Buyer Seeking Truck Concierge Service

[Yooper2]

We just put our Class C Wayfarer up for sale (consignment at local RV seller).

The decision is to replace with a travel trailer -- we have narrowed down the specs in terms of brand/manufacturer and size.

Now I need to find a pick-up truck to pull the TT. Is there a "concierge" service who will locate and help me navigate the purchase of the make and model we agree would be best for me?

[Camp CA]

Do an internet search on "truck concierge service who will locate and help me navigate the purchase of the make and model we agree would be best for me?" and find several:

https://caredge.com/plans/concierge
https://www.delivrdto.me/
https://www.carconciergeplus.com/
https://www.youracu.org/personal-ban...uto-concierge/

[Yooper2]

Camp, let's see if anyone has personal experiences with any of these options.

Or perhaps a more intimate alternative...

[Eman85]

Need real world size and weight of the trailer and what your plans are for it.

[Yooper2]

Originally Posted by Eman85

Need real world size and weight of the trailer and what your plans are for it.

Exterior Length = 25 ft
Dry Weight = 5600 lbs

Plans:
> Usage: Once per month (all leisure)
> Trip Length: Up to 1500 miles (one way)
> Typically all east of the Mississippi River
> Preferred campsites: State Parks & Harvest Hosts (some boondocking)
> Avg Length of stay per Campground: 2.5 nights
> Occupants: Retired Couple

[CharlesinGA]

Dry weight is a basically useless number. You have to look at Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) and I'm gonna suggest that a 25ft couples trailer is probably going to be a 7500 lb GVWR, give or take 500 lbs. There are light weight or feather weight trailers that are lighter, but the durability and quality will be very questionable.

A 7500 lb trailer, will, at gross weight, have a tongue weight of at least 750 lbs and up to 1125 lbs. My 21 ft fiberglass Bigfoot has a 7500 lb gross weight and I typically run about 6800 lb or so and a tongue weight of 850 lbs, which puts me at 13% tongue weight, which is pretty much ideal.

Your tow vehicle will run out of payload long before you exceed the tow rating or other limitations. You can find the payload on the yellow door sticker of any modern truck. The truck empty weight includes (I think) a full tank of fuel, and all other necessary fluids and items to operate the truck. (I was thinking it included a 150 lb driver but I cannot find anything that says that.) The more heavily optioned the truck, the less it will carry. .

You will surely add items to the truck, a tonneau cover or a fiberglass shell, which add weight, up to 200 lbs for the shell. Dealer accessories such as Running boards add weight, even tow mirrors add weight over standard ones, Throw in a camp stove, or bag of charcoal, some lawn chairs and other large items that are difficult to store in the trailer, and you are fast using up the payload of the truck. Do not forget to include yoursel and your spouse in the weights.

The tongue weight of the trailer and the hitch itself will just about wipe out the remaining payload capacity.

End result is, you will be running on the ragged edge of too much weight for a "half ton" pickup such as a 150 or 1500. Some models are capable, some are not.

Charles

[Dave Pelletier]

What Charles said.

Furthermore; do you have any hobbies? plan on taking E-bikes or? What do you envision loading in the truck?

25" OAL is a good size and matches with most properly equipped half tons. As Charles said, dry weight is fairly useless as manufacturer's are often overly optimistic, and usually don't include options (sometimes even standard items/packages). Water, batteries and propane on my trailer are 1,000 lbs alone. Using GVWR is much safer. A 5600 lb dry trailer may well end up to be 7,000 lbs loaded which is at the very upper limit of what I'd want to tow with a half ton.

....so, things to consider:

- where are you going to camp? dry or serviced campgrounds? boondocking may require larger tank sizes, solar/battery setups. Camping in rustic off pavement campground favors smaller trailers and opens up more opportunities.

- it it always going to be just the two of you? pets? children/grandchildren?

- budget (though affordability of the right sized Tow Vehicle can be mitigated by buying used if necessary - don't undersize due to budget constraints)

- how much will you carry in the truck cab/bed. Consider any accessories (i.e. canopy, running board, winch, etc. etc.) that you may wish to add.

