Ram 3500 Truck After More Than a Year on the Road

This is an update of our experience with our Ram 3500 Truck after 15 months on the road. We have traveled from Idaho to West Virginia, south to the Florida Keys, north all the way to Vermont and the Adirondacks, the east coast: Boston, New York City, Washington DC, back to Florida: Ichetucknee Springs State Park near Gainesville and St. Joseph Peninsula State Park near Panama City, Gulf Coast to Goose Island State Park near Corpus Christi, Texas and down to the Rio Grand River, then north to Maumee Bay State Park near Toledo, Ohio, Indianapolis, Indiana, north to Traverse City, Michigan and as I write this Columbus, Ohio. Soon we will be back in West Virginia. How many miles? Well the truck’s odometer reads over 33,000 miles, oh my!

Day of purchase from Dennis Dillon Dodge Ram in Caldwell, Idaho

If you read our post “Our Week in Pictures” from March 15, 2014 you would know we bought our Ram 3500 new (ordered it from the factory) from Dennis Dillon Dodge-Ram in Caldwell, Idaho. Why Idaho? It was just the best deal we could find anywhere, and even worth the airfare for four to go get it. From day one we have loved the truck, just nothing negative to write about it. There is plenty of room for us and it is as comfortable as can be with all the fancy features anyone could possibly want.

As far as fuel mileage: when not towing we get 22-24 mpg on the highway, when towing the fifth wheel (16,000 pounds) around 12-14. Our range when not towing is over 700 miles, when towing around 400. When we started our journey diesel fuel prices were hovering around $4.00/gallon and a full fill-up $130 or so (32 gallon tank)! With last year’s drop in the price of a barrel of oil we were given a windfall. In Texas we found our lowest price for a gallon of diesel fuel: $2.14! Things have moderated some but we can still find diesel for well under $3.00/gallon wherever we go. Something we learned quickly was buying diesel fuel at truck stops is more expensive than at local stations. So when we are unhooked we shop around and make sure the truck is full when we begin a trip towing.

Our Ram 3500 with the 6.7L Cummins diesel engine demands DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid) to clean up its emissions. The DEF tank holds five gallons, and when full won’t need filled again for 5,000 miles (though while towing this number drops significantly). You can purchase DEF in containers at many locations but it costs twice as much as at the pump, and then you are stuck with disposal of the plastic 2.5-gallon containers, a real waste. Finding DEF from a pump is a challenge and we have only found it at truck stops where the big-rigs fill-up. I purchased DEF in a plastic container once, in Vermont (try finding a truck stop in Vermont). For those of you driving diesel cars, be brave, save the plastic container and a few dollars and head to a truck stop for your next fill-up of DEF, it will be an interesting and fun adventure.

The truck has an exhaust brake, a fantastic feature! With the exhaust brake there’s no need to use the conventional brakes while descending steep grades. On several trips across the Appalachian Mountains we didn’t use the truck and trailer brakes at all, saving us wear on brake pads and rotors. After 33,000 miles the trucks brake pads look almost new, trailer’s too, amazing. There’s also an integrated trailer brake on the truck that balances the truck’s brakes with the trailer’s for maximum braking performance when needed.

As for towing the Ram 3500 is fully up to the task. There has never been a time we felt need for more power, and stability is great (we ordered an eight foot bed giving the maximum wheel-base for extra stability). Road conditions can make things interesting at times and our cringe-factor becomes well elevated. While towing there is no swerving possible and if a dip or rough pavement is encountered you just have to grin and bear it. On a recent stretch of Rt. 2 near Sandusky, Ohio we hit two ridiculous bumps in a row, which caused items in the front of the trailer to rise five or so inches and then down. When stopped, anything hanging on hangers was now at the bottom of our closets. This was by far the hardest bump we have experienced and fortunately a rare occurrence.

