Whether you like Ford, Ram, or Chevy/GMC, if you want to stay legal then you need to put the cart before the horse. In this case, only because you need to determine what you plan on towing and or hauling in the bed. If you are looking at slide in campers then go Dually no matter what they tell you. It's the stability of the extra set of wheels that you will like appreciate in the long run. Now as far as 5th wheels or goose necks, yo need to know what the tongue weight of the trailer you are going to pull is and then decide 3/4 or 1 ton according to their payload charts. Now take also into consideration that the payload they show is for full of fuel and a 150lb person in the truck. THat is NOT with the 5th wheel hitch or goose neck and your 4 friends that weigh more than 250 lbs each. Also each level of luxury will give less cargo carrying capacity, plus you need to take into account the rear wheel ratio because the gearing can add or subtract 500 to 1000 lbs of payload and towing capability.
Make sure you look at the Owners manual for the truck you are thing about, the dealers will tell you that it will tow anything but may actually be quoting info on the 450/4500 or above or for the 2 door non 4X4 stripped down roll up window, non-ac or radio version. All the companies put in the very very very fine print which one they are really talking about when they say it can tow more than the other guys. In other words they are not talking about apples to apples but rather they are talking about grapes to pineapples.
Don't let any of them sell you on a 1/2 ton that tows 10k or more. Remember just because you can get it moving doesn't mean anything when you can't get it to stop or you get passed going up hill by granny in a wheel chair twice.
Test drive them all and see how they feel because they all have different feels when loaded and empty.
As I always say get a truck that handle allot more than what you think yo will tow.
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