Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Riddle me this: 2500 vs 3500

3500 due to additional payload. I'd also recommend the aisin transmission which I believe is only available in the 3500.

Bearings and brakes are usually bigger on the 1 tons.

HUGE difference,

Not with the Dodge.

Don't know about nowadays, but the 80's-90's chevy 1 tons had a bigger radiator than the 3/4ers....

I don’t tow enough 75% of the time to need a 3/4-1 ton, but those times I do, I may have 7k # of tractor and bucket, then add bush hog, other implements,....whatever, and sometimes it’s not far, but other times I may be going 6-10 hours. If I was just hauling around here, I’d be fine with an older something. I don’t think I’ll be buying brand new, either. I just don’t want to be looking at my 1st gen tundra and then at my bud’s small skid steer or my Deere 5200 and our equipment trailer, and knowing I better not try that. LOL

I don’t think I’d have a cab over or utility bed need, but you never know, I guess.....just trying to be able to load up whatever I have and get to duck or deer camp, or such....when I want, and not having worrying about enough truck. No commercial use. No dozers or track hoes or huge skidders.

These days they use the same one, at least NAPA sells the same one for both of them.

Rent. It's so much cheaper and you can get exactly what you need for those occasional jobs. Owning the excess capacity is a waste of money, but tons of people do it for their ego and they pay.

I bought my2019 Duramax, specifically for hunting and hauling heavy loads around my place. Rental companies take a dim view of using their vehicles off road. Some say specifically that you can't do it. My old 98 Ram 2500 maxed out right at my load of truck, slide in camper, trailer, mules, tack and gear. With the Chevy at 23K capacity I have some to spare and it doesn't skip a beat pulling over 11-10K mountain passes. Same with me, hauling those heavy loads is probably 70-75% of use. Keeping a few mules all year, spending a few thousand on hunting is probably a waste of money too, but I enjoy my retirement .

If you're hauling and towing heavy 75% of the time, then by all means buy or keep the one-ton. But the OP implied those numbers are flipped for his use -- 75% of the time he doesn't need it.

Nobody really off-roads a tow rig, not by my definition of tow rig or off-road. Driving unpaved fire roads isn't offroading. What the mules do is offroad. So my suggestion was never to offroad a rental truck, but for the guy who tows heavy only on occasion to rent for those occasions and buy or keep based on the majority use.

I remember back in the day I had buddies that would talk about buying Duramax duallies so they could put their Harleys in the back and then tow their Mastercraft. They did it too, and the fifth wheels and the side-by-sides. My neighbor just bought a new GMC 3500 Denali to tow his 5th wheel and 4-seat RZR, replaced his older Dodge Mega-Cab.

Personally, I'm not retired yet, but I am enjoying being able to meet all my family's needs and being debt-free. I'm not here to judge anyone different. Some people can afford more pickup than they need. Others just want more than they can afford. In my experience, once you buy a vehicle that isn't going to make you money, it's just about impossible to get your money back without severe depreciation and loss on the resale.

I’m not driving 30 min to an hour to rent a truck, AND most of time I’m towing off pavement at some point or other.....some nasty dirt, chert, clay roads. Think farm use on the side. Let me clarify: I tow something a lot. I only need to tow BEYOND my current truck’s abilities on occasion. It’d also probably make more sense for me to daily drive a couple of trucks (likely keeping the older, paid off one, for hunting/off-road) if one is paid for, than own a commuter car that won’t do ANYTHING else, and pay insurance, etc.....been there, done that. I just ain’t a car person....kinda like owning cats.;)

Would never suggest a car, but you mentioned hunting/off-road. A one-ton won't do that, at least not where I go. That's why people tow side-by-sides, ATV's, and 4x4 project crawlers.

As much as you'd do nasty, better to do it to a rental than one you own. Use a decent credit card, and it's all insured. Nevertheless, the times you'd need to go beyond your current truck's towing capacity aren't likely the one's that also call for extreme offroad. I don't intend to keep trying to convince you, but to clarify that my point is that you can borrow the capability that you rarely use on a temporary basis and that allows you to buy/own/keep capabilities that are incompatible. There's no one vehicle that can do it all, so it makes sense to own what you use the most or what you cannot rent. Big towing capacity is one of the easiest rentals. Driving an hour to pick up a rental is not a big deal if you only need it one or two weeks out of the year. I do that with RV's. I am so glad I don't permanently own one of those money pits. Speaking of money pits, I do it with boats too. With the boats, a day's rental costs almost half a monthly payment on the same boat, but who can boat several days a month all year long? I have too many other avocations. I only rent a boat one day a year or two years. The rest of the time the payments, depreciation, insurance, registration and storage costs are all someone else's. I also don't have to register the trailer, tow it, or pay launch fees. No doubt for someone who boats every weekend it's worth it to own one. I own a canoe. I can put it in the quieter lakes that I prefer, and it's paid for. It has capabilities the big boats don't have and I use it far more often than the powerboats or sailing boats so I own it and rent those.