The truck is heavy (7,000 pounds) and big (22 feet long). Parking is an adventure; we always find a space well removed. The back-up camera and rear sensors are necessities not conveniences. Has ownership of our Ram 3500 been incident free? Well no. In New York Natasha managed to run into the back of an auto-hauler trailer. Rear of these trailers is low and disappears in front of the Ram’s large hood. Her attention was diverted and she drifted into it. When 7,000 pounds of truck drifts into anything the result is bad. No one was hurt, damage to the auto-hauler trailer was minimal but the truck needed a new bumper, grill, radiator and air conditioner condenser. In Florida I was backing up to get near a hose so I could wash the truck. I had the tailgate down making the back-up camera useless (stupid) and the rear sensor alarm disabled (dumb). When I got out of the truck, to my astonishment there was a dent in the end of the tailgate! My first instant of thought was “when did Natasha do that?” My second instant: “&%$#* how could I be such a moron!” I had hit a low pole and did not even know it. Then just days after getting the tailgate fixed (a real hassle) we are pulling into a Ram Service Center to get fixed what turned out to be nothing at all and Jon, in a fit of temper, kicked open his rear door striking a steel and concrete structure, denting the edge of the door. It is difficult to blame a six year old, though I did try, no this was my fault for pulling in so close. Lucky for us they had one if those wizards that can pull dents out of sheet metal (PDR – Paintless Dent Remover), astonishing to me, $180 later no trace of a dent.

Damage from hitting auto-carrier trailer.

The lessons are: easy as you go, absolutely no tailgating, full attention at all times, never park near anything, and do not assume anything. In addition, front sensors were available as an option on the truck, $1,000. We feel the sensors would have been well worth the extra money, with them Natasha would probably not have rear-ended that trailer. If I had left the tailgate up and the rear sensors activated I would not have backed into that pole. And by using my head when entering the Ram Service Center it would have prevented Jon from damaging the door; this is why they call them accidents, all are preventable. Somehow now we have six months of error free driving (knock on wood).

I am doing the maintenance on the truck. Oil changes come at 15,000 miles and with oil (Rotella T-5 Synthetic) and filter costs $75. It takes four gallons of oil and draining the old is a challenge; sad to say I have made an epic mess each time. The fuel filters must be changed at 15,000 intervals as well: two filters (Mopar), $110 for the pair. Changing the filters is relatively simple. The 6.7L Cummins engine is a marvel. We met a guy at a truck stop with a similar truck pulling an auto-hauler trailer for a living. He had 600,000 miles on the truck and had had no engine troubles! Remarkable.

Ram 3500 at 33,000 miles and 15 months.

RV Towing Stories

The kids named our Ram 3500 Shelley (from the self-driving Audi TTS in Nova’s Making Stuff/Safer hosted by David Pogue), and our Excel Winslow Fifth Wheel Dusty (from Disney’s Planes). So far Shelley has towed Dusty from Holland, Michigan to the Florida Keys, around 1,500 miles. Along the way we made stops of various lengths in:

1. Ann Arbor, Michigan

2. Cleveland, Ohio

3. Morgantown, West Virginia

4. Inwood, West Virginia

5. Winston-Salem, North Carolina

6. Gastonia, North Carolina

7. Sesquicentennial State Park, South Carolina

8. Santee State Park, South Carolina

9. Osceola National Forest, Florida

10. Sebastian Inlet State Park, Florida

We have had some adventures of course; some not so pleasant at the time but none we can’t chuckle about now. Here are some highlights:

– Our friends tasked us right away with parking our newly acquired rig right in front of their house in residential Ann Arbor. The reasoning: school buses drive our street, why not you? Well for one, school buses are not 13 ½ feet tall! We were very nervous.  This was our first in-town experience.  Anyway, they tasked us and we obliged. It was no real problem, and they got free tree pruning as a bonus.

