Please educate yourself!

[Diamondpilot]

Chris, Chris, Chris...You were starting to behave.

I will. Just stating there is no perfect answer.

Chris

 

[Patches]

Well heck, if that's the case I'm getting a 1/2 Toyota, because when I tow that much weight with my 1-ton duallie with an 8.1L, there is no way I would say it pulls it easily. It will pull it wherever you want to go, but you know you are pulling some weight. Let's see who stops first.

Brian

My statement "towed it easily" was not meant to imply it was loafing, but that it pulled it much easier than I had anticipated. As for the stopping, thats more a function of the trailer brakes/brake control adjustment than the truck While Maine and NewHampshire don't resemble Kansas, neither do they Colorado

 

[timswi]

I will. Just stating there is no perfect answer.

Chris

Cheers!:drink:

Tim

 

[Patches]

K7LN; Got your point reference the subjectivity(is that even a word)of opinions; my point was the area isn't pool table flat, but neither is it extremely mountainous. Having said that, I'm sure someone from NH will take me up on this. I should have said my area of travel is unlike either Kansas or Colorado :confused2:

 

[timswi]

Guy's,

There is no 'right' answer here. Some of us tow every so often and need a truck that can handle what we're pulling around. The rest of the time it's a driver and a general hauler. Most of us 1/2 ton guys fall into this category. We just want a multi-purpose truck that can do everything pretty well, not one thing with perfection.

I could use a 1 ton dually diesel for some of the things I do, but I can't park it at work. Which means I have to have another vehicle that requires maintenance, insurance, plates and garage space. Not practical or financially feasable in any possible way.

If you tow 15,000# every day, a half ton isn't your thing. If you tow 8,000# every third weekend, a 1/2 ton is fine if it is set up properly, which really was the issue of this thread.

 

[slowzuki]

The chevy 6 speed auto has a low first gear, they don't get deep rear ends. Most people don't like the 6 speed because they shift more. The convertor is locked a lot of the time to get fuel economy.

 

[Lt CHEG]

Just stating there is no perfect answer.

Chris

No truer words have ever been spoken on this forum.

I'm kind of in the same boat as Patches and I suspect timswi. My half ton is kind of my daily driver. I have a take home vehicle from work, but my pickup is my only "pleasure" vehicle. I could probably afford an additional heavy duty one ton heavy duty pickup along with insurance, etc. however where I live currently I only have driveway space for 2 vehicles and I have to park my work vehicle on the street. I simply don't have space for another vehicle. Add to this the fact that my wife usually likes to ride in my truck on the weekends, etc. as she actually prefers being a passenger in my truck over her car. Part of why she likes my truck is because it is as spacious in the front and back seat areas as a Tahoe and rides like a car. The other main uses for a pickup for me are towing a snowmobile trailer and carrying a couple passengers and gear inside the warm cab, doing the same with ATV's and also occasionally picking up home improvement type stuff. I tow my tractor very infrequently and even though it doesn't handle the heavy load like a heavy duty diesel would my truck will tow the load. So given that towing heavy is seldom a concern for me, but ride comfort and ability to comfortably tow light loads and do it all economically are the primary reasons for ownership of a truck a half ton makes the most sense for me. A 3/4 ton or more truck won't ride as comfortably, gets horrible fuel economy in comparison and doesn't tow a snowmobile trailer any more capably than my half ton. So the only thing it does better is tow heavy loads, while being worse in the ride comfort category and fuel economy categories.

Now I own some land and am going to be building a new house and pole barn/ shop on it in the next year or two. I'll have space for more vehicles and by then the only debt we'll have is the mortgage on the new house (we're keeping our current house as a rental and should make money or at least break even on it). So I might look to keep my current truck and buy a used regular cab diesel 1 ton for heavy towing then when I have more space. I also may just replace my current truck with a new diesel crew cab and buy a BMW as an additional vehicle for general driving and better fuel economy as well as some more driving fun. In that case the pickup should ride well enough for my wife when the weather is bad, etc. but we'd probably drive the sedan the most. But by that time I won't be constrained by the space limitations that I have now so a compromise won't be necessary. I really can't wait to be able to start building...

 

[hawkeye08]

No, you just have to worry about the rest of the truck. Been there done that in 05 and never again. Longest 9 month of my life.


Chris

You must be talking about that Dodge, eh?

 

[hawkeye08]

Pickups are just like tractors, each color has it's share of issues, etc. Really what it comes down to is, if we want one rig (either tractor or pickup) that does it all, then we have to compromise.

If we get one (either tractor or pickup) that is big enough to do some of the things we want to do that a smaller/lighter would not do, then we give up on the benefits of the smaller/lighter ones.

If we go the other way and get a smaller/lighter one, then it stresses things when we try and do the bigger jobs...

In a perfect world, we would be able to get the tractor or pickup that we wanted that would do everything we wanted and cost us nothing.

Back in the real world, I have way too many vehicles and need to get rid of some of them. We plan on trading Yukon XL in on 2011 3/4 Crew cab. Our 3 daughters are grown and we don't need the Yukon XL. We'll probably trade one or more of the other rigs in on a smaller rig for daily driver. Some of the projects are for sale.

 

[Diamondpilot]

You must be talking about that Dodge, eh?

No, 3500 dmax. My Dodge was actually a better more reliable truck but neither hold a candle to the Fords, Toyota, and Nissan I have owned.

Chris