As for off roading, three weeks ago I had to travel 12 miles on nasty road. All up hill, rocky, ruts, deep wash board. I was hauling my full load .I was able to make 3-5,miles per hour in 2nd gear 4WD. Summer I haul a few loads of 3x3 bales , about 6 ton a load.At times more gravel for my lane .I sold my 22 ft triaxle flatbed this summer, but still have a 14 ftdump.

I have rented 1/2 trucks, but have not seen many 3/4 T rentals here locally. I don't need a 1 T, but a 1/2 ton won't do for my every day chores.I have not owned a 1/2 T since about 1969.

Western juniper, holy sht do you rent a spade shovel too? Who's show do you think you run here, rent a center?

A working man's lifeline is his tools and his truck. Hh4 needs a truck.

Shotgun rifle and a rented 4wd.....that just don't sound right!

Give it a rest.

No. He doesn't need a truck. He already owns one. He may want another one and inquired here for advice about the particulars which is what I offered. So back off with the hostile rhetoric towards someone who has maintained civility in his conversation.

Maybe there’s some confusion.

Yes, I will take it OFF-PAVEMENT, but I don’t intend it for true ‘off-road’ use. I have a Rhino, an FZJ80, and a 1st gen Tundra. The Tundra or the Landcruiser would go, and one would stay....depending.

No, I can’t and won’t rent a truck....they can’t be rented anywhere nearby that suits my needs, nor do I want to plan ahead because I ‘might’ need it, or all the HUGE PITA issues I can think of with the logistics of not having THE truck on hand, when needed. Heck, I wouldn’t normally rent a boat, either. I generally keep a few on hand and have plenty to borrow, if I have a different need.....but they’re seasonal/use specific, and I don’t drive them as much as even my tractor most times.

I’m trying to learn what I might need TO OWN in a 3/4-1T, towing 4x4, that won’t restrict whatever I might need to tow, when I need to tow it, or where I need to haul it to. Now, what is possibly debatable is true ‘need’ for a diesel over a gas, when I’m only towing heavy on occasion.....the extra grunt would be nice, but it might be more pain than it’s worth, and gas burners are likely cheaper to own and maintain right now.....at least in the emissions diesels.

Thanks again.

Hh4,
I hope you keep the landcruiser. An fzj80 is an excellent hunting rig. I've owned 3 80s: a fully locked fzj80, lx 450, and a right hand drive HD-j 81 imported from Japan.

In all cases, with a mild lift, the cavernous wheel wells swallowed 35s. The full floating rear axles were tough against heavy loads of firewood. The disc breaks whole way around, were a joy to work on.

The head gasket job on one was straight forward, but took me at least 40 hours and well over $4000 in machine work on the head and oem parts.

I converted one to a four door with little Ute bed in the back. To keep the smells of fish coolers and meat out of the cab. The nice seats and coil suspension was easy on the back doing the 3 hour runs to klutina lake on the trail.

The low end torque of the big 1fz-fe is superb. The 80 was Toyota's finest, a tundra will never compare.

Likewise, you get into a used one ton dodge, ford or chevy, that tundra will never do safely, what a big American truck can do. The diesels do better setting than gas. Diesel fuel isn't as hard on injectors or seals as gas when they sit stored. Good luck man.

Thanks....good info on the ‘sitting’ part. I’ve had FJ40s, a 60, a cruiser, and now this triple lock fzj. My only reason for not keeping it would be all the minor stuff and cosmetics it needs to be 100% function and wife/road trip-friendly, compared to my tundra. I’m not sure I want to spend the time and $ to get it where I want it.....but if I do/can, (you’re correct) not much better that I know of. I’d love to get it back 100% on the interior and minor stuff, get my lift sorted, and get a small, lifted trailer to run behind it....and just drive it for 400k. Lol