– Driving through Toledo with our miles-to-empty showing 45, no worries. Then we hit some head winds and the range starts dropping like a rock, down to 17 and we are still on the Interstate. Approaching the Toledo Skyway Bridge, wind picks up even more and range, well there is no range; Shelley says out of fuel! We are still running though and able to get off the Interstate. Lucky for us a BP with diesel is just ahead and I manage to pull up to the pump, but on the wrong side! We are toast (our rig is almost 50 feet long). Natasha points out a large parking lot behind the station, we pull in, unhook and leave our fifth wheel trailer there, then causally drive the truck into the station on the correct side of the pump and fill up. Note to self: don’t mess with fuel as though you are driving a Prius!

– As if we had not just had enough drama in Toledo we decide to stop and show my brother Brooks our rig in downtown Cleveland – Brooks works for the Lake Erie Science Center. Not to be deterred we pull right up in front of the double-parking in a half dozen cars. Brooks and a few co-workers get a quick tour before a security guard decides enough is enough. Getting out of Cleveland is just as interesting as we drive down busy 9th Street: buses, cars and pedestrians everywhere.

– Our first back-up experience occurred at Natasha’s Mom’s house in Inwood, West Virginia. Her driveway is plenty big, wide and long, but it is off a busy two-lane road, and backing in and up a slight hill is the only option. We arrive in Inwood, Natasha jumps out, stops traffic, then I am on the spot. My first effort was a failure; I started too far right and ran out of room for the truck to maneuver. So I straightened out, got left this time, and pushed it right in. We have backed it into half a dozen sites now and feeling fairly confident.

– Arriving in Gastonia, North Carolina, from Tanglewood Campground near Winston-Salem, we stop at a grocery store to get some provisions. We are actually parked (if you can call it that) in a gas station, adjacent to the grocery store, on a slight slant. Natasha gets out of the truck and comes right back with bad news that we have a lot of water leaking out the rear. Natasha goes inside the trailer and lo and behold the kitchen sink faucet is running and sending water directly onto our wood floor then streaming to the rear and out;  soaking our carpet and God knows what else along the way! This is our first true disaster, made us both sick. It was a comedy of errors that led to this:

1. We left water in our fresh water tank for no good reason.

2. I thought I’d turned off the water pump but did not (even though Natasha asked me and checked it off our pre-travel list).

3. Our faucet (located in the kitchen island) while in transit slowly turned itself on by gravity and vibration.

4. The faucet head swiveled from the sink to directly over the wood floor.

We were devastated. Lucky for us our next stop was with good friends in Gastonia and they had a carpet cleaner! We spent several hours removing as much water from the carpet as possible and drying everything out. Over the course of several days we managed to dry the carpet and there was no permanent damage, we are very fortunate.

– Heading to Santee State Park in South Carolina we miss the campground entrance (my fault) and start searching for a place to turn around. I make an attempt at a nearby restaurant but no go; tree limbs are too low (well really we are too tall). Natasha then finds a road that will basically take us around the block for another try at the campground entrance. The road turns out to be a dirt road, but it has been raining so really now a mud road. So there we are, driving everything we own down a slippery mud road that is getting more narrow and rutted by the moment. Needless to say, cooler heads are not prevailing. I go for the four-wheel drive, because we are barely moving, but it does not seem to help at all (That is because I unknowingly tried putting the truck in low four-wheel-drive, which won’t work without a stop and shift to neutral. So what I am thinking at the time: “we have the crappiest four-wheel-drive in the world!”). Somehow we make it back to blacktop and are saved. Once in our campground spot we spend an hour spraying the mud away.

Since these mishaps we have been doing better, maybe we are learning. Our current spot in the Florida Keys was as difficult a place as can be to get into. It is a pull-through, which usually means you pull in, unhook and pull the truck forward and away, no backing necessary. But this was a unique RV site and situation, and though we had to pull in there was no out, no room to extract the truck. So we stacked wood blocks under our hydraulic jacks enabling us to  lift the fifth wheel so the king-pin (the part of the trailer that connects to the truck hitch) could clear the sides of the truck bed, then we went back and forth diagonally until the truck could be pulled away to the side. Even the park rangers were impressed with our maneuvering.

