Really adequate and inadequate tow vehicles

[Phil T]

An oil field worker in the neighborhood used his Ford 350 crew cab dually diesel to tow a 14' Alumacraft car topper yesterday. He truly couldn't feel the load behind his pickup. I have seen more extreme. A few years ago a man who moved mobile homes for a living was towing a 16' Lund with his semi tractor.
Either are better than the guy who was towing his 24' Genmar with a full size Chevy Blazer from Lake Sakakawea back to the Fargo area a few years ago and got caught in a thunderstorm. The wind blew everything off I-94. Total loss of both boat and SUV. And a couple years ago at Graham's Island Park at Devils Lake, I saw a couple guys with Ford Explorers towing little pop up tent campers towing 17' boats.
Give me excess in the truck before excess in the trailered load.

[REW]

People make choices every day.

[Dacotah Eye]

I like to have plenty of truck to do the job. My F250 probably looks like overkill when I pull my 14 footer, but not so much when I'm pulling my 1800 Fisherman behind my 32' fifth wheel.

[moose-hunter]

I tow my new 1875 Pro V behind a 1/2 ton, extended cab Chev. Oh yes, I know the boat is back there, that's for certain. Seems to do "okay" for now but I do see a larger tow vehicle in my future.

On a side note, I really do miss my old noisy, stinky, smoke belching F250 Powerstroke. That truck had character!!

[Superfishman186]

My father hauls a fifth wheel with a 17" polarcraft behind it with a 03 chevy 2500hd, always bragged about how much power that 6.0l with the allison has, he's pulling around 10-11k. Well the truck rusted out bad so he traded it in on a 2012 Silverado 1500 with the 6.2 liter 403hp. He says the new truck blows away the 2500hd power wise and still gets 16-17 mpg unloaded. I drove it the other day and you actually have to try to not break the rear end loose when accelerating, Awesome motor Said to be the most powerful small block truck engine ever made.

[TJEli]

Originally Posted by Superfishman186

My father hauls a fifth wheel with a 17" polarcraft behind it with a 03 chevy 2500hd, always bragged about how much power that 6.0l with the allison has, he's pulling around 10-11k. Well the truck rusted out bad so he traded it in on a 2012 Silverado 1500 with the 6.2 liter 403hp. He says the new truck blows away the 2500hd power wise and still gets 16-17 mpg unloaded. I drove it the other day and you actually have to try to not break the rear end loose when accelerating, Awesome motor Said to be the most powerful small block truck engine ever made.

I just drove my Dads new 1500 LTZ crew, 6.2L Max Tow, 6 speed. It pulled his 621 extremely well. He gets around 20 unloaded and 12 pulling his boat.

I pull my 19' Ranger with an 08 1500 LTZ Crew, 6.0L Vortec Max, 4 speed and it pulls it great.

While these new 1/2 tons make great tow vehicles for appropriate loads, let us not forget that they are not a replacement for a 3/4 or 1 ton. Having enough power is only one part of the equation.

I own an RV Dealership and have seen it all. (well almost)

-Eli

[Superfishman186]

In this case it was a great replacement for a 3/4 ton truck, the weight of the fifth wheel fit right in the payload of the truck, the towing weight is right within the limits and the power is there, also the added benefit of the 6 speed manual shifting buttons is a plus over the allison.