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Looking for a new vehicle, throw your idea's at me.

eodcoduto

eodcoduto

We could have been closer.
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Location
Muscle Shoals, AL
The family has been talking and we are on board with me needing to take a new direction for the daily driver/farm/camper pulling vehicle. The '91 v2500 will get sold, and the '68 K-10 and my Shovelhead will be my projects to keep that itch scratched.

The way I use my vehicle is as a daily driver, getting farm supplies weekly, pulling our camper (not with the Suburban), and used as an all around swiss army knife.
So here is what my ride must do:
-Daily drive, and be able to go coast to coast on an hour notice.
-Pull our 33' camper, which is about 9k loaded
-4wd
-Not be lame
-Dead nuts reliable
-Gas only

My ideas are a 2007 or newer 2500 or 3500 Suburban or a 2014 or newer 2500 pickup, 4 door, long bed. Probably a GMC or Chevy, but I'm not married to one brand since nowadays they are all about the same in quality and capacities.

Let the fire begin!
 
You didn't mention a budget. The newish 2500 and 3500 HD trucks from GM with the 6.6 gas engine come to mind though. A 33 foot trailer is no joke, and you would want something with a substantial footprint to tow that with IMO.

The GM stuff with the 6.2 are probably best to avoid right now.

A similar Ford with the Godzilla 7.3 gas engine is another possible...
 
Around $35k. We pulled this trailer all over the east coast with my wife’s 1794 Tundra and it did great, but a longer wheelbase would be nice.
 
For 33' I'd want a dually. But DD'n a dually sucks.

My '16 2500hd with the 4.11 gears fits all your criteria.
L96, 6l90 without the bypass, 4.11. like a 13k tow rating.
They're hard to find with the 4.11, but may hold up better to the camper.

IMG_20240803_160222948_HDR~3.jpg
 
I tow my skid loader quite a bit. About 11k trailer and all. 24' tongue to tail. Doesn't even seem to know it's there unless a STEEP hill.

Not the greatest on mpg is all. Pretty much an average of 11-13 no matter what your doing.
 
A SRW 3500 6.6 4.10 longbed or a SRW F-350 7.3 4.30 longbed would be my choice with your criteria but if the shorter wheelbase doesn’t bother you one of them 231 year old Tundra’s 5.7 with 4.30’s are nice too.

I hate that you are throwing in the towel with the Burb - sounded as if ya really liked it but I understand that things and priorities change.
Good luck with whatever you decide on!
 
I have a lot of squares, been driving them for 30 years. I came to a similar conclusion on family vehicles. I don't really like diesels. I have road trips in mind and towing is part of those trips I am planning.
Problems I ran into:
New stuff is expensive
Making old stuff new is expensive and time consuming
Towing with gas sucks
My '04 6.0 gas 2500 gets 11mpg unloaded, family doesn't like the extended cab
The '91 V2500 suburban fits the family well, it doesn't tow in the mountains well
My '91 V3500 crew came with a 350 for some reason? No power to tow, no time to get an 8.1L swap done properly
My K5 rules the mountains, its not really for the highways
My Caprice is the ultimate highway family car, it cant tow
There is no perfect vehicle

Back in March I ended up buying a '24 Ram 3500 crew long bed. Tradesman 6.7 Diesel. You could tow a house over a mountain with grandma behind the wheel, it seriously makes towing simple. Coming out of Moab last month, jump on the highway, set the cruise at 80 with the Blazer on a trailer, its excellent. My family was all comfortable and happy, plenty of room. I don't drive it. Not at all. Haven't been behind the wheel in 2 1/2 weeks. I still drive my squares daily. The Diesel is too expensive to daily drive. Its a tool for towing. I will use it for a family trip for comfort's sake but not just around town.

You have probably missed the boat, but Stellantis was in big trouble (still are) and told the dealers to get the '24 models gone. I got $20,000 off MSRP and they delivered it to my house. The tradesman model still has power everything and it came all set up with backup camera, gooseneck, receiver, power mirrors and brake controllers. Its dark grey with tint, not even a white work model. Due to people overpaying during covid and buying heavily optioned trucks it was cheaper to buy new than used at the time. Anyone buying a model with more options just has money to burn or got suckered by the dealer.