Our current spot in the Florida Keys; a pull-through with no through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B&W Fifth Wheel Hitch Installation

One of the most important purchases and installations we have done so far, as part of our Full-Time Odyssey, was our B&W Fifth Wheel Hitch. Considering it would be pulling 15,000 to 16,000 pounds of fifth wheel trailer (our Excel Winslow 34IKE and contents) it was a critical component; no compromises here. I spent a considerable amount of time researching this purchase before settling on the B&W Tunrover Ball Gooseneck and Companion Hitch combination. These two items work in tandem, Tunover Ball Gooseneck bolted to the truck from underneath, Companion Fifth Wheel from above in the truck bed. With just the Turnover Ball Gooseneck installed the truck can pull a gooseneck trailer, and then with the Companion a fifth wheel trailer as well. So together they give us the ability to pull any trailer as long as it is within our weight limits (16, 900 pounds for our Ram 3500 configuration). Pulling a gooseneck trailer is not in our plans at this time, but you never know, if we need some extra cash I could haul something.

We ordered both the Turnover Ball Gooseneck and Companion Fifth Wheel Hitch from SDTrucksprings.com, they had the best price with free shipping. They also provided several videos on installing the two hitches, which were invaluable for us since we planned to do the installations ourselves (Turnover Ball Gooseneck and Companion video). I probably watched these two videos a dozen times, just ask Natasha, but I wanted to get the process in my head solidly before doing it. Of the two installations the Turnover Ball Gooseneck was by far the more difficult, mostly because it had to be done from under the truck bed and for me that meant on my back under the truck. Then too, several items were in the way and had to be dealt with: the spare tire and shield had to be removed, and the large tail pipe shoved aside for access to the bolt holes on the right side. Chrysler Ram made a neat change to their 3500 in 2013, integrating a place to bolt on a gooseneck hitch to the truck frame without the need to drill anything in the frame but two small hoes for the two tie-down hooks. However, we did need to drill a 3 1/2″ hole in the truck bed to get to the frame from above, a task not for the faint of heart when working on a nice new truck.

Drilled hole in the truck bed using a 3 1/2″ hole saw. I used the plywood template, kneeling on it as I drilled to make a clean cut.

After drilling the 3 1/2″ hole, removing the spare tire, the spare tire shield and pushing the exhaust pipe away, it was time to hoist the Turnover Ball Gooseneck into place from below. To do this I needed help from above. I knew this and had been thinking about it for some time. B&W sells a tool but I was not going to buy it for one installation. Instead Natasha and I worked out a way; we dropped a tow strap, with a hook on the end, down through the hole in the bed and then hooked it to the hitch pin (from the Tunover Ball Gooseneck). Then we ran the other end of the tow strap around the railing of our side porch (which the truck had been backed under). So while I was under the truck positioning the Turnover Ball Gooseneck she was pulling it up from above with the tow strap looped over the railing (we wish we had taken a photo of our rigging). Natasha had her hands full from above while I was wrestling the hitch up and then over the axle, lining up the six holes for the bolts. Once I had a bolt on each side started it was smooth sailing until it was time to torque all six bolts to 100 pounds. With limited space it was rather difficult, especially on the right side where the exhaust pipe covered the bolts, I had to put a strap on the pipe, first cinching it one way and then the other to gain enough space to torque them.

B&W Turnover Ball Gooseneck hitch pieces.

Spare tire removed and its shield, arrow where Turnover Ball goes. Big exhaust pipe was a big pain to shove out of the way, even after sliding it off its hanger.

Chrysler Ram did a nice job of incorporating a mounting area into the frame of the 3500.

B&W Turnover Ball Gooseneck installed.

From above, not much to see.

Now came the B&W Companion Hitch. First I assembled the base in my basement workshop. There was not much to it, and the instructions were easy to follow.

Assembled B&W Companion base.

