We have been RV-ing for 20 years off and on. Navy threw me from coast to coast so we learned the RV life.

We currently have a Forest River 33 ft fiver. Left Alabama Friday headed for Vegas for family visit.

Driving across America is pretty cool if you're confident in your tow vehicle. 2018 RAM 3500 with HO Cummins and AISIN, deleted and tuned, that is a freaking towing BEAST. This truck will pull your house and not even blink.

Vegas Baby. MAGA

Glad to see you have a good and proper tow vehicle. I'm on my third Ram CTD, all 2500's. I don't pull anything much heavier than 10K. It's a hoss when towing. I can pass Lesbaru's going uphill with the trailer attached. Just a treat to see someone else that isn't trying to max out their tow rating and driving 50 in a 65 on a summer holiday weekend with 30 vehicles jammed up behind him.

Nice setup. I know duallies are great for supporting heavy loads, but changing an inner tire is a SOB!

I have a f350 diesel but single rear wheel, not a dually. We recently sold our RV and probably won’t buy another for a couple years in this economy. My question is, does the dual rear wheels make a huge difference in towing. I never had any issues with our trailer but it was only 26’ long and not that heavy. I have pulled lots of gooseneck horse trailers without an issue, though they are generally not as tall as a 5th wheel. Just weighing cost vs benefit in my next truck purchase.

Nice set-up. Too many people are convinced by dealers that "it will handle it" when they are maxed or over on weight for the vehicle. I like to have twice the tow rating for the trailer I am pulling.

Rv life is Great
We Have a 42ft Montana 5th wheel that we live here in FL 7 Months out of the year in central part of the state.
And a 35ft Montana 5th wheel that we travel with for the remaining 5 months. We are headed to Branson MO at they end of April,
I like Mo it's borders touch 8 other states and if you do just a little dogs leg through one of the bordering states it increases to 13 states.
you can get to see a lot of country in half a days drive.

Dean

PS: my tow rig is a 2019 chevy 2500 with 14400lbs 5th wheel cap

I like your tow rig....

You can't go wrong with that combo!

Just jack 'er up and pull the wheel off, same as a SRW only you have to pull two wheels.


Airing up a low inside(or outside) dual can indeed by a pain in the ass if you don't have the proper air chuck.

I do a lot of RVing too since I retired from the USN. I have a 34 ft Keystone 5th wheel.

I made a deal with my wife I would bring her to see "The Pioneer woman" place in OK
And Then we go see the giant Paul Bunyan and his OX Blue and then for the Trifecta the worlds biggest ball of yarn. LOL

I have a 2018 f350 4wd dually 6.7 deleted and tuned that pulls my 2018 35' montana......pulling is a breeze.....get the dually it is better....bob

This! it is huge to have overpower. As I travel the Interstates I see ENORMOUS trailers pulled by underpowered trucks.

I see 40+ trailers pulled by trucks that I KNOW are not capable. but hey, it's their insurance.

Ford included a 7.3 gasser starting in 2020. Same HP as the diesel, but lacking in torque. With the 4.3 rear end, it’s rated at 28,500 GCWR for fifth wheel towing. And somewhere near 3700 payload. Went to buy an F350 in 2020 thinking I needed a diesel to pull my 14,000 lb fifth wheel. Dealer talked me out of it, partly because I planned on towing maybe 3000 - 4000 miles per year. Glad he did. The diesel package was 11K more and diesel now is over $1 more per gallon around here, more than offsetting the fuel economy difference.

I can't speak for Dodge but the DRW F350's have a way heavier set of springs compared to the SRW.

No contest, the recent SRW F350 spring setup is WEAK.
(thank you Home Depot mulch warriors)

I bought a set of heavy duty 'bump stops'(Timbren) and they made a huge difference.




As for pulling(stock trailers) I don't notice any difference between DRW and SRW, but I imagine DRW would be nice on a windy day pulling a large camper trailer.