- Is there a potential that you'd want to upgrade your trailer size at some point and keep the same truck?

- Is range important? mileage?

- If you are considering a 3/4 ton or larger, there is gas vs. diesel to decide upon as well and both have pros and cons.

- Generally the longer the wheelbase, the more stable the tow (all others things equal, of course.). Do you have parking constraints? is this vehicle going to be a daily driver? Do you live in a big city? small town? countryside?


Lots of variables....

Dave

[CharlesinGA]

Dave makes many good points you need to consider, especially where you live (ie. HOA community where trucks cannot be parked outside) of if you plan on using the truck daily or if it will be an extra vehicle.

Charles

[Betr2Trvl]

Without going into a lot of irrelevant specifics in my decision to get an Expedition vs. a pickup, here are some “can I live with it?” criteria to consider:

When we got the Expedition right after selling our Tiffin, we weren’t certain one way or the other if we’d get a TT or not, we had been considering a TT for a while before we decided to sell the Tiffin, and had some ballpark ideas of TTs we’d consider and the associated weights.

You have to understand payload capacity and be realistic about trailer GVWR and expected tongue weight (15% of GVWR seems to be a reasonable starting point without actual specifics).

Getting actual payload for a vehicle you want to consider, pretty much requires that you see / get a pic of the actual door sticker on the vehicle. For estimates, you at least need to look at a few vehicles with the same trim level you want, and use an average so you have somewhere to start. Trim level has a significant impact on cargo capacity.

With all that said, how about the “can I live with it” considerations.

Keeping my vehicles in a garage is pretty much non negotiable.

That being said, can you fit the vehicle in your garage and live with that.

I “could” have fit a crew cab short bed into my garage lengthwise. Didn’t want to, but could have if I had really good reason to.

Width wise, I really didn’t want to have to deal with folding in the big side mirrors on the trucks. But again, could probably have made it work.

Height was the killer.

F250 4x4 would not fit
Chevy / GM 2500 factory spec was 1/2” clearance vs my garage opening measurement. Given the geometry of my drive entry I think I would have been able to get the cab in, but if I had a cap on it, I don’t think that would have cleared.
F150 / 1500 4x4 would fit
Also considered Nissan Titan HD (with a 1900# payload on the one I looked at)


My brothers Chevy 1500 2 wd LT has a 2000# payload

Highly optioned F150s 4WD had about 1700# or so.
A locking bed cover would subtract about 50# or 75#s
A nice cap, 150#.
So your netting about 1600#

My Expedition Limited, 4WD with the max tow package has 1550#

It more easily fits in the garage
It has an independent rear suspension, I know some people don’t like that, but it’s just fine for towing within the limits and a proper wdh.
Your “cargo” is inside the heating / air conditioning, not baking / freezing under a cover or cap.
More or less room to carry stuff, depending on bed cover or cap.

I really didn’t want a pickup, just didn’t.
I just didn’t want to deal with the vertical limits on the 3/4 tons
We weren’t that committed to getting a larger TT, or even if we were going to get one at all.
I wasn’t going to give up any meaningful cargo capacity with the Expedition vs. a nicely equipped F150 (which I preferred over the Chevy/GMC 1500s).

We made a decision that if we did decide to get a TT, we’d have to live with a smaller trailer, 4000#-5000# GVRW as a starting point, maybe like a Tab400. And if the time came and we wanted to get a heavier TT and we’d need a bigger truck, we’d deal with it then.

4 years later, we got the Sol (4800# GVWR), weights are fine, it’s a great little trailer that we are very comfortable in and with, and it’s been a great decision on both. And, we certainly didn’t need a pickup for those 4 years in between either, which the Expedition was perfect for big road trips too.

[Dave Pelletier]

Betr2Trvl, good post and it illustrates that everyone is different. Your setup sounds like a good one.