The Coupler drops right on top of the base, secured with two hefty cutter pins. The whole thing is secured to the Gooseneck pin by one bolt, a little scary.

B&W Companion base and coupler installed in bed.

Natasha and I are able to remove the hitch if necessary to make room for cargo; a two person job since the base weighs 130 pounds and the coupler 75. We have now towed our fifth wheel over a thousand miles and hitched and unhitched a dozen times, we can’t say enough about how easy this hitch combination works and how happy and secure we are with it.

 

Solar Power for our Rig

We are just a week or so from finally purchasing our fifth wheel trailer, a Peterson’s Industries Excel Winslow 34IKE. The road searching for the right fifth wheel trailer was a long one and frustrating at times. I have written before on the subject and could certainly write much more but just to keep it simple we ended up ordering a new one, worked with Peterson’s Industries in customizing it for our needs, it is built and waiting for us in Holland, Michigan at Holland Motor Homes.

We are certainly beginners when it comes to RVs, what they call newbie’s in the RV world. Though we have been working to understand as much as possible, lots of time reading and speaking with folks that are in RVs, and one topic I have been spending a considerable amount of time researching is solar power in RVs. Early on in our Full-Time-Odyssey we discussed that we wanted to have solar panels as part of our “rig” but with little knowledge of what it entails. And for me, trying to understand solar power and all the details has been challenging. But the other day I was able to successfully explain it to my sister so maybe I have finally gotten it.

Electrical power in an RV is rather confusing and I am not going to try and explain it here, but one thing is painfully clear, RVs are basically designed to stay plugged-in to the power grid, be it next to your house or at a campground or RV park, however there are two options to give you true off the grid mobility, they are a generator (gas, diesel or propane) or solar panels. We do not want the hassle, smell, expense and noise of running a generator, so for us it is solar power that will allow us to “cut the cord”.

There are a lot of good resources out there for anyone interested in learning about RV solar power. It is rather a “wild west” though since unlike home-based solar installations there are no firm guidelines or standards at this time. As a result one should be very careful, do a lot of research, ask a lot of questions and make sure if you have someone else do the installation that you have found a reputable company. For us it will be an installation we do ourselves. I have read a lot, an understatement, and I can give two good references to get started. One is HandyBob’s Blog (http://handybobsolar.wordpress.com) and the other Kelly’s RV Solar Blog (http://cuernoverdesolar.wordpress.com). HandyBob will give you all the information you need, and then some, and will entertain you at the same time! His “The RV Battery Charging Puzzle” post is a legend in the RV Solar World. It is a long post and I have probably read it at least four times (like I said, for me RV Solar Power is a rather challenging subject). Even someone with no interest whatsoever in installing a solar system will gain much from this post. Kelly’s RV Solar Blog is very informative and breaks things down nicely helping one grasp the big picture.

So where are we in this RV solar process? Well in an uncharacteristic moment of compulsiveness, and a strong recommendation from one of HandyBob’s posts, I ordered a pair of solar panels. They were on sale and highly rated (DM 158w Monocrystalline), what could I do? And then we took another of HandyBob’s recommendation and will soon purchase two 6V Crown CR-260 batteries. This is just the beginning but it is very exciting. We are on a pretty tight schedule at this time so probably the best we can do in the short run is mount the solar panels on the roof of our Excel Winslow when we get it and then start filling in all the pieces on the road. The good thing is I actually know what the missing pieces are, how they work together and I hope how to install them properly.

One of our DMSolar Panels

Our Week in Pictures

Our bags were packed! We flew out of Pittsburgh to Boise, ID. Dennis Dillon Dodge out of Caldwell, ID picked us up at the airport and took us back to their lot where we met our new Ram 3500 truck!