My Son hauls a 37' 5th wheel with his Ram 250 Cummins and has been across the country and up into Maine several times. Wifey and I had a Gulfstream 28' motorhome with 4 bunks in back and a queen cabover back in '99 when kids were young. Ran out West for a month with kids to let them see the sites but time changed and we sold it. Last August 1 we ordered a Gulfstream BT Cruiser 5255 to once again start to enjoy RVing. Picked it up in Texas when it finally came in 3 weeks ago and drove to Orlando for a few days then to Atlanta to see the kids there and then worked our way home here in NY. It has the new 7.3L and WAY more power than we will ever need. Got 13.3 MPG cruising down South on those level roads and averaged almost 12 MPG coming home - about 1MPG more than our old machine which is great.

No schit - we bought a 31.5' 5th wheel 5 years ago and dipshit at dealer bragged up how it was '1/2 ton rated'. No fuggin way I would consider that...

YES, especially with longer/heavier trailers... We pull this, 44' Fuzion 427 - 19K GTW:





With this:

Nice OP. Since 1972 our family has enjoyed camping and touring the entire US and run the gamut with equipment - pickup mounted big campers, hitch pull and 5th wheel trailers, toy haulers and motor homes. All are good if we get it right.

One blessing has been those valve stem extenders that bring the Schrader valve to easy reach outside the dual wheels. Another has been a big 4wd Cummins powered Dodge. And, more recently, an older TREK.

I don't RV, but I do some towing from time to time. Had a 36' 4 horse slant load with living quarters. My '01 Dodge 3500 w/Cummins snatched it down the road like a champ!
BTW! Old Blue turned 22 in Jan and rolled over 400K miles and STILL gets 18mpg!
No major problems. Biggest pain was rear seal went out at about 350K.
Replace all seals: $5500 + seals
Seals cost $48.95
Damn sight cheaper than a new truck!

Youngest has a '17 Dodge 1500 w/ECOdiesel. Not much for pulling but absolutely runs like a top!

We just got home from our spring desert trip, 8 days boondocked to pedal and hike around. We drag a 24' Jayco BH model that the 4, sometimes 5, of us can sleep in and have a restroom.

We do 3 weeklong trips a year lately, with a bunch of long weekend trips. The kids are now teens and sometimes they ditch us for school or extra curricular activities.

We talked this week about downsizing a bit, would be nice for getting into the rough places we like to camp. Also just don't need bunks once the kids ditch us for good.

Towing with an F-250 cclb with the 6.2 gasser, plenty of power and brakes for the 6,000lb trailer fully loaded.

The drives and camps with our kids are the best memories, life is short.

Dodge will pull anything, tractor and gooseneck trailer, 100 MPH, no problem

We spent January and February with our cabover in Baja, Mexico this year. Our truck is a Bulletproofed 2004 Ford 6.0 SRW, 135,000 trouble free miles and yes I know we’ve been lucky with our 6.0, gotta believe the bulletproofing has something to do with that.

After our Great Baja experience we won’t be wasting our time in Arizona again.

Long live the beast !
12.7L Detroit Diesel, series 60 !!
42 foot Momentum 376th.

You spent 2 months down on the Baja Peninsula event free?

I spent a couple months down there once and had a good time but damn. We found ourselves in a couple of sketchy situations.

Where'd you stay?
Where'd you go?

Had ours done right at 200,000 when we purchased a 26 ft bumper pull Winnebago. Damn near eliminated shifting gears. Hope it doesn't die, as I'd hate to write a check for a new one now. Still like my old manual tranny too.



The wall tent is for cooking and winter-time socializing around the wood stove. It's amazing how many chairs and people the tent can hold when the temps go sub-zero.

Cookie's favorite camp for her November mule deer sessions.

I love it... You're like me - 'you can never have too much truck'...

Practicing retirement with a 2529RG Winnebago and F250 with the 6.2.
No complaints with the Ford.
We spent 3 weeks in Florida last Jan. and Feb.
We left a day early to get out of Dodge before the 14" of snow came the end of January.
We still had a dusting in Florence S.C.

Some really nice rigs.

I, too, am of the opinion that too much truck is better than too little truck when towing.

I'd be interested in specifics myself.

One of my pipe dreams was to spend a winter or 3 there myself, but after al the reports I kind of wrote it off.

