What's a reliable 3/4 for towing.

A close friend is on her second Titan, a 22 with 17,000 miles and about to toast this transmission like the first. Her trailer isn't but about 25' long but weighs almost 7,500# loaded.

I'm reluctant to recommend the Gen 2.5 due to the trailer weight and easily overloading the Tundra. I know it can do it but don't want to give her a list of stipulations to assure longevity.

So in my mind it's time to look for a 3/4 ton truck. I'm just so far removed from the larger truck I don't know what's crap and what's golden.

So what's the consensus?

 

Much as I love a diesel, I’d stick to a gasser. Cheaper all the way around and less to fail. Unless she’s willing to delete it then I’d go Cummins or Dmax.

 

Budget? Not a concern. Since she has a large service dog the rear room shouldn't be less than her full 4 door Titan. Thinking a smaller bed might be easier for her maneuver around a campground. She mentioned buying a diesel GM (not a truck which made me think 3.0 and I said no.). To be honest I think she'll be happier with a gas. 4wd is a must as well.

 

GM gasser 6.6/10 speed. Or the Ford 7.3 Godzilla.

All of my GM and Ford friends agree on never buying a Ram. But there are some guys here who are happy with their Rams. So I don’t know

I’d go 1-ton either way.

 

Having owned//experienced all 3 diesels, dodge then gm then ford is how I rank them. But I’ve had two Cummins and 2 hemi’s so I’m a bit biased.

 

She seems to tow quite a bit for now and this will be her only vehicle.

 

Maybe it’s lingering stigma from previous Ram generations, but those trucks seem to have a strong reputation for eating transmissions.

 

I can tell you that I worked with a lot of tow companies and they got tired of the Ford diesels and moved to the Cummins diesels Rams. Time will tell if they stick with them. I personally ran Ford Gas. They all have too much downtime in my opinion. You can purchase as 200k mile warranty for the Ford tow trucks if you want one. I don’t know if that same product is offered for Ram tow trucks. I will say that I like repair cost on the gassers better than the diesels. The diesels got better mileage but not enough to overshadow the upfront cost and the repair cost. You can replace the entire gas engine for what it costs to replace the injection system on the ford diesel.

 

I was very happy with my Ram 2500, Hi Output Cummins, NV-5600 6 speed Manual. It pulled like a Locomotive. Took it many times to the yearly Power Wagon Rally, in Iowa towing my Gooseneck 24’ trailer. Empty truck normal driving I got about 23 MPG. On one trip to Iowa, towing the trailer with my 1943 Dodge/Cummins loaded, I got on the Cat Scales in Iowa. My gross combination vehicle weight was 17,500 lbs and I averaged 17 MPG. It was a great truck. I no longer go to long distance Power Wagon Rallies so I sold the Ram and gooseneck trailer. Now driving a Tundra…..Its a great truck also.
Paul

 

MY HO/NV-5600 was bought new mid year 2003. When I old her she has 245K miles and the Chrome C was running like it was new. The body did have rust due to the salt on roads each winter
Paul

 

Based only on what we run at work…….GM all the way. Boss had a F250 6.7 that spent a large portion of time with the cab off in the service bay. Duramax/ Allison is top quality. I would also trust Cummins but not the rest of the truck.

 

Spent some time looking at the GM 2500 HD and see both the old 6 speed and new 10 speed Allison offered. Would the 6.6 gas get the same 10 speed transmission designed and used in the Duramax diesel? If that is the case it should be bullet proof when bolted to an engine with half the torque.

 

Mack with a custom turbo-charged Thermodyne V8.

 

Please note the / Between the 3 & the 4 in the thread title. Although a 34 ton truck would meet the reliable requirements with ease.

 

"You know why they call it a 'Royale with Cheese'?"

 

What I heard is that, at least for this generation (not sure when exactly they made the switch), that's a GM transmission that they got permission to put the Allison name on.

 

You got the metric system, Hagrid?

 

Don't like the sounds of that. After sleeping on it maybe she's better off finding a low mileage 2.5 and tow with it in S4 or a new Gen 3. I'm going to send her off to look at a new Tundra with the caveat to call me before she buys.

 

The 10spd was a joint effort between gm and ford. Same hardware but each company has different programming. From what I’ve kept up with and read, it’s a pretty solid transmission.

 

The GM 6 speed is way better than the 8 speed. I think the 10 speed is solid. I have driven it. It is the same transmission that Ford uses as well, although they have some gearing or computer tunings that are different, and the consensus is that the GM version is much better.

A 3rd Gen Tundra would handle that load fine. I would just make sure she is cleared on the payload and hitch weights and all of that. Might need air bags and WDH and all of that jazz.

 

If you are already concerned with overloading one, why would you recommend it? Not to mention, if she’s towing often enough at those weight levels to burn up transmissions, she needs to step up the truck. Don’t let the internet fool you into thinking Toyota’s are the only reliable vehicle out there. My family and I have owned plenty of chevy’s and dodges, gas and diesel, and gone well north of 200k with nothing but basic maintenance.

 

According to her she loads up the bed full but questioning her this morning it's bulk and not weight. Spare tire for the trailer is the only heavy item with fishing poles, lawn chairs and tackle boxes taking up space. Since it's only her and the dog she should be just fine payload wise.