Can those Honda Ridgeline's pull that? They are proud of their towing ability and look pretty well put together (not to mention the hidden trunk under the bed).
I'd think that you're probably going to eat a lot of gas with any of the bigger trucks... like a F250 or F350...
Tom that is why I'm hoping someone has had experience with a bigger 6 cyl, or a more econonomical 8 or a diesal alternative, I've looked at VW's diesal and I'm still pondering
I've looked at alot of campers in my size range and decided I could lighten the load by at least 500 lbs and retrofit it into a more efficient unit but I need to be able to pull it with an economical 6.
I had a diesel in a Jetta and never had any problems with it (but that was a car)... have you looked over on Edmunds.com yet? They usually have a lot of info there as well as forums.
I'll take a look in consumerreports.org for you... what's the tongue weight of your trailer? (the Ridgeline tows 5000 lbs and got 15 mpg overall in their tests)
The Tacoma and Tundra list hight towing capacities (6500 and 6700 respectively).
It's gonna cost you to pull a 28' camper/trailer no matter what you pull it with. You're not going to necessarily do better by going with a smaller engine. I have a scoutleader bud who usually pulls his troop trailer and hauls a few boys around and he bought a big ol' Ford V10....which in the long run saves gas on trips because of the overall efficiency.
Get something gutsy to haul the trailer and keep the smaller vehicle for your trips to the store.
That makes alot of sense, have it and not need it rather then not have it and need it
:)
In that case I think I would rather go with a diesel 4 wd unit, maybe a Landrover or Rangerover.
I'm not so sold on the truck idea that I can't explore other options like a well built and roomie car, heck I owned and operated the ultimate wowmobile a 68 Old's Vista Cruiser
nope... just a luggage rack... I thought the vista cruiser had the windows...
I did look around in the edmunds.com forums searching for things like "heavy towing" and "28 foot trailer", etc... I don't have an answer for you but the general consensus seems to be to get (at least) the 8.1 or bigger... Ford seemed to get more "high fives" since they lasted so long w/proper maintenance...
My brother is selling his p/u that's just a couple of years old... he doesn't need anything that big anymore and it has been maintained... I can check for you!
I dunno about diesels. I considered one a while back and found out the parts and maintenance are considerably more expensive and diesel fuel is as high and many cases higher than gasoline (unless you can get tax free farm diesel). The plus side, of course, is a little better fuel efficiency, a little more power, cleaner burning and the biggest plus of all is that it can be modified to run on used vegetable oil like McDonalds cooks their fries in and then throws out. A lot of greasy spoons and particularly convenience stores that offer up fried chicken and the like are always eager to dispose of their used oil.
A bud of mine has a big ol' Dodge diesel truck which he thought he needed to pull his cattle trailer, but it turned out that it was no more efficient or powerful than a gas truck and regretted his $18,000 truck purchase. It seems there's ALWAYS something going wrong with it. The only thing he likes about it is that it makes him feel like he's driving a "big rig".
I had to drive his truck to a Scout event about three years ago since he had to drive the van full of Scouts (I don't have the required chauffers license or the required $1,000,000 liability insurance) and did it according to his explicit instructions which was to keep shifting in order to maintain a uniform RPM all the way. That's quite a tedious task here in the Ozark hills with the constant up and down and hairpin curves....with one eye on the road and one eye on the tachometer. I don't know how necessary that is, but it's his truck and it's what he wanted.
Besides...it stunk like an old bus the entire way.
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coolchef
herb
horse and buggy today is way more economical
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Tom Strange
Can those Honda Ridgeline's pull that? They are proud of their towing ability and look pretty well put together (not to mention the hidden trunk under the bed).
I'd think that you're probably going to eat a lot of gas with any of the bigger trucks... like a F250 or F350...
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herbiejuan
Tom that is why I'm hoping someone has had experience with a bigger 6 cyl, or a more econonomical 8 or a diesal alternative, I've looked at VW's diesal and I'm still pondering
I've looked at alot of campers in my size range and decided I could lighten the load by at least 500 lbs and retrofit it into a more efficient unit but I need to be able to pull it with an economical 6.
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Tom Strange
I had a diesel in a Jetta and never had any problems with it (but that was a car)... have you looked over on Edmunds.com yet? They usually have a lot of info there as well as forums.
I'll take a look in consumerreports.org for you... what's the tongue weight of your trailer? (the Ridgeline tows 5000 lbs and got 15 mpg overall in their tests)
The Tacoma and Tundra list hight towing capacities (6500 and 6700 respectively).
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Linda Z
Ooh, ooh, I know where there's a sweet little truck:
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Ron G.
It's gonna cost you to pull a 28' camper/trailer no matter what you pull it with. You're not going to necessarily do better by going with a smaller engine. I have a scoutleader bud who usually pulls his troop trailer and hauls a few boys around and he bought a big ol' Ford V10....which in the long run saves gas on trips because of the overall efficiency.
Get something gutsy to haul the trailer and keep the smaller vehicle for your trips to the store.
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Tom Strange
It's your truck.. but I agree with Ron...
it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it...
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herbiejuan
That makes alot of sense, have it and not need it rather then not have it and need it
:)
In that case I think I would rather go with a diesel 4 wd unit, maybe a Landrover or Rangerover.
I'm not so sold on the truck idea that I can't explore other options like a well built and roomie car, heck I owned and operated the ultimate wowmobile a 68 Old's Vista Cruiser
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Tom Strange
I hear ya... I had a 69 Ford Country Squire... took my commercial DL test in it!
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herbiejuan
Did it have moon windows?
I never got much of a chance to ride in the back but I hear the view from the back was wonderful. I rode on top when I was in back so I couldn't tell
;)
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Tom Strange
nope... just a luggage rack... I thought the vista cruiser had the windows...
I did look around in the edmunds.com forums searching for things like "heavy towing" and "28 foot trailer", etc... I don't have an answer for you but the general consensus seems to be to get (at least) the 8.1 or bigger... Ford seemed to get more "high fives" since they lasted so long w/proper maintenance...
My brother is selling his p/u that's just a couple of years old... he doesn't need anything that big anymore and it has been maintained... I can check for you!
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Ron G.
I dunno about diesels. I considered one a while back and found out the parts and maintenance are considerably more expensive and diesel fuel is as high and many cases higher than gasoline (unless you can get tax free farm diesel). The plus side, of course, is a little better fuel efficiency, a little more power, cleaner burning and the biggest plus of all is that it can be modified to run on used vegetable oil like McDonalds cooks their fries in and then throws out. A lot of greasy spoons and particularly convenience stores that offer up fried chicken and the like are always eager to dispose of their used oil.
A bud of mine has a big ol' Dodge diesel truck which he thought he needed to pull his cattle trailer, but it turned out that it was no more efficient or powerful than a gas truck and regretted his $18,000 truck purchase. It seems there's ALWAYS something going wrong with it. The only thing he likes about it is that it makes him feel like he's driving a "big rig".
I had to drive his truck to a Scout event about three years ago since he had to drive the van full of Scouts (I don't have the required chauffers license or the required $1,000,000 liability insurance) and did it according to his explicit instructions which was to keep shifting in order to maintain a uniform RPM all the way. That's quite a tedious task here in the Ozark hills with the constant up and down and hairpin curves....with one eye on the road and one eye on the tachometer. I don't know how necessary that is, but it's his truck and it's what he wanted.
Besides...it stunk like an old bus the entire way.
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