What is their budget?
Your Opinion of best used Pick Up for Towing
- Thread starter ZZman
- Start date
I'm a Cummins fan- NOT a fan of the body it's equipped with.
My buddy in Pgh. tows exactly like you are proposing. This is a diesel.
And trust me, he has researched every aspect of the popular trucks including potential failures. I can get you the specifics if you like, right down to the type and ratio of the rear axle.
We have a 3 horse with a dressing room Featherlight trailer. We used to have a Ford with the 7.3 Powerstroke and we got 12 to 14 mpgs on trips with a loaded truck and three horses, 2 warm bloods and a quarter horse ,1500 lbs, 1340 lbs and 1100 lbs of horses and 5,000 lbs of empty trailer weigh. My wife's knee was messed up from a bike crash and couldn't drive the manual so we bought a new 2018 F350 with the 6.2 gas because of the price ! My wife loves the truck and says it has plenty of power with the load . The wife and daughter did a trip from Caldwell Idaho to outside of Seattle for a horsie event and got 9 mpgs on the trip. I didn't want a diesel because of the $9,000.00 up front cost of the diesel option and the Ford diesel is a poor design and the emission equipment costs of repair are wel,,, l very scary.
From a pure fiduciary perspective - you can buy a lot of gas with that extra $10k. Unless you explicitly need the capacity of the diesel, a gasser is almost always less expensive. “Blah blah my residual” - residuals are pretty close given the difference in initial purchase price.
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
Not going to touch that black 2020 duramax used for under $70k here.
A quarter horse should weigh about 375 lb, right?
My Chevy 6.2l gas max tow is rated at 12,700lb. I pulled 12.5k bumper pull trailer cross country 5,000 miles no issue. I added some basic 600lb airbags to level it out. Mileage averaged 11-13 depending on hills and winds. Biggest complaint is the fuel capacity 22gals. A plus for diesels are larger tanks and the truck stop fuel pumps are a lot easier to access.
The tow ratings of trucks are published for a reason and engineers came up with the numbers. So telling someone they need an 18k tow rated truck to pull a 10K load is mostly fear talking. Getting more capacity than you need the truck will ride like a brick when unloaded and narrow down your choices needlessly. The newer diesels are a lot more expensive to buy and maintain. Figure out the load you will be pulling and buy enough to tow it no need to go overboard.
The tow ratings of trucks are published for a reason and engineers came up with the numbers. So telling someone they need an 18k tow rated truck to pull a 10K load is mostly fear talking. Getting more capacity than you need the truck will ride like a brick when unloaded and narrow down your choices needlessly. The newer diesels are a lot more expensive to buy and maintain. Figure out the load you will be pulling and buy enough to tow it no need to go overboard.
3 things..
1. That was 1 trip.. this could be every weekend for all we know.
2. Live load. you dont want the tail wagging the dog.
3. Airbags correct the sag but you still lose all the weight off the front axle.. WD Hitch is a much better solution. The airbags can actually take more weight off the front than when its sagging.
If it was across town or once a year a half ton would be much more recommendable. than the current somewhat unknown scenario.
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
Curious if you've scaled your truck and trailer? If you have a WD hitch you shouldn't need air bags.
Running any truck at max tow capacity is out on the edge IMO.
Running any truck at max tow capacity is out on the edge IMO.
Not much right now. Maybe 5,000 miles. But if he retires in a few years it could be more like 15-30,000 miles.
Under $40,000.
Probably under 5,000 to start. If retires in a few years a lot more.
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40,000 tops
If a friend takes your advice literally, buys what you say and the truck has an expensive issue, even if it's rare, that could make your friendship sour. Your best off recommending where he can research trucks on the internet and just say you don't know much about trucks-because you don't.
Being in the business, lack of new car supply has created a vehicle shortage and when that happens, prices go up.
Classic supply and demand cycle.
Car dealers and private sellers have zero impact on supply, and if you follow the supply chain to retail, minimal impact on used car prices.
What is something worth? What someone is willing to pay for it.
Dont assume I didn't have a WD hitch, I did and also added Eibach sway bars F/R. In that regard a WD hitch is NOT for leveling the truck. It is to move the virtual load forward into the bed only. A WD Hitch if overdone is dangerous as under braking the rear wheels can unload and jackknife. I towed that load regularly for a couple years less than 200 miles usually. The example was that you can have a very stable load if you setup the truck accordingly.
Airbags are like having the additional HD springs without paying for an HD. They can carry additional load and level. Then are able to air it down when unloaded for a good ride. Match the specs of a diesel HD to a Gasser ...you'll find the diesel engine and springs main difference. Same differential and trans minus trans thermostat.
2 years ago that may have bought them a new, base-model 3/4 ton gas truck. Which would be perfectly fine for the intended use.
Nowadays, he/she will need to add 10-15k to that number.
to read your answers....
If there's anything worse than a new emissions / electronic nightmare diesel, it's a used emissions / electronic nightmare diesel.
My answer stands the same before. HD Trucks: 6.4 hemi, 6.6 GM , 6.2 Ford ... well, similar. There aren't any 7.3 Gas fords available yet.
My answer stands the same before. HD Trucks: 6.4 hemi, 6.6 GM , 6.2 Ford ... well, similar. There aren't any 7.3 Gas fords available yet.
I'm a 2018 Silverado 1500 owner but that things looks like it was hit by the UGLY STICK!
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