Tow vehicle?? 2021 Ford F-250 or GMC 2500HD

[Hornsky]

If you are going to keep the 2600RB for a while, consider getting a ProPride hitch and stick with the half ton. I have a 2018 F-150 pulling a 2021 2800BH (similar weights to the 2600RB but 2 feet longer) and it pulls it wonderfully. The ProPride hitch made all the difference. It cost's about $3000.00, but it's a lot cheaper than a new truck and the resale on the hitch is good if you do decide on a fifth wheel eventually.

[Bahamas1963]

Thanks for input but too late. I just sold the 1500 today and picking up 2021 GMC 2500HD AT4 diesel tomorrow! Looking forward to traveling the states with the 2600RB to start my wife’s travel nursing venture. I’ll be much more confident as we travel to wherever and the GMC has a much higher payload to allow a decent fifth wheel if we decide to at some point. Thanks to everyone that had given me their thoughts. Happy travels and stay safe!!

[lorend]

Thanks for your thoughts. I have a couple Ford dealers trying to sell me a 2021 F250 with the high capacity trailer tow. I don’t know that we will get a 5er but if we do not planning a real large one. We are both pretty simple and don’t require a lot! Our place in the Bahamas is under 600 sq ft and we are comfortable there. Have a good holiday.

First off, thanks to your wife for being in the nursing field. Good luck with the trial run on the travel adventure. If you are contemplating a future move to a fifth wheel, it would be a good idea to consider the 1 ton truck. I have what many consider to be a 'small' 5er and I am very aware of my weights with a 3/4 ton diesel. Tows the 5er great and has plenty of horse power but close on payload rating. With a 1 ton you just load what you want and not worry about it. Enjoy the New Year.

[lorend]

Thanks for input but too late. I just sold the 1500 today and picking up 2021 GMC 2500HD AT4 diesel tomorrow! Looking forward to traveling the states with the 2600RB to start my wife’s travel nursing venture. I’ll be much more confident as we travel to wherever and the GMC has a much higher payload to allow a decent fifth wheel if we decide to at some point. Thanks to everyone that had given me their thoughts. Happy travels and stay safe!!

Congrats on the new rig! You will definitly feel the difference towing with the 2500. Good luck on the nursing venture.

[Bahamas1963]

Thank you. Not sure if we will get a 5er but think if this venture is something we wish to do long term a good possibility. New GMC has a payload of nearly 3,400lbs. The Fords were about 2,600-2,700 lbs. Happy New Year and praying 2021 we can get back to a normal sooner than later!!

[Boogiejack75]

Test drive both, see what you like better, but get the 1 ton version, especially if there is a chance of getting a 5th wheel.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Absolutely! Get a 350/3500. You will be glad you did!

[fez111]

[QUOTE=Stas2009;337459]We have pulled our 42’ with a 250 Diesel since getting it in 2017. Never 1 issue. Husband is ready for a new truck and loo]
king at a 350 but may stick with 250. I would suggest to anyone have your camper specs with you when buying a tow vehicle.[/QUOTE

I agree with you, although you did not state the year of your truck which makes a difference. We bought a used 2006 F250 Super-Duty Super-Cab long-bed SRW 2WD truck in around 2013 with 150,000 miles so we could move up to a fifth wheel from our 39 foot travel trailer we pulled for 25 years. Our first 5er was 33 feet at about 9000 lbs. I never knew it was behind me on trips. On our first trip to Florida for the winter of 2016-2017, we soon realized that it was a "camping" trailer, not a "live-in" trailer. Searching RV-Trader.com we found an almost new 2016 Solitude 379FL (14,000 Lbs) nearby from a private owner. I researched to see if our F250 would pull this new trailer. What I found was interesting...Our 2006 F250 single rear wheel (SWR) has the exact same axle as the 2006 F350 SWR and the F350 towing capacity is only 100 Lbs more with identical engine/trans and gear ratio. The F350 'dually' towing capacity jumps 2700 Lbs only with a 4.3 axle ratio. As soon as we got the "new-to-us" Solitude to our RV park the first thing I did was to add airbags to lift the rear. It rode level after that. But, our GCVR weight was very close to max all loaded up, which brings me to the next thing...

Doing the math I discovered that at full towing weight the truck's single rear tires were at maximum and also there was a minor swaying issue, all scary things when going through the mountains of Tennessee. What we needed was the stability and less load per tire that dually's afford. I started looking for options. Since our truck was already paid for and after all of the repairs we made to the 6.0 Diesel (EVERY 6.0 has had lots of repairs) it wasn't an option to buy another truck! I found the solution with Arrowcraft Products just north of Detroit, Michigan. They sell very nice dually mod kits for any truck. It worth checking out:

https://arrowcraftproducts.com

With 4 new tires, the dually kit, including seven shiny alloy rims, adapters, hardware, aftermarket dually fenders and hardware, and a body shop to install the fenders, The total was about three hours of my time to install the basic kit and about $4200. There is NO MORE SWAY and the tires are very happy now. It was definitely worth it.

The moral of this story is that We have pulled our Solitude with our 2006 F250 between Michigan and Florida six times. Traveling at 62 Mph the engine purrs at 1800 RPM in overdrive (tow/haul) and only kicks down to climb hills. I barely breaks a sweat. One more caveat...If you really want to be able to stop on a dime pulling a large trailer, put disk brakes on it. I should have put them on ours the first year!

[xrated]

I would suggest you check the king ranch payload. We did check before buying.

Would you mind posting up the exact trailer that you have AND the payload sticker from the driver side door post that shows your actual payload capacity for YOUR truck. As I recall, you said it was a 2017 F250.

[hoogy1111]

Looking forward to traveling the states with the 2600RB to start my wife’s travel nursing venture.

Good for you. I have been talking with my wife about doing this also. Hope to do this same thing in a few years. Would love to know how your adventures go. I work construction so if she does traveling nurse i am pretty sure i can get a construction job.

[tonywelle]

Good luck with your new truck. We have the 2600RB and love the floor plan for the two of us. Only upgrades are a RV Sleep Number mattress when Camper World had them on sale and SteadyFast Stabilizer bars. Both are great additions IMHO.