Which truck for hauling a trailer sailer?

FDL S2

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Jun 29, 2014
469
S2 7.3 Fond du Lac
The old Dodge 12 valve Cummins with manual transmission and serious frame, is the best pickup chassis/drivetrain in recent memory IMO.
Unfortunately the bodies rusted to crap.
I'd love to stick a newer Chev body on a one of those chassis.

The newer Rams are not great IMO, due to electrical issues and premature rust. (the late 1990s trucks were better in my experience)

Recent example: We had a guy 1 month ago have his horn give out.
The intergrated power module in the newer ones is just another word for "fuse, relays and logic board with some non-replaceable relays".
Non-replaceable horn relay on the power module was bad.. :D Result: Replace the whole module. A huge bill just to get a horn work. Can't just wire up a generic relay back to the steering wheel, because the steering wheel communicates via CANbus.

Ford ? All the techs in our shop hate Fords. Horrible to work on across the whole range of vehicles.
The tritons were crap, the v6 ecoboost has issues, etc. The older Ford diesels were good.
Their reputation is based on trucks from long past.



While I like Toyotas for MANY reasons, we recently had a new customer come into replace the starter, for a second time, on his 5.7 tundra.
R&R a starter in that truck is over 5 hours labour !


Unless you are towing constantly, and the truck is in daily use, I'd find an older Pre-DPF diesel with a manual trans. Less complicated the better.

Of course, if everyone thought that way, our shop would make less money.
I agree! One of the problem I've had with Chrysler products is they rust to crap quick. To be fair, here in Wisconsin everything rusts to crap but Chryslers seem to rust quicker than the others. I have never had a need to haul long distances so I don't have much experience with diesel trucks, but I have a friend who hauls cars and he swears by the cummins and manual trans.
My brother pulls his Malibu ski boat all over the Midwest with his Tundra and never has any problems.
Attached is my current F250 ready to haul a Hobie mast.
 

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Nov 10, 2017
258
Hunter Legend 260 Epidavros
Well being a fan of GMC, i’ll Throw the 6.6 gmc with their Allyson transmission for towing. Of course we can all argue all day between ford, ram and gm. But I like the power and comfort of the gmc trucks. Even older GMC’s with their diesel will do you well.

While the tow vehicle sure makes a difference, I’ve towed travel trailers and boats all over the west with 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton trucks and never really had issues. My current 1/2 tone tows our 31’ camper all over the US and Canada just fine. We use highways and side roads as needed but are watchful of others. Never had an issue with anyone as long as we are careful.

Good luck
I know our towing laws are different between the UK/Europe and the USA and you boys love big gas guzzlers.
To put power to weight in perspective with vehicle size, I tow with a BMW X3 2.0d with eight speed auto with no problem and no sway. My longest single tow to date being 250 miles maintaining highway speeds of around 60 mph.
I admit on the main highway in the mountainous regions of Greece sometimes I had to manually select and lock in 7th gear because it was struggling to choose between 7th and 8th.
 
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Dec 31, 2016
319
Beneteau Oceanis 351 Charlottetown
The old Dodge 12 valve Cummins with manual transmission and serious frame, is the best pickup chassis/drivetrain in recent memory IMO.
Unfortunately the bodies rusted to crap.
I'd love to stick a newer Chev body on a one of those chassis.

The newer Rams are not great IMO, due to electrical issues and premature rust. (the late 1990s trucks were better in my experience)

Recent example: We had a guy 1 month ago have his horn give out.
The intergrated power module in the newer ones is just another word for "fuse, relays and logic board with some non-replaceable relays".
Non-replaceable horn relay on the power module was bad.. :D Result: Replace the whole module. A huge bill just to get a horn work. Can't just wire up a generic relay back to the steering wheel, because the steering wheel communicates via CANbus.

Ford ? All the techs in our shop hate Fords. Horrible to work on across the whole range of vehicles.
The tritons were crap, the v6 ecoboost has issues, etc. The older Ford diesels were good.
Their reputation is based on trucks from long past.



While I like Toyotas for MANY reasons, we recently had a new customer come into replace the starter, for a second time, on his 5.7 tundra.
R&R a starter in that truck is over 5 hours labour !


Unless you are towing constantly, and the truck is in daily use, I'd find an older Pre-DPF diesel with a manual trans. Less complicated the better.

Of course, if everyone thought that way, our shop would make less money.
Actually ,while the 12 valves are a good engine in the late 80's- early 90's Dodge, the last year for that body style is 2002, and the frames are different and much heavier in the 2003 and up Dodges. The Chevys/GMS's have great transmissions ,with the Allisons over the Dodge 47re, but many have head gaskets problems and that's 6-7 grand job to repair!
 
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