Decisions Decisions

[TheWop]

Hello fellow RV'ers....
We are debating on the type of towing vehicle to get. We currently have a Ram 1500 which is towing a lightweight Tracer travel trailer. It does ok but not great.
We are planning on upgrading to a 40 or so foot Toy Hauler 5th wheel in the next few years and want to upgrade the truck now for future plans.. Weare now considering trading in our Ram 1500 for a Ram 3500. The Decision we are trying to make is a Ram 3500 Pick Up or a Ram 3500 Dully. Is there any major advantage to have a Dully over a regular pick up truck ?
Thanks for any feedback

Joe & Kim

 

[DHudson]

Dually will be more stable towing a trailer.

 

[Bob K4TAX]

I would do the numbers between the RAM 3500 pickup and the RAM 3500 Dually. I am referring to towing weight, cargo weight, and etc. As one said......." always better under 100% than over 100%" on weights. You might be pushing the weight ratings on the RAM 3500 PU.

 

[billnourse]

I am towing a 38' Nitro XLR toy hauler with a Chev. Duramax 3500 SB SRW. I have no issues. Anything over 40' and about 16,800 GVW is probably going to be in dually territory. Not saying a SRW won't work, but you would be getting close.

 

[Bob K4TAX]

I am a "by the book" guy. Every vehicle has a tow rating and a cargo rating. The tow rating is what it can safely pull and safely stop. The cargo rating is what one can haul in the vehicle. The cargo rating includes passengers, fuel/gas, and "stuff". Every trailer has an empty weight, gross weight, and tongue weight. Don't forget to figure in the water, greywater, and black water values and add to the empty weight plus "stuff". In my understanding, the tongue weight transfers to the tow vehicle and thus subtracts from the cargo rating.

What others have done "with no problems" may be OK, but I'm concerned that many rigs on the road are overloaded and thus deemed unsafe. Do the math and see where you stand with regard to vehicle and trailer weights. You'd likely be surprised. Stick to the numbers with the objective of being under 100% { ideally more like 80%} as opposed to over 100%.

I relate this to a question I heard a student pilot ask a flight instructor. In the discussion of weight and balance, the student asked; "what would likely happen if I exceed the gross weight limit by 200 lbs.?" The flight instructor replied, "well, you'd become a very underpaid test pilot!".

Don't be one of those with your rig and family on board.

 

[TheWop]

Thank you all for your insight. We have decided to get a Dually.

 

[RKins]

Hello fellow RV'ers....
We are debating on the type of towing vehicle to get. We currently have a Ram 1500 which is towing a lightweight Tracer travel trailer. It does ok but not great.
We are planning on upgrading to a 40 or so foot Toy Hauler 5th wheel in the next few years and want to upgrade the truck now for future plans.. Weare now considering trading in our Ram 1500 for a Ram 3500. The Decision we are trying to make is a Ram 3500 Pick Up or a Ram 3500 Dully. Is there any major advantage to have a Dully over a regular pick up truck ?
Thanks for any feedback

Joe & Kim

My BIL's Ram 3500 Dually drives like it is on rails. He has a special tranny in it with 4:10 gears and he said he hasn't seen any problems going up or down mountains pulling a big 5er. They are returning now from a FL out west to all the Tourist sites even into WA state and OR. They'll be back here in 2 weeks
He bought a no frills RAM 3500 for I think 42k. I drove it and it rides nice.

 

[TheWop]

Thank you all for the input. Always nice to hear from first hand users. We went with the 3500 Dually. We have a 44' Alliance Valor 42V13 on order and I believe the Dually will handle it nicely.
Again thanks for the replies.
Joe

 

[SaltyVetAdventures]

I didn't see anyone mention the pin weight of a toy hauler. Toy haulers have a higher pin weight by design compared to a regular 5th wheel. This is due to the fact toy haulers are designed to have a lot of weight loaded in the garage behind the axle. When loaded, the pin weight becomes lighter due to leverage. If they didn't design the pin weight to be heavier when empty then the pin would be too light when loaded.

All this to say...when considering a toy hauler, you have to figure that there is going to be more pin weight on the truck when compared to a regular 5th wheel. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[FL-JOE]

Thank you all for the input. Always nice to hear from first hand users. We went with the 3500 Dually. We have a 44' Alliance Valor 42V13 on order and I believe the Dually will handle it nicely.
Again thanks for the replies.
Joe

When we went back to a fiver last year we had it narrowed down to either the Alliance 44' toy hauler or the Heartland 44' toy hauler. I honestly felt the Alliance was a better built fiver but there were a couple things about the layout my DW liked better in the Heartland. I'm sure you will be happy with your 42V13.

We were in a 39' fiver (non toy hauler) back in 2012. We were towing with a F350 SRW instead of a dually. Every year I would run across the scales and be right at the limit or slightly over. I would end up "weeding" out stuff and adjusting where I stored things just to stay below the weights. It was a constant battle. This time around I decided to go with a dually with the heavy tow package. I'm not even close on my weight limits now. You made a good choice on the truck.