If your on the fence about going 3/4 ton..

[grashley]

That payload is impressive!  As Steve said, here is why:  Compared to my 350 Lariat Diesel, weighing in at 8000#, your truck sheds 500# in options and 700# of motor weight.  8000# minus 1200# = 6800# - minus the heavier suspension on the F350, plus Snow Plow package weight.

With GVWR of 10,000# and guesstimate weight of 6800# = 3200# payload.

Yes, the 3400# is very realistic.  The two big keys are a lighter gasser motor and XL trim.

 

[scale obsession]

After the ride home today, I will never put myself in a situation where my trucks at its limit again. We loaded up, and while waiting at the dump station I decided to check the weather. Wind advisory. 50 mph gusts. We got dumped and started our journey. I had 1/3 tank left in the fresh tank. The additional weight up front made the mini lite feel like a small utility trailer.  The wind wasn?t even an issue. Kept my speed at 62.  Had we been in the 1500, I believe this ride would have been a very white knuckled experience.

 

[Gizmo100]

So your very first trip out and all that hard work paid off..

 

[scale obsession]

So your very first trip out and all that hard work paid off..

100% the time I spent fine tuning the hitch paid off huge today. The extra water wasn?t planned but I?ll always try to keep some in the tank after seeing the difference of that as well.

 

[jackiemac]

Glad it has worked out. Hope you enjoyed the camping too....

 

[scale obsession]

We had a very nice time =)

 

[SpencerPJ]

We had a very nice time =)

) ) )

 

[scale obsession]

In conclusion, what I have learned through this experience is that your always better off to have too much truck. While your TV may be rated to tow a  certain weight, the payload may be too low to sufficiently handle the weight of the tongue, plus your gear. Even with the crazy wind on our return trip home, this truck was more planted and stable than my 1500 was on a day where the weather was perfect. When your vehicle is at its max limits, it handles poorly. Add bad weather in the mix and its miserable. Always " over truck"  Appreciate all the help guys.

 

[Lou Schneider]

100% the time I spent fine tuning the hitch paid off huge today. The extra water wasn?t planned but I?ll always try to keep some in the tank after seeing the difference of that as well.

Keep in mind a partially filled water tank will slosh, throwing the weight of that water back and forth.  Which way is the long dimension of your water tank, side to side or front to back?

A half filled tank will slosh the most, having the worst combination of water weight and room to move.  An empty tank obviously won't slosh (no water weight) but neither will a full tank (no room for the water to move).

 

[Madcow]

The 7.3 gasser in the medium pickup trucks from Ford is going to be a good fit for a lot of folks.  I am waiting to see how most folks do with the new 6.6L gasser coming out in the 2020 GM 3/4 and 1 tons.  Substantially more power than the 6.0 and will give the 7.3 a challenge.  With the complexity and cost of diesel, I am surprised that the battle of the big bore gassers took so long to start up again. 

I got my 2015 Chevy 2500 6.0 for a really good deal.  Cheaper than any loaded 1/2 ton around.  I have been real pleased with it.  I started out with a 1966 Chevy C10 back in the day.  I moved on to 3/4 tons after that.  Did have one foray into 1/2 ton territory in 2013. I was inventing new swear words every day, so to keep my sanity I gave it up and went back to 3/4 ton.

 

[Bearcatrp]

3/4 ton is the way to go if your close on max weight using a 1/2 ton. I bumped up to a 3/4 when a sweetheart deal arose. Nice thing about dodge is coil springs all around on 3/4 ton. 3:73?s is a good happy medium if you don?t pull allot. Best mpg so far is 19.1 unloaded with my 6.4 hemi. 10-11 mpg pulling my 34 foot 5th wheel. Worth every penny.

 

[KandT]

I hadn't considered that my diesel would shed 700 pounds of ccc.  Live and learn!

 

[hopelessdiy]

I have yet to meet anyone who regretted going to 3/4T.  I'll never go back.  Maybe a gasser although the torque of my dmax is really nice.  Its an 06 before all the new DEF and 9th injector designs.  I don't think that they make enough diesels to get them adequately tested before hitting the market and the EPA has made the lubrosity of diesel fuel go away so looks like diesels are in for more problems for a while.  I wonder how the big rigs are handling it, perhaps they are so overdesigned that they don't see those problems.

 

[Gizmo]

That was a smart move. I have never heard anyone that pulls a trailer complain that they bought "too much truck". That is known as "room to grow".  If you ever decide you want a little bigger trailer, you are already good to go.

My thoughts as well, although it can a tough call on how big a truck to get because it is a rare person buying their first RV who knows where they will end up.  If I had known where we would end up in the RV world, I would have bought the truck we now have from the beginning, even though the first two trailers we owned did not require this much truck.  On the other hand if we either decided later on to stop RV'ing, or stay with smaller trailers within the capabilities of my original truck, we would not have needed to invest in the more expensive and a larger truck.

 

[coxid]

Very few folks complain about to much truck for towing
Many folks complain about to LITTLE truck for towing

Get a little engine go slow get PI** poor mileage
Get  big engine go Fast get PI** poor mileage

 

[Back2PA]

Best mpg so far is 19.1 unloaded with my 6.4 hemi. 10-11 mpg pulling my 34 foot 5th wheel. Worth every penny.

You say hemi so this is a gasser? What year? That's great mileage. Best I can do is 15 unloaded @ 60, flat road. 8.5 pulling @ 60 flat. If I can see a hill way out on the horizon, mileage drops to 7.5  :-\

 

[Bearcatrp]

2017 Ram 2500 tradesman crew cab with 2:73's, yes gas.