In my case, though I have a 1,000 sq. ft. garage, my truck lives outside due to my wifes SUV, my sportscar, my restored FJ40, tractor and four motorcycles all taking up the garage space so basing my truck selection on garage size was a non issue for me. I also have a short commute on rural roads to work so living with a larger vehicle has no real downsides for me and I have other vehicles to drive when size is an issue.

I would caution that many half ton (or half ton based vehicles) trucks have payloads even less than you mention; my 2014 Ram 1500 5.7 4x4 CC has a 1392 lb payload and my FIL's Tundra has a 1,160 lb payload. 1,800 lbs is better than average for a typical half ton IME.

Cheers,
Dave

[joerone]

Towing is a complex issue, truck dealers will tell you what the marketing blurb says it will tow, but they don't tell you (probably don't know) all the factors regarding towing and how cargo reduces that capacity. It's a good idea to have some general knowledge of towing...You don't have to an expert.

Take a look at this:

Ford has an online tow calculator for the F Series trucks that utilizes your Vin # so it specific to your truck. After entering the vin, you enter cargo, passenger and hitch weights, whether you have a conventional, 5th wheel or goose neck hitch and it tells you what you have left to tow.

https://www.ford.com/support/towing-calculator
Towing Calculator (ford.com)


I found 3 YouTube Videos explaining Towing capabilities . Keep Your Daydream, Two Traveling Teachers and Josh The RV Nerd have videos explaining all aspects of towing GVWR, GAWR etc. KYD also includes a link to a downloadable spreadsheet where you put in your truck and RV info as well as passenger/payload weights and it will calculate your tow capacity
https://www.keepyourdaydream.com/payload/
https://youtu.be/_rHNCF0g_7c?si=cpsh5-uYiJQ0XjnO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiB6-4FLryU

[Beamer2022]

Just make sure the service understands the differenced between tow capacity and cargo capacity. Most people don't and I don't believe most dealerships, RV or truck understand the difference and how they interact.

The concierge service want you to buy a truck so they get paid. Are you sure it's the right one with the right capabilities? If they only talk about tow capabilities, RUN!

It's all about cargo capacity! It the weight of the TT and passengers, and cargo, is too much, the truck, including the brakes are overloaded!

[NLOVNIT]

Honestly, the best "concierge service" you can get is the advice from members here. We've got members with years, if not decades, of towing experience. I'd trust them WAY more than some service out there.

Get us the year/make/model & full specs on your RV of choice & what your budget is & if you want new or used for your tow vehicle. Our members will steer you in the right direction.

[CharlesinGA]

Originally Posted by Betr2Trvl

Getting actual payload for a vehicle you want to consider, pretty much requires that you see / get a pic of the actual door sticker on the vehicle. For estimates, you at least need to look at a few vehicles with the same trim level you want, and use an average so you have somewhere to start. Trim level has a significant impact on cargo capacity.

This is oh so true. Only go by the numbers on the door sticker. Do not go by what the salesman or any one else says, or what the brochure says.

Many readers will recall the pics that appeared a couple of years ago of the RAM 3500 DRW that was broken in half by the way huge overloaded slide in camper and the rack with E bikes on the back.

I am quoting and paraphrasing from an article on the Truck Camper Adventure website.

The guy bought it because the RAM brochure claimed a 7,680-pound payload that was advertised by Ram mandated a Ram 3500 DRW regular cab truck with a 6.4L HEMI V8 gasoline engine, 2WD, and an 8-foot bed.

Had the guy actually bought a truck as spec'ed in the brochure, it would have carried the camper with no issue, but he never looked at the door sticker and thus never saw that the truck he bought would not carry that camper's weight od 4900 lbs plus another 1500 to 2000 lbs in gear, bikes, and such.

He opted for a truck with a diesel, a crew cab, and 4WD instead. These three options alone will reduce a Ram 3500’s payload by a good 1,500 pounds. Combine that number with other options and you’re staring at a 5,178-pound payload.

Don't let it happen to you!

Charles