OP
gladehound
Veteran Member
It looks to me like you have decided on the SRW diesel superduty truck. Have you done an apples to apples comparison of the 250 and 350 though? I am wondering what is the difference in the price from your dealer on those two, because for your purposes they would both be fine in my opinion. Differences between the diesel SRW 250 and 350 are:
- F-350 has an extra leaf spring. This will technically increase the load capacity and visually mean less squat when carrying weight.
- Has a bigger bump stop (3.5 inch instead of 2 inch I think) which will technically supports an overloaded truck better and visually raises the truck bed an inch or two.
- In some places it has different licensing costs and implications, but for most non-commercial licenses the gross weight is just going to be about 10K for licensing purposes regardless of the actual truck capacity.
- Everything else of significance that I am aware of is the same. Same engine, tranny, axles, suspension, brakes, etc. Pretty much identical trucks capability-wise, for the most part.
Realistically, the weight carrying capacity from the leaf spring and larger bump stop are not going to come into play for your situation, at the weight of your RV and with the squat being less of an issue for 5th wheel hitches than bumper pull. With that in mind, the diesel SRW F-320 and diesel F-250 (only available as SRW) should be identically useful for you, so the question would come down to price. How does your dealer compare for the two?
If it were me I would be taking the lower price, but if you do think the extra capacity would be handy I would still look at the price. If the diesel SRW F-350 is $1000 or more higher than the diesel F-250, I would get the F-250 and then spend $1000 on something like a Firestone Ride-rite air bag kit and a compressor. That would give you much better capacity and load leveling than the F-350's extra leaf spring, and it would also give you the compressor on board for any tire inflation or inflatable toy inflation issues that may come up while RVing.
In my opinion from the purposes you have listed here, the diesel SRW 350 and the diesel 250 are going to be virtually identically capable trucks.
Very aware of the differences. I probably have a lot more weight to deal with than you realize. I usually run 15-20% tong weight on bumper pulls up to 10,000 pounds. And add a lot of stuff in the bed. I owned a 3/4 ton diesel for 14 years. I had air bags so it didn't look overloaded. And I would never spend money on helper springs again instead of getting the heavier truck because it doesn't change your legal GVWR.
I had some problems with airbags. Both rear springs broke where the u-bolts from the air bags went around them about 150,000 miles after adding the air bags. Shortly after that, one of the air bags wouldn't hold pressure. I found a heavy aftermarket set of leaf springs to be a better solution. But still didn't make me legal.
If I find a screaming deal on a 3/4 diesel I might decide to put up with the load payload limitation. But my preference is an F350 SRW.
Last edited:
