Am I crazy, truck downsizing and towing

Hey all
Ive been stuck in this should I or shouldn't I mode for a while now and hoping for some advice.
Been considering buying a 21 or earlier SR5. Currently I have a 2018 F350 6.2l truck, and I'm getting tired of driving such a big truck, with such a stiff ride. My wife pretty much refuses to drive it, and I haven't had any death wobble in it, but I'm always afraid its going to happen when she is driving it. Its been my daily since new and have about 65k miles on it. We have a 25' TT, which claims to have a dry weight of 5600 lbs. We pack pretty light and most of our camping trips are just for a couple days and close to home, like 50 miles or less. We camped a whopping two times this year, and I think 3 last year. So 99% of the time Im just driving a huge truck around for no good reason. The problem is the camper has a hitch weight that I weighed of about 900 lbs, which eats up most of the payload of all of the tundras i have looked at so far. We are considering downsizing the camper also, but thats going to require some work to accomplish. Camping season is done here in Michigan, so now is not a good time to try to sell it. Part of me says if I find the right tundra, to just get it and figure out the camper later. The other part of me says I'm crazy to do it as I don't want to overload the truck. Originally when I bought the truck I thought we would be getting into a 5th wheel but ended up in a smaller camper than we had at the time. Missed out on a really nice tundra a couple weeks ago, am still kicking myself for not getting it but here I am...
Really don't want to go into any of the big 3 trucks like a F150, however my truck has been fine other than a few things. But my wife's 4runner has 210k miles on it and still going strong.

TIA

 

No you're not crazy. Your camping senario is similar to us as in time, distance, and two of us. So much easier with a smaller setup. And welcome to the site.

 

I tow 6Kish quite a bit (equipment trailer, tractor, etc). You'll know the travel trailer is there, much more so than your SD, but if you take it easy it'll be fine IMO. On the highway, if you're on any hills, the 5.7 struggles with that much weight. My snowmobile trailer is closer to 4500lbs and my Tundra is happier pulling that weight longer distances.

 

Thanks for the replies.

Its kind of crazy that my SD only gets around 9 mpg while towing. I guess being that it only gets 13 in daily driving shouldn't surprise me. From what I have been reading I would expect around the same with a tundra while towing.

 

Ya, I'm about 10mpg for our 100 mile round trip towing but there are some pretty big hills to climb on the way out.

 

2nd gen tundras do not have the smooth ride of the domestics, you may want to try one and make your own opinion on that.

 

No I have not explored that option yet. I figure now is the time to decide go with a more practical truck like the tundra or put some money into the current truck and only use it for towing until the 2012 4runner dies.

 

I have no problems towing our trailer, which I est to be approx 5500lbs loaded (w/40g water when boondocking, I still need to swing by a CAT Scale to verify). I live in the Phoenix area and frequently camp, year-round, with most of our trips consisting of a 5000'+ elevation gain...so lots of hills. MPG is atrocious with those climbs, typically 9'ish, but the Tundra handles it like a champ.

I'm unsure of my exact TW but est it to be approx 750lbs plus the WD hitch I'm sure were maxed out with 2 adults and 2 dogs. I don't typically carry much gear in the bed anyway.

In your search for a Tundra note the year that the factory trans cooler was no longer offered; 2019 if I recall...someone correct me on that.

@SD Surfer has the same set up:

 

You are not crazy. But you have a lot to consider. I wanted a 250 or 350 for towing, but I hate driving those empty. Even with new suspension. I drive too many miles to be that miserable on the ride. The Tundra tows better than 2/3 of my Ram 1500's, but the MPG are terrible and there are limits. I need to hit a cat scale at the next run out of town, but when I typically camp with mine I have no issues. The last one was an evacution trip so I had more in the bed and I definitely noticed a difference, and not in a good way.

TL/DR... you are not crazy, you should be good. Go to a Cat scale first and verify trailer specs.

 

For whatever it’s worth, the Silverado 2500/3500 rides much smoother than the Ford offerings if you still want a 1 ton.

That said, I like my Tunda DCLB infinitely more than our Silverados, obviously.

Good luck!

 

Yep, 10 is kinda' the magic number. Sometimes 9, sometimes 11, but I just budget for 10 MPG.

Really doesn't seem to make much difference the size or weight of the trailer or what the tow vehicle is (unless it's a diesel)

Frontal surface area (AKA Parachute) seems to have more impact on mileage than weight does. Towing takes power, and making power takes fuel, no getting around that.

Your numbers are spot on and match my experience. In fact it's kinda' spooky how closely your numbers match mine, the only one that doesn't match is that we now have 3 dogs. (Cozy in the 1685)



5,500 lbs. GVWR, and my TW's are typically from 700-750 lbs. I nearly always travel with full FW tank... known water source and I prefer the way the trailer handles with some TW.

Most of our trips have similar climb/drops from sea level San Diego 5,000' up to the mountains, and often back down to the desert. If we camp in the mountains I use almost 1/2 my 38 gallon tank on the way up, and almost none coasting home down the hill.

 

For reference, I have a decent sized camper (about 1600 lbs) loaded in mine and I average 11 MPG with a mix of highway and city driving.

 

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Why not consider teh 3rd gen Tundroid? So many torks! Blows the 2/2.5 out of the water, so I've been told.

 

Well right now it’s price and looking for long term reliability.

 

There is a 2021 SR5 with the sport package for sale by me. Anything different with this package that would make any difference in towing?

 

The added rear sway bar, stiffer front sway bar, Bilstein suspension, and 20” wheels of the TRD Sport package all lend themselves toward improved stability when towing.