Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives 3/4 ton as a daily driver

Thinking I may need to go this route. The trailer isn't too heavy at 7000 pounds but tongue weight of 1500 lbs. is causing a problem.

Which 3/4 ton rig out there would be as comfortable and economical as possible as an everyday driver?

Going to be a lot of people say to stay away from a Diesel, but find a good Dodge 5.9 and go do whatever you have to do.

Oil changes are about 2-3x as much doing it yourself, but that's the only negative in my book. Would be nice if diesel was cheaper at the pump like it should be but that's the way it is.

Otherwise a 2500 Dodge with a Hemi, respectable mileage empty if you have a light foot and it'll pull what your looking to do just fine.


I'm a Ford Person by the way, but have a '07 5.9 for my main pulling rig. It's not easier or harder to drive in traffic or mall parking lots than my old 1/2 Ford Extended cab I had.

I drive a 3/4 ton Chevy everyday, Mileage is about the same as my wife's xterra, Little less, you can't beat the Highway ride of a Chevy, if you are always pulling an old 5.9 dodge is hard to beat, but if your off road alot a Ford will hold up best.

My 3/4T 98 Cummins gets almost indentical milage as my 2004 Tacoma. 21-22MPG.
I have not owned a 1/2t PU since about 1970 or so.

Unfortunately a 3/4 ton has a stiff suspension, which it needs for pulling and carrying a load. When you drive it unloaded, it's going to have a somewhat harsh ride. You can air the tires down for a smoother ride, but then your mileage goes down.

Econonomical is another tough one, the diesel will get much better mileage when towning, but initial purchase price is higher, and the higher fuel cost pretty much offsets the slightly better mileage when driving empty.

All in all I've been very happy with my '06 2500 ram cummins. Solid axcles front and rear, manually shifted transfer case, torque +p and reasonable mileage for a ~7000# vehicle. Yes, the ride is a bit stiff when empty, but I'm not a cappuccino cowboy that expects my truck to drive like a cadillac. It settles down nicely when it has a load in it.

Unfortunately with a dual purpose vehicle, you're going to have to compromise somewhwere.

Just had to go this route with a similar weight camper. My wife's camper desires exceeded the mountain capacity of her Suburban. Well under max specs, but the hamsters were screaming in that engine going up the hill as the speedo went backwards. Not wanting to spend double the time on our trips or quickly trash the vehicle, we bought a new Dodge 2500 Crew Cab short bed with the Cummins. Just bought it on Saturday so this is no long term review, but I have been very pleasantly surprised with the unloaded ride quality. I've mainly been driving half-ton trucks for most of my life so that's my comparison base and I have no complaints. However, it is LARGE. Parking is even more of a hassle than it was with the Suburban.

That's a lot of tongue wt. Consider finding one with a comfortable ride when empty, then installing air bag suspension. With an on-board compressor, you can blow up the bags when towing. They'll make a BIG difference.

That's not what I've seen. The Fords don't have a solid front axle, for one. I'd start with that first. E

1 ton Fords do, the 3/4 tons don't though.


Have to agree with whomever said the Chevy's probably do ride the best, Ford is very well built.

Dodge 5.9 is one hell of a motor

Personally I'd love to have a nice club cab short box 1 ton Ford King Ranch with a 5.9 tucked away in the Engine Bay

I've driven quite a few ford 250's, and know that 70-80,000 miles of arctic gravel oil field roads will shake them apart. Not to say the same wouldn't be the case for Chevy or Dodge. I've only driven one ram 2500 up there, and it didn't have enough miles to be able to assess how it'll hold up long term.

Have you tried a weight distributing hitch?

Yes, but it still smashed down the rear end. Having said that, I guessed at the tongue weight and bought a 1000 WDH. Took it to a scale and discovered I was at 1500". So, I need to buy a 1500# WDH and see what happens. Based on all the numbers I've been researching it appears as though even with a new 1/2 ton the tongue weight is still too much. For example, I went and looked at an F150 EcoBoost. Awesome truck but the max tongue weight with weight distribution states 1050 lbs. At 1500 pounds I'm way over that.

Government Motors will have the best ride in a 3/4 ton.

I'm not sure why you're concerned, lots of people out there driving 3/4's. Easiest is to just try one and find out for yourself. And new ones ride even better than in the past, especially GM's with IFS. Also diesels now are so quiet you can barely tell them from a gas engine.

Not so much "concerned" about them, just have no experience with them at all whatsoever. I don't expect my truck to ride like a Caddy but I don't want to get beat to hell with my every day driver either.

The 2011 Chevy rides *really* nice compared to my last 3/4 ton and 1 ton experiences (84 and 78 Chevy's). The Duramax also like being propelled from a slingshot, the torque just keeps on coming.

The new ones ride awfully nice. You shouldn't even have to ask.....do a test drive and you'll find out.

Holy Cow! I thought my one custom trailer was tongue heavy at 450-lbs but 1,500 lbs is rediculous and I don't see how you ever put it on the truck and maintain control.

I would take that trailer and have it redone, don't know what your hauling but waaaaaay to much tongue weight. You could might move the axels forward etc. or put some kind of counter weight towards the rear of that trailer. I can haul right at 10,500-lb on my one trailer that is 22-ft long and 7,000 on the other trailer, which is 14-ft.

It's the 1500 pounds of ATV's being loaded onto the front deck that sits between the tongue and double-axles that causes the problem. 1000 of the 1500 pounds hits the tongue!!!

Are you using an equilizer hitch?