Gen 3 VS 3/4 Ton for towing TT

Pick the trailer first. Seriously.

The trailer is what you’re going to be living out of so that’s the most important part of this equation. If you and your family are better served with a 33’ or 34’ trailer then buy one.

Then select your towing vehicle based on that need.

 

Maybe I’m too much of a workaholic, I don’t get that kind of free time.

 

Hnm apparently my household didnt get the correct definitions.

to them i have 2 kinds of time. Time to do shit for them and free time

my free time is the time i spend at work, when im not serving them

 

I tow a 30 ft, 7k lbs with my 2022 SR5. Hensley hitch and air bags - hardly feel it back there. Gas mileage sucks, but smooth towing with that combination.

 

Sometimes I like waking up and warming my toes by the fire while having my coffee and looking at stuff like this, rather than in the hotel and then getting in the car to drive to the pretty scenery.

 

You have been instructed on the correct lifestyle choice and even provided the supporting financial analysis. Don't make us tell you again.

 

Nice sheep. I see a herd on the regular in my area. Magnificent animals.

As far as that barren desert hell scape you posted photos of, hard pass. Uncle Sugar sent me to a desert and I got more than my fill of camping and uhhh activities in said desert.

 

This answers vacationing more than everything else

 

Well I guess since you played the Cartman card...



Sorry, couldn't resist. Just joshin'

 

They're really majestic. It went from not seeing any, to seeing the scout up top, to watching the whole herd of 40 or 50 come bounding down that rocky mountain in a matter of minutes.

I get why you'd be over the whole sandbox environment... Thanks for your service. When I'm in the desert I just nap and eat Ice Cream and Bacon, so it's all fun and games.

Mammoth Lakes, CA... Better?

 

Much better.

 

Yeah 6 years ago we vacationed a lot more. Pre kiddo, so more disposable income and of course no summer rec activities or school schedules preventing us from things like fall, winter, and spring vacations.

I LOVE fall vacations. It’s not blazing hot, not really cold during the day, fall color depending on the area, and peak tourist season is over but most stuff is still open.

 

This is all I could think of when you said "We'll be heading west"

That's exciting!! We were talking about your new trailer in the thread about racks... I forget, what's the new trailer? Grand Design?

 

Ahhh, that's right. Very nice!!

I've heard all good things about Bigfoot quality and construction... congrats!

Post up some pics when you get it. Making a vacation out of the pickup?

 

Thinking about our payload threads as a tundra drives by me with a 6inch bds lift, 35s and a northstar camper mounted in the bed.

 

I recently purchased this 21.5 foot camper with no slides and has a dry weight of 4500 pounds. The tundra does really well with this size of trailer. I live in Arizona so any time I go camping I’m either climbing the rim or making the climb up toward Flagstaff. Anyone who has made these trips knows there are some pretty steep grades going both directions. Again my tundra handles these very well but, I would be lieing if I told you it doesn’t make me consider moving up to a 3/4 ton diesel. There is just a lot that comes with that. Like @ColoradoTJ has mentioned in the past, I wouldn’t want to daily drive a diesel which means I would also have to buy a commuter car. Plus with the prices of 3/4 ton diesels these days it’s hard to justify. The new twin turbo tundra has me interested but I would like to see first hand how it does pulling these same grades compared to my tundra. I assume it would pull a little stronger. My 2015 tundra has been a rock solid truck, it’s at 133k miles. It hasn’t let me down not once, although I do think it’s time for new ball joints etc on the front end. Anyway I guess all I’m trying to say much like the others is you do need to buy the right truck for the trailer you intend to pull. Some people get away with overloading their tundras but they are probably mostly pulling on flat ground. You start climbing mountain passes and the game changes. If I had to buy a new truck today I don’t know what I would come home with.

 

Also to the folks who say that they will just stay in a hotel. You don’t wake up to things like this in a hotel.

 

You do in Wisconsin or Mn, ha!

 

@Muleycrazy13 If your truck handles those grades very well, why are you considering a diesel or TTv6? It's no secret that either one will pull, especially at elevation, better than your truck. But if you love your truck and it handles things very well...

It would be nice to be humming along at 2k RPM feeling like my truck isn't even breaking a sweat. But then I remember than the 5.7 is made to rev high, it is perfectly happy doing so, and at this point for me personally I'm still not sure the trade-off is worth the vastly more complicated system of a TTv6 that is also inherently far harder on itself in order to achieve that "effortless" perception for the driver.

Have you thought about new gears? 5.29s are a LOT cheaper than a new truck.

 

yeah I just bought it a few weeks ago! And yea the other “truck” didn’t work out do to timing. My grandpa needed the deal done in less than a week and I knew it was basically impossible for me to make happen due to work etc. it bums me out but it is what it is.

 

The main reason for considering something different is like you said, with a diesel this trailer would be effortless. The 5.7 pulls hard and does rev high and it does really well but it just makes me wonder if that wears on it more over time. Part of me if I’m being honest is just getting bored with my current truck as I have had it since it was new. But at the end of the day I don’t want to pay these new prices and will more than likely continue to run my truck. I don’t think I’ll fool around with gears. If anything I may step down in tire size this next go around.

 

In all that stuff you were evaluating don’t forget a couple more things , there is a 10 speed behind the newer tt motor and also forced induction has advantages at altitude if your pulling in those areas

it also has more tow modes and trailer setups , etc

I never tow heavy at all so for me either will work just fine, my towing is small boat. I haven’t pulled it yet with my gen 3 but my 2016 did great and I’m not expecting anything less, likely won’t have to rev like the 5.7 did with the 6 speed at times with the 2,400 peak and 10 speed behind it, we’ll see

 

yeah it was unfortunate but I always believe things happen for a reason!

 

The 5.7 even bone stock has more power and torque than the 6.0 GM was using in the 2500HD through 2018. The Ram 6.4 only has 30hp/tq over the 5.7. Ford used that gutless pile of crap 5.4 for how many years in their HDs. Although nice to have, I really don’t think power is the problem. The only argument for a 3/4 ton to me is better control and stability, neither of which I’ve had an issue with.

As was kind of alluded to already, I think we like to just look forward to the next new thing. I do it myself all the time. I really like the new GM HD trucks, and have always been a GM truck fan. The allure of a new bigger truck sounds cool, and saying I need to get it to better tow my trailer is just a convenient excuse for me even if it doesn’t make that much sense to sell my truck and drop an extra 30 grand when I already pull my trailer no problem. Especially in my case, no 3/4 ton gasser could pull my trailer with as much power as my blown 5.7, they can’t hang unless you boost them too.

 

At the end of the day you are correct. My truck pulls my camper just fine but there is that aspect of the something shiny and new that sounds nice. But at the end of the day the it just not make financial sense to me to buy a $60-90k truck.