The buying experience at Dennis Dillon Dodge was topnotch. There were no surprises and they were easy to work with. The customer service was excellent and their pricing is even better! If you are looking for a new vehicle, it is totally worth going to Idaho to buy from them. (And if you do, tell them Jeff and Natasha at Wild Places Open Spaces sent you!) More on the Dennis Dillon Dodge experience in another post!  http://www.dennisdillonchryslerjeepdodge.com/index.htm

We pinned our place on the map at the dealership! We were their first customers from West Virginia!

We encountered a little rain during our first drive out of Boise toward Idaho Falls. We took this brilliant, full rainbow arching over the road to be a sign of good things to come!

The mountains heading up into Jackson, Wyoming from Idaho falls were amazing. We saw moose, elk, mountain goats, bald eagles, golden eagles, mule deer and more!

We visited the Teton Science School briefly while were in Jackson. We didn’t take any pictures of the school itself but the kids enjoyed the break and we liked the way the mountains surrounded us even from the parking lot! A bald eagle flew over the ridge above us as we stood there. http://www.tetonscience.org

The mustangs in these corrals outside of Rock Springs, Wyoming are up for adoption. But I liked the poem on the kiosk…
Wild Mustang
“He’s dessert bred, he’s underfed, and tough as a piñon tree.
No cowboy pals or pole corrals, just wild and running’ free.
No thing of beauty, most would say, but beauty’s hidden there.
It’s in the blood of a rangy stud, and the heart of a mustang mare.
– Robert Wagoner

Purple Mountains’ Majesty…

Paul Smith Children’s Village at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens, Cheyenne, Wyoming. Such a nice park!

Willa enjoyed bonding with our friends’ dog in Cheyenne. I don’t think he suffered too much either!

Tired pups!

Learning about sandhill cranes at the at the Iain Nicholson Audobon Center at Rowe Sanctuary on the Platte River near Kearney, Nebraska. Did you know that the red patch on their forehead is bare skin? I did not know that! http://rowe.audubon.org

Prairie dogs.

“There is a bird in the heart of America that is older than the Platte River, and far more wary than the waterfowl or prairie chicken. It is as gray as the clouds of winter, as soft, beautiful and graceful and lovely as the flowers – heads of Indian grass – bluestem. The bird is the Sandhill Crane.” – Paul Johnaard

We met such wonderful people! We all made new friends and throughly enjoyed our visit!

There were quite literally thousands of cranes in every field. The volunteers at the center estimated that, when we were there, about 40,000 birds had already arrived. but before the end of March they were expecting approximately 500,000 individuals! What a site to see! They were dancing for each other, jumping up, gently flapping and floating. All calling. Flocks flying from one field to another. Everywhere we looked.

Look! More over there!

We encountered 70 degree weather driving from Kearney, Nebraska toward Madison South Dakota, so we just had to stop at a park, have a picnic and play on the playground!

And so now we are South Dakota residents! Another hurdle in our journey towards full-time living accomplished. It is a good, long story for another post…

The First HD Truck Test Drive

This must be getting serious!  Over the summer we took our first test drive in a heavy duty (HD) truck, a Ford Super Duty  350 with the 6.7 L Power Stroke V8 Turbo Diesel engine. This truck has 400 Horsepower and 800 foot pounds of torque (and torque is what gets the towing job done). It’s payload is over 3,000 pounds and it can tow a fifth wheel trailer all the way up to just over 16,000 pounds (with dual rear wheels up to 21,700 pounds, crazy!)  The 5th wheel RV we are considering, the NUWA Hitchhiker Discover America 339 RSB, weighs 12,180 pounds dry (this means with no water, household items, or basically nothing that we need to live on board), and a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 15,600. So if you do a little math we can load up the 5th wheel with 3,420 pounds of our stuff before we are overloaded.   This particular Super Duty truck is more than up to the task.

Willa and Jon in the Ford Super Duty.