Have a grand design 2800 bunk house
It’s half ton rated. When we bought it pulled it a few times with a f150 that was fairly decent tow rating for a 1/2 ton. Crazy scary on interstate though

That truck was a pos anyways so I traded for a gmc 2500 at4 diesel SRW

No comparison. That 1/2 ton got blown all around with that camper and needed a expensive hitch just to even be able to pull it

The diesel 3/4 ton hauls it like it isn’t even back there. And gets 18.5mpg interstate doing it. No need for a load hitch. Doesn’t need air bags. Can pretty much just hook up and go

If I went fifth wheel I would go drw though.

We crossed at Mexicali East and went straight down hwy 5 to San Felipe. Spent a week at San Felipe and day-hopped south staying at Gonzaga Bay, Guerrero Negro, Santa Rosalia, and Mulege. At one military checkpoint we had a young soldier take a beer from our refrigerator but otherwise no problems if you don’t count the ‘fine’ I had to pay because I mistakenly drove about 400 yards the wrong direction on a one way street. We’re going back next winter.

I'm more than comfortable, with my status !

You get 18.5 MPG towing a 28' travel trailer with a GVWR of 8500 lbs?

In those locations were you boondocking or did you stay in commercial campgrounds?

It was the military that caused us a few tense hours too.

Congrats…..hope that you really enjoy your trip.

Love our old 07 SRW Ram. She tows our 20K 5th wheel pretty darn good. We haven’t traveled nearly as much as we wanted since my retirement. But, did manage about 6K miles last year! memtb

Our last trip of 2021……Christmas in Evanston, Wy.

We stayed in pay campgrounds that ranged from $10 a night to $20, it was cheap enough that we felt it was worth it to have oceanfront camping. In Several of those campgrounds we were the only people present. The kid soldier who manned a checkpoint asked to look in the camper. I went in with him to supervise, he opened the fridge and asked for a beer. It declined to let him have a usb cable that he also asked for. I got a close up view of his FX-05 rifle so I called it a good trade. It was not tense at all. Baja is much safer than the mainland where I would not go with an RV.

What mileage you get towing your trailer?

Redneck, et all,
My Volvo is registered as a 26k motorhome.
No cdl, but I will get a class E New Mexico license when I retire because of size and weight, so I don't get hassled
any where.
My wife loves sitting higher, and the comfortable seat. She can just stand up and go in the sleeper to get something, or make something to eat, go potty, if an emergency, (!), or hang out on the bed.
No more pulling over, or climbing over the seat to get something off the back seat or floor.
I love the turning radius, the power for pulling 20k, and knowing the brakes can stop the whole rig by themselves if needed. A 3 stage Jake brake is nice too.
It holds 200 gallons of fuel, and is pre def, and regen.
Our last trip to Moab, UT, the computer said we were getting 9.9 mpg, loaded, and with our trail model SxS in the garage.
It's a real comfortable way to travel.

My trailer is a slide in camper, weighs about 4000 loaded. I get 15 MPG unless I’m in the mtns. 6.0 Powerstroke SRW.

Purchased my "Retirement Truck" in 2020 right before they became almost impossible to get. F-350 Super Duty SRW Diesel, 4x4 crew cab. I have a Catalina 26TH that I have an Yamaha Grizz 700 in and it pulls it all very well, and gets about 14.5 - 16 mpg depending upon conditions when loaded. Not towing, I generally reach 21 mpg one the trip computer.

Looking forward to when I actually retire and spend more time in the mountains with this rig......which is the reason I went SRW and Diesel.

Frog ----OUT!

Sample of one trip down the interstate for 68 miles. Started trip b on dash as soon as we hit the on ramp. Avg was 18.5mpg while on interstate. Which it’s relatively flat driving on that section. But hell my f150 on same section got 9.1mpg with same camper.

I’ll be doing that drive 5 times this year. I’ll check it a few more times to confirm but so far thats what I have to work with

I haven’t really tracked mileage with trailer off interstate yet. But I will.
Around town this truck gets about 15.8mpg if I’m not lead foot and there are not lots of hills. Get about 21mpg cruising at 72 on interstates that are relatively flat.

