Which Came First

[dndweeks]

The RV or the truck?

I haven't been out to visit the forum in a while. We had a stall in our plans to purchase an RV and are once again looking. We will also need to buy the tow vehicle and went out to look at a F250 last night.

However, I'm questioning what makes the most sense. Part of me says go ahead and buy a truck, but part of me says we should be trying to find the RV first so we know how much truck we will actually need.

The truck isn't just being purchased to haul an RV, but will be driven as one of the primary vehicles in our household, so I really don't want to get more truck then we are going to need.

What's your advice?

[hankpage]

I would recommend finding the model trailer first. As for the truck, a 3/4 ton and a 1 ton equipped the same will be the same size and drivablity. What will effect mpg the most will be the lower gear ratios available on the 1 ton. Of course available dual wheels goes without saying. If you are buying new, the few dollars more for the extra payload of a single rear wheel 1 ton is worth it. Other things to consider is the difference in title and registration fees and local restrictions on weight class. JM2¢, Hank
KEEP DREAMING

[f6bits]

Choose (not buy) a trailer, then find a truck. Even among similar trucks, payload can vary by more than 500 lbs, which works out to about a 2000 lb. difference in which trailer you can pull.

[dandjh1958]

We knew about how big of the trailer we wanted (under 30ft) so we got a great deal on a RAM 1500 and got the truck first. (July) Then we looked for the trailer we wanted. (Aug)

Had we not known the size of the trailer we wanted, we would have looked at them first, then looked for the truck.
Good luck in your searches and have fun!!

[KanTC]

There are benefits either way... it really comes down to what works best for you.

One *important* thing to remember though ~~ if buying a 'brand new' truck, the manufacturer usually
requires a break-in period BEFORE you can tow with it. Usually 500 miles, but check the owners manual.

Terri, the Chevy co-pilot :)

[Andymon]

We knew exactly which TT we wanted so went a found that...then, we found the truck.

[Festus2]

dndweeks --

I would suggest that you buy the RV first then find a suitable truck that can safely tow it.

If you are looking at a "smaller-sized" RV, then you have greater flexibility in the size of truck. It could be either a 1/2 or 3/4 T. Either one may do the job quite well.

If, however, you are considering something larger -- "mid-sized or large" - then your choice of trucks may be more limited to those with greater towing capacity and payload.

Keep in mind that, if you start off with a smaller RV now and then decide to buy bigger later on, having a bigger truck right from the start allows you to do that.

Good luck in your decision and the hunt for both the RV and truck of your dreams.

[dndweeks]

Thanks for the great advice.

We have decided to look for the RV first so we know how much truck we'll need. Of course we also started out looking at travel trailers only and now we're looking at 5th wheels too. So many choices. Just have to figure out what is going to be best for us.

[EricLynnAllison]

If you need a daily driver, I suggest you buy the biggest truck that you'll be comfortable driving everyday, find out the towing limits and then find a RV in that range. I bought the biggest truck first to pull any trailer I wanted. It wouldn't be a fun daily driver.

[Javi]

Daily driver comfort is totally subjective and dependent on local. For instance I live in a town of about 200K where you see almost as many duallies as you do soccermobiles. Although I've tried 1/2 tons and now a HD 3/4 ton I'm going back to a dually as soon as I can.

I understand those who didn't grow up driving pickups and jeeps wanting a Cadillac ride (not really sure what that is) but a working pickup ain't supposed to rock you to sleep. They ride rough because they're built to work. I used to hate it when I had to rent a soccermobile on a business trip, too mushy for me.

[PND]

:) For us, we bought the truck first, last year, since we knew we wanted to go up to a 5er, that we could "live" in for long trips. Needed it to have W/D prep.. I bought a 2012 Silverado 2500 HD LTZ Duramax, crewcab, with the higher GVW. Our new 5er comes in at 11,240 lb, with a pullrite superslide, 16K, we feel we still have a little room, weight wise, even after we load our gear. Trailer specs say, 2700 lb (approx) max additional weight, so that keeps us around 14,000 lb. I will track milage when we bring it home - have two passes to go over to get back home. Don't think I will be flying, like pulling our old trailer - 6500 lb.

PND

[warsw]

I would get the biggest, badest truck that you can live with regardless of what trailer you think you want to get. This way you won't be looking at buying another truck when you decide you want a larger trailer.......Like I did :(.

[crash]

First TT we got dw said will our truck pull it ,Me NO problem (I knew it would be tough):DFirst trip out DW said we need a BIGGER truck ,Me:D"bouncey::D

[dndweeks]

First TT we got dw said will our truck pull it ,Me NO problem (nowing it would be tough):DFirst trip out DW said we need a BIGGER truck ,Me:D"bouncey::D

And this is what I'm trying to avoid.

[Hansel]

If the truck is a great deal I'd snag the truck first, then find a camper. There are more than enough camper styles too pick from that will meet you and your truck needs.

[audio1der]

All good advice above.
Things I have learned in my time here:
-You can never have too much truck in front of a trailer but you can easily have too much trailer behind a truck.
-People often want to trade-up their trailer but the TV can become a limiting factor if it was only sized for the first/smaller trailer.
-Trailer salesmen will say almost anything is half-ton towable
-Watch for towing max AND payload figures. Payload often becomes overloaded before towing max.