The test drive was fun. This Ford Super Duty 350 was surprisingly easy to drive. Except for its size not much different than our Jeep Grand Cherokee. It is amazing that a truck with this capability can be so civilized. What fun and how nice!  The kids car seats fit with ample room to spare in the back seat. The front seats are split 40/20/40 enabling a third person in the front, giving us the ability to easily carry six (I’ll bet seven in a pinch). This will be useful when folks visit us while we are on the road. And what did this truck not have? Well I can’t think of a thing it did not have; it had heated seats, heated steering wheel, leather, back-up camera, navigation, MyFord Touch, sunroof, and on and on. All of which pushed the price to $58K! Since we are thinking of a used truck that price isn’t so scary, similar used 2011 models are selling for around $45K. Still a lot of money but this is the nature of the beast.

Natasha at the wheel and Ford Super Duty 350.

Next up for us is the Chrysler RAM 3500 and either the Chevrolet Silverado 3500 or GMC Sierra 3500 (basically the same truck).

As a note, this HD truck business gets rather complicated when it involves towing a 5th wheel. You sure can get a lot of conflicting and bias information and opinions too. As we mentioned in an earlier post all three of the HD truck makers offer trucks more than capable of towing whichever RV we end up purchasing. So in the end it may come down to some silly details. For instance, the two GM products (Silverado and Sierra) can not be purchased with both a sunroof and a 40/20/40 split front seat, meaning if we want a sunroof (and we do, we like to bird watch you know) and the ability to fit three people in the front seat we can’t. That kind of marketing (where you can’t get what you want without giving something up) is frustrating. Ford and RAM do not play this game, we can basically get whatever we want no matter. Now for an even sillier aspect, the Ford Super Duties have a peculiar habit of sagging in the back when loaded. So they go down the highway with their rear down and their hood up in the air. It looks ridiculous, but does it really matter? Well besides the fact that it bothers me it is also a safety issue, with the front wheels unloaded the truck is not as safe. This problem can be fixed by installing an air-suspension system, leveling the load, but why should this need to be done on a new HD truck?

Back to test drives. Still up, Ram and GM. And we also need to see what it is like driving a dual-rear-wheel HD with a eight foot bed (the Ford above was a short bed and single wheeled rear. For towing purposes an eight foot bed is recommend. The dual wheels in the back increase stability, making towing easier, safer and more enjoyable, but they make the truck pretty ungainly when making a quick trip say to the grocery store.

Heavy Duty Trucks for a Heavy Duty Job

Fifth Wheel Trailers are heavy, some a lot heavier than others. Length is a big factor; the New Horizon Web site states it simply as 350-pounds/linear foot. Slides weigh 800-1000 pounds each. Many fifth wheel trailers come with two, three or even four slides. A summer-use-only fifth wheel will weigh less than a full-time fifth wheel because it is manufactured with cheaper materials, which often times means lighter. Many manufactures tout their fifth wheel trailers for their lightness, but usually this is just another word for cheap (Although there has lately been a push for high quality and less weight). At any rate, to pull a trailer that can weigh from 12,000 to 22,000 pounds loaded requires a strong truck.

It is extremely dangerous to pull a heavy trailer with a truck that is not up to the task. For our needs we require a truck that can pull approximately 16,000 pounds. Only heavy-duty trucks are able to do this safely. Dodge Ram, Ford and GM all make them. All three manufactures offer diesel power, a must for trailers in this weight class. Which manufacturer has the best truck for the job? Well at the risk of starting trouble I will simply state they all are just fine. Of course you have Ford lovers, Chevy/GMC lovers and Dodge Ram lovers, and the arguments as to which is best can become heated. I have spent too much time reading up on all three manufactures’ trucks (though I have enjoyed it) and in the end throwing a dart to choose one would have been adequate. However, if I had to advise someone on which truck to buy today I would probably recommend the trucks from GM, the Chevrolet Silverado 2500/3500 and the GMC Sierra/Denali 2500/3500. Why, well because these trucks have won the various head to head comparisons, on drivability, power, and capability. Which one will we purchase? Good question, jury still out since we are a year and half away from such a decision and this truck stuff changes rapidly.