Truck derail!
Is everything you pull a trailer or do you do 5th wheel/gooseneck stuff, too?
What color is this truck
- Thread starter Mist
- Start date
Is everything you pull a trailer or do you do 5th wheel/gooseneck stuff, too?
Rangoth
Blackwing Lair Raider
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No, I'm actually not a fan of the 3500 series duallie. It adds weight to the vehicle and really only increases the (legal) pin weight by a small amount. the only way I would ever get a duallie would be if it were a single cab chassis style truck, 45-5500 range specifically for pulling some heavy shit.
I tow a ton but it's all lighter crap, RV's, boats, sports trailers and a few custom things I've built. Nothing over 15k
Lejina
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
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I just want to pitch in about this owning a truck because you're a home owner that a few pointed out. I ride a crotch rocket in summer and a miata in winter. If i need to haul stuff, I pin a trailer on the car. I've done some serious work on my house and that setup did just fine. I'd need stronger only if id need to haul a shit ton of gravel or something similar, which happens either never or once in the time you own a place. The idea that you need a truck if you own a house is just a poor excuse. That's like claiming to own a motorcycle to save on gas.
Obviously if you actually haul heavy shit on the regular or do a shit load of yard work, then carry on, my post doesn't apply to you
Obviously if you actually haul heavy shit on the regular or do a shit load of yard work, then carry on, my post doesn't apply to you
Sledge
Trakanon Raider
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A big benefit of a dully isn't just a bit more payload but also to help stabilize your load and help with breaking because there's more rubber on the road.
Mist
Eeyore Enthusiast
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^. My mom put a hitch on her 96' Corolla and hauled a boat from Pensacola to the mountains of NW Arkansas. Most terrifying 14 hour drive of my life(She got stuck in three different gas stations because "I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!". Had to unhitch it and walk it every time.) but her little car took it like a champ. Most vehicles can pull a trailer carrying a reasonable load. You just need to look up specs and not overload it like a stupid piece of shit. A car or a small SUV with a hitch and trailer is cheaper and more versatile in the long run unless youneeda personal truck for work.
If you need to haul something serious chances are the average truck isn't really up to it anyways. Like when my car got flooded and I borrowed my uncles two car trailer with an electric winch to haul it around town for diagnostics. The Ram 1500 I was using could barely haul his fucking trailer to begin with much less loaded with my car. The stoplight on a steep incline I caught nearly made me shit myself.
Borzak
Bronze Baron of the Realm
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Bumper pull. A 5th wheel is much better for pulling but it takes up the bed. If I pull my RV I want to be able to put a 4 wheeler in the truck and not have to use a toy hauler. Also during extended hunts out west I can put a freezer in the back and keep it running for weeks at a time and put a whole elk etc...Also on hunts like that I put the camper top on and you can't do that with a 5th wheel. Makes it nice to throw crap in the back while out camping, hunting etc...and lock it up.
Also pulling a trailer in the mountains it really pays off on the diesel. Also I bought it when diesel was $.50/gallon cheaper than gas. I guess it evens out money wise I did PM on the desulfurization units at several refineries and they were in the neighborhood of $3b at the largest one and that's part of the reason diesel went up in relation to gas. So in essense I made up the difference.
None of my boats weigh enough to have to pull with a 5th wheel. Even a 1/2 ton would be OK but as mentioned, a 3/4 ton or 1 ton adds a lot more than just the maximum towing capacity. More break and more control if needed. My biggest boat is only a 21ft. bass boat so it's not like a 32'.
Plus I have a 1/2 ton 4wd so that ability to tow any trailer with any truck has it's advantages as well. I prefer the 3/4 ton but can do most with the 1/2 if needed.
Most new cars now have a maximum tow capacity of 1000 lbs or less, many lots less or none at all. I read about it on the teardrop forums becaise LOTS of people are trying to build one that can be pulled with X car that has a 750 or 1000lb tow capacity or none at all. I tow mine with my 4wd 1/2 ton which is total overkill, except I take it off road a lot. But on the road you can't tell it's back there - it's only 5'x10' x 4' tall. I had it weighed when I first built it but I have since added a lot. I think then it weighed 1100 lbs. empty, no water, no propane tanks, no food etc...and no AC as of yet.
Not to mention, they don't often make snow tires in truck sizes, so most truck owners make do with A/T tires, which are not NEARLY as good as a dedicated winter/snow tire in the worst conditions.
If you want a good winter beater that will not get stuck, stay far far away from any truck, they're the car most likely to be seen off on the side of the road or stuck the first couple snows of the season here... (and 15 year old econoboxes with summer tires driven by teens)
My car went through a couple blizzards this year (I'm allowed (and expected to be) driving to and from work even during snow emergencies) At one point my driveway was up over a foot and a half of unplowed snow and I just pushed the shit out of the way despite having a lowered car over stock because of my "sport" suspension (it's about a 1" drop). No problem in pure ice during freezing rain days, no problems when slush turned to ice and other cars and trucks were fighting to keep control of their vehicles from ruts in the road.
