AndyR,
If you search through TBN, especially in the Rural area you will see
lots of discussions on Trucks.
For Fords, get a case of beer, sitdown on Friday night, point your
browser to <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.ford-diesel.com>http://www.ford-diesel.com</A>. You might get a pass
through the whole website by Monday morning! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
I know there is a GM as well as a Dodge website.
If you are going to be towing I think the Towing section on the
Ford website is required reading especially about GVW and trailer
weight.
At least for the Fords and I doubt its any different on the other
brands, when you are in a 250/2500 truck it is very easy to run
out of GVW before you hit your towing capacity of the truck.
I have a F350 CrewCab single rear wheel that has a GVW of
9,900 pounds. The scales at the quarry tell me that with my
usuall stuff in the truck and a full tank of diesel I weigh 7,700
pounds. So I can put 2,200 pounds in the truck and be at my
limit. I think the GVW of the F250 is 8,800 pounds and I dont
think its going to weigh much less that my 7,700 pounds. So
the F250 would only be able to haul 1,100 pounds.
Ford says that the F250/350's can tow about 20,000 pounds of GVCW,
truck and trailer weight. The rule of thumb I have heard is that
the tongue weight is 10-15% of the trailer weight. So if you had
a trailer that weighed 11,000 pounds you would almost certainly
be over the GVW of the truck but within the GCVW.
If this makes you head hurt, and it did for me the first few times
I read all this, go read Smokey's comments in the towing section
on the Ford site. This question is answered all the time.
If you are going to be towing a travel trailer/5th wheel. You REALLY
need to read the towing section. There is a great deal of discussion
on GVW/GCVW as well as F250 vs F350 and single rear wheel vs duallys.
The towing section may save you from buying the wrong truck.
Also look for references to EAA to find out about XPlan pricing. Some
companies and organizations are able to buy vehicles from Ford and GM
at special prices. These prices are about 5% about Ford employee price
but still about 1.5% below invoice pricing. Its a no haggle deal. You get
a number for the XPlan and that is that. No dealing. Most rebates from Ford
also apply so you can get lower prices depending on the vehicle. You might
be able to do better without XPlan on vehicles that are not selling but I don't
think that applies to trucks with Diesels. The best deal I could get without the
XPlan was a couple of hundred dollars above invoice. With XPlan I was about
1.5% under invoice.
Hope this helps...
Dan McCarty