Yep... There's a lot more of those RVers who are going to the big rig tractors for pulling their 5th wheels, especially for the big ones like yours, mine, etc.... Those beauties built by LUXE can weight up to 26K and even my F-450 is not legal to pull those; I'd need a puller like yours to do so..

You got a dang nice truck there - congrats!!

Well, we made it Las Vegas. Right at 1900 miles. Averaging 10.4mpg. Climbing the hills in AZ was rough on the mileage. Snowed on for 100 miles at flagstaff.

Another plug for RAM / CUMMINS. This truck is a monster. The only other thing I might consider would be something like that 12L Volvo posted earlier. That looked sweet.

sounds just like our power stroke.

If I could get a Volvo 740 in 4x4, we’d have bought one many years ago.

Wanted one with around 500K miles, clean well maintained with a good medical check-up, a 13 speed, then single-out, add a custom utility bed (extra weight over the drivers and lots of secure additional storage), equal to or better fuel mileage (when towing) and has a tighter turn radius than my Dodge Ram.

But semi’s truly suck on snow/ice…..so it never happened! memtb

Just make travel days in no snow !
And why aren't you where it's warm, and no snow ??
Lol !!!
I have a year or less til I retire.
We're gonna go on trips for weeks or better, but come back to the house to regroup, maybe play on the local lake, and go somewhere else again.
Weather turns up north, head south.
Spend waterfowl season here, and after, if it's cold and nasty, maybe head down to AZ, or Mexico for a spell.
Here's top of Wolf Creek Pass. In Colorado on hwy 160.

It’s gotten to the point ( politics, covid….which is politics, ect) I don’t even want to leave Wyoming to see my kids, grandkids! Living among a bunch of “snowbirders”…..ain’t liv’n! 😉

Plus, the majority of our rv’ing is during the winter months…..living among the animals! 😁 I tried towing to our elk hunting area after a real good snow storm with our ‘96 Freightliner…..it weren’t pretty! 🤪 memtb

Understandable memtb.... I am leaning the same direction.. except Montana for me.
Made a trip to the West coast last summer and holy hell , the mask nazi's were chasing me around.... got kicked out of stores restaurants etc....

We wanna fish.
Big game hunting for me, can start at my house. No more camping out of state or even near the area.
Wife loves eating walleye, so Northern states, here we come.
Weather starts to change, south we go.
42 feet of living space is plenty to feel comfortable in, as almost like home feeling.

What's the OAL of your rig when haulin'?

Not sure ?
Never measured it..maybe 60 feet at most. My Volvo is singled short.

Sounds about right... When I'm hooked up I'm at just a tad under 65'... I wonder how guys stay at that length when they're haulin' a 48' LUXE TH... I'm guessing they might have to be using a rig like yours - otherwise, between GCWR and OAL they'd be getting tickets...

I'm not real sure thev65' rule really applies to private.
I've had several discussions with DOT at the port near here when I go thru at work.
They have told me there is no length law for private. I specifically asked about my unit, and pulling my boat as doubles.
He said, I go driving by and sees a semi pulling a triple axle, he starts adding in his head. 17k for truck, @20k for 5th wheel, another 6k for the boat, that's about 43k. A semi weighs 80k plus, so no issues with power. Pin weight about 4k, single axle, I'm sure registered at 26k, so still under, brakes on every thing....
Hope you or whomever has a great trip. Said he's jeleous he's not retired yet.
I'll be testing where we travel.
I do know some states, no doubles, and may get a ticket, or a warning, or because of tow vehicle, not an eye batted ??
Bored cop might wanna mess with or cop may not want to start a mess ?
There's more important things out there, than messing with people heading somewhere to have fun.

https://www.rvhaulers.ca/inventory/...to-our-shop-only-14000-miles-meet-dusty/

Niiiiice.....
Saw a 2 year old F450 for sale today.
$105,000.
For another 20k, get this !!

It does apply to private and you can get parked if you are over the limit. We tow a lot for the drag races and have to be careful which states we go through and our overall length. We have seen a few of our racing friends parked by the California Highway Patrol on our way from Vegas to Pomona.

Tag

Commercials can pull doubles here in Oregon. Private though cannot.

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