Get a decently powerful, AWD car, and put dedicated winter tires on it, it'll get stuck far less often than a truck riding on a/t tires, which are just all-seasons with deeper tread blocks. Or WORSE, the people that think that MUD tires are somehow possible substitute for SNOW tires.
If you want a good winter beater that will not get stuck, stay far far away from any truck, they're the car most likely to be seen off on the side of the road or stuck the first couple snows of the season here... (and 15 year old econoboxes with summer tires driven by teens)
My car went through a couple blizzards this year (I'm allowed (and expected to be) driving to and from work even during snow emergencies) At one point my driveway was up over a foot and a half of unplowed snow and I just pushed the shit out of the way despite having a lowered car over stock because of my "sport" suspension (it's about a 1" drop). No problem in pure ice during freezing rain days, no problems when slush turned to ice and other cars and trucks were fighting to keep control of their vehicles from ruts in the road.
Get a decently powerful, AWD car, and put dedicated winter tires on it, it'll get stuck far less often than a truck riding on a/t tires, which are just all-seasons with deeper tread blocks. Or WORSE, the people that think that MUD tires are somehow possible substitute for SNOW tires.
Rangoth
Blackwing Lair Raider
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Yea, I am biased as I've got a toyhauler model, so i can put freezers/quads and even once as a joke, a smartcar! I just like the feeling of pulling a 5th better and typically I can toss whatever would be in the bed in whatever I'm pulling, so it's a wash.
As far as the above comment about breaking and stability, yes it does help with both. But all my trailers(except for this tiny douchey one I'll pull mulch in which is bumper pull) have brakes man. If your trucks brakes are stopping the trailer you are doing it wrong. I've never had stability issues either, but like I said I pull max of maybe 15k. No denying that extra wheel base helps with that though.
I could never not own a truck. Maybe it's the part of the country I live in, the amount I tow or just a general 'merica attitude, but I find it so damn convenient. I literally use the bed weekly, and I don't just mean groceries, I mean actually use it to haul a ton of stone or move my dutch-tub around, etc.
Rangoth
Blackwing Lair Raider
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If you are in the "worst conditions" you use chains man. And if you don't have or know what chains are then you do not live in a cold snowy part of the country. Also, they make snow tires for trucks....Wrangler DuraTrac
I wouldn't drive with chains more than a short distance, using them all winter long would be absolutely terrible. I wouldn't use them or recommend them unless you live in the mountains or on a long unfinished/unpaved road (ex: mountain pass) that doesn't get plowed all winter long. Maybe I'd keep a set in my car if I lived in the UP, or rural montana/Colorado... just for emergencies but there just isn't a "need" for them in ANY of the lower 48... And yes, I'm talking about having experienced most of my life in a great lakes snowbelt, which get more snow than pretty much anywhere except Alaska, the rockies, and the black hills..
I run studded siped tires on my truck, and have a full set of Trygg 6mm Doubles and a big ass chain for getting drug back on the road when those fail me in the winter. North Idaho can be a bitch (although not this winter). Here are REAL chains:Pick-up / Car
Here is a before airbags picture, so shes a little squaty in the rear. Fuck you winter
Truck porn - 2007 LBZ, blocked, rerouted, shimmed, PPE intake mod, 4" MBRP, AirDog lift pump, EFI Live, Transgo jr. Dont have the dyno numbers in front of me but it was north of 450hp/750ftlbs at the wheels. Oh and I get 22MPG average
On a Mist related note, I just bought a 2015 double cab long box silverado LT Z71 5.3 with the standard rear end. GET THE LOWER GEAR RATIO REAR END. Fucker has no throttle response and shifts ALL THE DAMN TIME.
Here is a before airbags picture, so shes a little squaty in the rear. Fuck you winter
Truck porn - 2007 LBZ, blocked, rerouted, shimmed, PPE intake mod, 4" MBRP, AirDog lift pump, EFI Live, Transgo jr. Dont have the dyno numbers in front of me but it was north of 450hp/750ftlbs at the wheels. Oh and I get 22MPG average
On a Mist related note, I just bought a 2015 double cab long box silverado LT Z71 5.3 with the standard rear end. GET THE LOWER GEAR RATIO REAR END. Fucker has no throttle response and shifts ALL THE DAMN TIME.
100,000x this. Snow rated/winter tires are absolutely the single biggest safety factor when it comes to truly adverse winter conditions. Snow chains are FUCKING TERRIBLE to use. It's 30 minutes to pavement where I live over dirt/rock on crazy curving inclines. I'll still never use snow chains here. Fucking irritating bullshit. There is almost no situation where snow chains will do anything a proper snow tire wouldn't and you don't have to stop and fuck around in the god damn snow getting wet and filthy taking the pieces of shit off so they don't rip themselves apart when you get to a road that's been plowed. Never again.
Of course it doesn't matter what type of tires you have when the fucking things are at/below minimum spec and you don't replace them like 99.9999% of drivers. I really don't miss working in automotive.
My wife is from southern Idaho, but Sun Valley where the valley floor is 6k feet and they get hammered with snow. She had never even heard of snow tires, and nobody in her family nor her friends ran them. Rich idiots would just play bumper cars all winter long I guess.