Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire RV folks

2018 duramax with 32’ grand design transcend

That's what I was thinking.

I have a triple axel fifth wheel that's pushing on 20k pounds sitting on my property at the moment.
It belongs to a friend who doesn't own a truck suitable to pull it but is shopping.

A contractor pulled it in here for him with a 1 ton truck and it was obviously under rated which seriously effected maneuverability in tight spots.

It was then that he came to the realization that he needed to step-up his thoughts on what he was going to need for a truck.

He's a lifetime flatlander with dreams of touring the Northwest.
I told him when he starts driving through the Rockies he needed to consider having a truck that was not only powerful enough to pull it up a mountain pass but also capable of safely stopping it when going down the other side.

I shared pictures of your rig with him, he likes it!

Yep - he needs a dualie, minimum, and it better be configured for max towing. I gave up on the F-350s due to the pos E-rated tires and (now) rear end ratios limited to 4:10s (Ford) when powered by the 6.7... The last one I had didn't handle the camper well.. Going to the F-450 gave me G-rated tires, bigger brakes, 4:30 gears, better engine brake system etc... Last tow to/from Custer City made those hills on HWY 16 a piece of cake.. But even so, I am limited to anything heavier than 21K due to GCWR.. I've watched enough videos of haulers in several states (ala TX) that will have owners park 'em if they're over on GCWR..

With splattermatic's rig, that doesn't apply..

I shared pictures of your F450 with him too, these are the two options he is considering.

I'm thinking something like the Volvo, used, under 3 or 400k miles.
Not the Cadillac version I posted but a decent truck might come at a fair price.

It'd make for a heck of a run-about grocery hauler once you get to where you're going and park the RV.

The truck really should not relied upon stopping the rig…..the trailer should do the majority of the braking. The class 7’s/8’s would be great in the advent of a trailer brake failure. With a heavy rv, most conventional pickup trucks will be woefully inadequate for emergency or fast stops without trailer assist! memtb

What does this mean? Did you misstate?

https://www.ford.com/cmslibs/conten...ides/21Towing_Ford_SuperDuty_PU_Dec3.pdf

Not sure anyone who's viewing this thread, saw I'm selling these down in the marketplace.
May be something someone could use ?
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/17121455/1

That's for a stripped, single cab, work truck, F450.
The more acc's and junk added, reduces weights.

the difference between the 450 and 350 is not very much...look at kingstons chart......if I was to go up in 5th wheel size I have a 35 footer now...I would probably go to the 550.

I would not be without 4wd....bob

Mine's an F-450 LB, CC, DRW 6.7 Lariat and quite loaded... Empty weight w/full tank of fuel is 9350#... Max GVW is 14K, that leaves me with about 4K available weight to carry after two passengers enter the cab... The 21K LUXE camper has a pin weight of 3800+.. That leaves just 200# for tools, misc., yada yada yada. GCWR on my truck is 35K (5th wh).... Go over that, and get checked by the popo, and they can have me park it until something gets lightened up...

The camper I have at this time has a pin wt. of 3600#, so I have 400# of weight available at this time...

What year was your last 350? I get the tires and brakes but since the 6.7L came out it has gone up 200 lbs of torque and like 100 hp. That would be a huge difference, 4:10 to 4:30 is almost no change. More people should do your upgrade to a bigger truck. Out here I see the massive toyhaulers out here running on single rear axles and trying to do 80. It's scary. Near the Imperial Sand Dunes (aka Glamis) the CHP has been known to set up weight check stations. People coming through there end up with some big tickets.

I spent 22 years in a Freightliner FL106 or a KenworthT800. No way in heck I’m getting a large enough RV to make me buy another, 27’ Lance bumper pull behind my 2018 2500HD Duramax works just fine for the wife and I,

'17.. The '16 I hade before had an option not available on the '17; a "max tow" package that dropped rear gears to 4:30, and extended the front axle to mimic the F-450. I ordered that one. The '17 I bought off the lot which was a mistake - the turning radius of that wide axle went away and rear gears dropped to 4:10.. At that time we got a different camper (the one we have now) and the GTW went up from 18K to 19K. The last two years we took it to the Sturgis Rally and back the '17 did just "ok", but not as well as the '16.. Obviously, the extra 1000# didn't help either..

Fast forward to this one - and the last two runs to the rally and back I got an extra 1 mpg over the '17, much easier up and down truck bypass HWY 16 on those hills; it was easier to keep a relatively even speed compared to the last truck. You do make a valid point re: HP/TRQ upgrade from the '17 - this one has about 1050# torque, but even with the added HP over the '17 I'm still getting better towing mpg over the other truck..

One other thing I completely forgot to note: this truck is the first year of the 10-sp trans, and THAT also makes hauling a lot easier.. A lower 'low', and (IIRC) two extra gears on top. Previous trucks all had the 6-sp.. If the person above who's looking for a truck, getting a '20 or newer will make his hauling days a lot nicer...


FWIW..

I'm paying attention.

I would question that mileage for sure something does not seem right, you need to hand calculate that mileage. I have a 2006 Chevy 2500HD with the Duramax/Allison, 4x4, crew cab. I tow a 21 foot bunkhouse camper that weighs about 4000 pounds down I-40 mostly flat after I get off of Black Mountain. I think the best mileage I ever got going east was around 14 MPG, running about 70 MPH. Coming back west and up the grades its usually around 11.8 to 12.5 MPG according to how hard i'm pushing it.

As far as empty on the same rout I can get right around 19.8 MPG, running 70 MPH.

I towed a 26 foot K-Z (just under 30bumper to hitch) across the US a couple of times. Tow vehicle is a 2017 Ram 3500. During our last trip, to Florida, the K-Z burnt up in Mississippi and we just bought a used Arctic Fox, of similar size, as a replacement. I get around 12 mpg or slightly better, depending on the route. As noted, climbing up through Arizona/ New Mexico uses some fuel.
By the way, when going through Flagstaff, it has been snowing as often as not! GD