and no one can change that. They are really nice trucks though.

And yes, this is a great forum! Please don't take away anything negative about the posts between Tom (Seilerbird) and I. I have a great deal of respect for Tom. If we had all been sitting around a campfire having this discussion, it would have come off with a completely different tone.
 
PapaRoe said:
First, thanks to all whom have replied, with some excellent advice.  I failed to explain that I am not new to towing, and understand GVW, as well as the gear ratios that are the best for towing.  I have had both a Chevy diesel, and a 3/4 ton Ford, and pulled a 24' horse trailer. 

My wife wants a fiberglass TT no longer than 18-20 feet.  If we purchased one of the large ones with the GVWR of 5,000 lbs it would be well within the limit of a newer 1/2 pickups that I'm looking at. 

I don't mean to start a war of truck manufactures, but would like to hear if owners of the various truck had problems with their truck, and get advice. Some of you have already provided me with the information I was seeking, and I welcome additional advice. 

This is a GREAT forum!
Click to expand...

I am in your exact same boat.  I was researching Ford, RAM and Chevy.  I'm leaning towards the F150 for the price and the towing capability and other factors.  Although keep in mind they just had a recall.  It might all come down to the deal you can get since I think they're all pretty much the same in durability.
 
Towed 4000 lb tow behind about 12,000 miles, and a 7,000 lb 5th wheel about 24000 miles with a 2005 RAM 1500 HEMI 1/2 ton.  Almost 100,000 miles on truck when traded in.  Only problem was 1 water pump.

Now have 3/4 ton RAM 2500 with Cummins Diesel - pulling a larger, heavier 5th wheel (about 8500 loaded)  No problems what so ever.

Can I recommend a RAM truck?  You betcha.

Doesn't mean the others are not also great. They may be just as good.  :D Don't know. ::)

Ron and Joyce
 
I was leaning toward the F150.  Three of my neighbors have the F150 with the 3.5, and really like them.  However, with the brake failure recall on the earlier 3.5's, and then the complete lost of steering on the 2016's (recall), this has turned me to look at the Tundra (which my son-in-law has, but he NEVER tows anything), and the Ram (which is VERY popular here in southern New Mexico.  I haven't driven a Ram, but plan on doing that this morning. 
 
My ol' truck-driving Grandfather and Gramma towed a thier loaded down 29 foot tandem axle Nomad travel trailer all over Canada, the U.S. and Mexico ...

not with a 3/4 ton truck...... not a 1/2 ton truck....

He towed it with a big brown 1974 Dodge Polaris 440 c/i gas engine ...and a load leveling hitch.   

(....FYI...  trailers also have brakes... )
 
TonyDtorch said:
My ol' truck-driving Grandfather and Gramma towed a thier loaded down 29 foot tandem axle Nomad travel trailer all over Canada, the U.S. and Mexico ...

not with a 3/4 ton truck...... not a 1/2 ton truck....

He towed it with a big brown 1974 Dodge Polaris 440 c/i gas engine ...and a load leveling hitch.   

(....FYI...  trailers also have brakes... )
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Had similar experiences in my life.

1/2 ton trucks can work just fine and are IMO much nicer to drive when not hauling a trailer.

Just do the math to make sure it's not overloaded.
 
markbarendt said:
1/2 ton trucks can work just fine and are IMO much nicer to drive when not hauling a trailer.

Just do the math to make sure it's not overloaded.
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X2.  With that said, I return to the flippant response. 

Since you are aware of load limits, etc, and understand all that,  drive all trucks of interest and get the one your wife likes.  While most here prefer a specific brand, we all agree there are no really bad ones, just some better than other, and which one depends on who you ask!
 
I like the wife remark, we needed truck to pull our rv, old 2002 Dodge was grunting up hills. So I went truck shopping, without hubby knowing,  drove 3, and picked our 2013 Toyota Tundra, pulls like a dream, don't know RV is back there... we are talking Montana driving.. over 9k mountain passes. Love the down shift on the "stick" we can head down a hill and just drop in lower gear, saves brakes... Love my opps our Tundra!
 
TonyDtorch said:
He towed it with a big brown 1974 Dodge Polaris 440 c/i gas engine ...and a load leveling hitch.   

(....FYI...  trailers also have brakes... )
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Lucy and Desi pulled a 35-footer with a convertible coupe, in 1954's "The Long, Long Trailer."  Someone explain THAT one to me!
 

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PapaRoe said:
My wife wants a fiberglass TT no longer than 18-20 feet. 
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Your wife wants it no longer than 18-20 feet?  Why?

Is she going to be driving some of the time? 

You didn't say how you were going to use the TT.
If your plan is only a weekend here or there it might be OK.

IF you plan to use it weeks or months at a time then IMO 20 ft is way to small.
It's your life and you can do what you want.
But we see it over and over people buy small and then very often start upgrading again and again.
Each time they do that, it costs them more money.  Start out bigger and you may never need/want to upgrade or
at least not for a longer time vs. buying small to start with.

With that said - IF there is any chance you might look at a bigger trailer then I would look at the 2500 or F250's more if there
isn't a big difference in cost. 

Just trying to save you from having to upgrade a TT and a truck because you started out to small.

Good luck with your searching.
 
Trailer was a 36' Redman Blue Moon, pulled by a 1953 Merc Montclair, that as Tom stated, was 125 hp. In the mountain scenes, they used a 1953 Lincoln Capri that had 205 hp! They also had a dolly between the car and the trailer to support the tongue weight of the trailer, and from what I have read, was pretty common thing to use back in the day.
 
Joezeppy said:
Except for the one dirt road when Lucy was trying to make dinner, right? That's actually the only part of the movie I've seen. I've been meaning to rent/buy it!
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Well in that scene they were using a more powerful car. But basically they were not climbing steep grades.
 
Sorry to continue the off topic bend, but I have to say they were not always on flat land.
https://vimeo.com/77392290
 
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