So I guess my advice is to daily drive your old rig and have a coast to coast, vacation, towing vehicle that is only used for those things. Spending money to save money sounds stupid but the only way to have reliable, towing family comfort, and not rack up miles just going to work or the grocery store is to have 2 vehicles. I should be able to use my new truck as intended for the next 20 years, and I still get to cruise around town in the old square junk I love.
 
my vote is for a newer 6.6 gas chevy 3500 srw CCSB, if you want to stay in the gas engine arena. Or to keep costs down get an older chevy with the 6.0 gas engine. Diesel wise, a 2013-2018 Ram 3500 srw cummins with an Aisin Trans. The typical 68rfe trans. is not known for being reliable.
 
eodcoduto said:
The family has been talking and we are on board with me needing to take a new direction for the daily driver/farm/camper pulling vehicle. The '91 v2500 will get sold, and the '68 K-10 and my Shovelhead will be my projects to keep that itch scratched.

The way I use my vehicle is as a daily driver, getting farm supplies weekly, pulling our camper (not with the Suburban), and used as an all around swiss army knife.
So here is what my ride must do:
-Daily drive, and be able to go coast to coast on an hour notice.
-Pull our 33' camper, which is about 9k loaded
-4wd
-Not be lame
-Dead nuts reliable
-Gas only

My ideas are a 2007 or newer 2500 or 3500 Suburban or a 2014 or newer 2500 pickup, 4 door, long bed. Probably a GMC or Chevy, but I'm not married to one brand since nowadays they are all about the same in quality and capacities.

Let the fire begin!
Click to expand...
Nobody has mentioned this but I am really happy with my 1998 3/4 ton suburban with the 7.4 vortec.
Tows great very comfortable, gets 11mpg towing, and 13 empty.
They were offered between 1996 and 2000.
Find a low miles if possible, mine had 126k.
Now at 138k, doing great.
I wouldn't get anything newer any time soon.
If you prefer a crew cab, same thing, my buddy has one same running gear with a bed.
 
The L8T engine can run on regular gas. The LT's need premium due to the compression ratio. L8T is also a cast iron block. More of a true truck engine. The one in the Uhaul my son rented got after it in the wind, box loaded down and pulling his Corvette on a trailer.
 
imiceman44 said:
Nobody has mentioned this but I am really happy with my 1998 3/4 ton suburban with the 7.4 vortec.
Tows great very comfortable, gets 11mpg towing, and 13 empty.
They were offered between 1996 and 2000.
Find a low miles if possible, mine had 126k.
Now at 138k, doing great.
I wouldn't get anything newer any time soon.
If you prefer a crew cab, same thing, my buddy has one same running gear with a bed.
Click to expand...
o ya! those trucks are indestructible. Other than rust of course like most of our priced vehicles. If anything was to go wrong, they are a simple road side fix usually. I miss my moms old ‘98 burb going bike race to bike race
 
shock88 said:
o ya! those trucks are indestructible. Other than rust of course like most of our priced vehicles. If anything was to go wrong, they are a simple road side fix usually. I miss my moms old ‘98 burb going bike race to bike race
Click to expand...
Mine is a California rust free
 
Reliability and not needing to tinker with things is the #1 requirement. Our farm is growing and moving in a good direction and every 30 minutes I spend attending to a driver is time I could be pruning trees or getting the farm store in order. We cruised around today since all the dealers here are closed on Sundays and checked out a few pickups, I hadn't looked at the Dodge Tradesman but I will now.
 
Reliability is what finally got me too. Turn the key and go when it's needed.

I found my truck through auto trader online . Made the deal over the phone from 100 miles away. It was a strange experience. Never went to the dealership, 2 white haired old ladies delivered it to me on a Saturday.
 
I have a half ton with a 6.2L and 8L90e and 3.42s (and the NHT package).

It weighs 1800lbs less than my cousin's 2500HD with L8T and 6L90e and 4.10s.

We both pull 31' bumper to ball campers. Mine is 7900lbs (I carry a lot of extra shit like picnic table, two spares, 3 group 34 batteries, and 4 banquette tables under my camper... tools and mine is a 3 season) and his is 7200lbs. His truck and trailer is bone stock, I pulled the rear lift block, added a 28mm Hellwig rear sway bar and Firestone Sportrite airbags. Neither of us use weight distributing hitches. I put about 70psi in the bags when towing the trailer and nothing in the bed.

His rides a bit nicer loaded, mostly in what I would call situations where you have decreasing radius corners like some exit and on ramps. His truck you don't notice them, mine you feel the trailer pushing the truck. My truck can sometimes do what I call pogo-sticking on roads that aren't flat because they didn't use a laser screed. I think it's the Rancho 9000 series overheating combined with way softer suspension. Cornering, braking, etc all about the same. His truck is over 6" taller than mine which I think makes a big difference as compared to my Pmetric "XL' duratracs versus his LREs. Mine has way more power, accelerates from a stop faster, and gets way better gas mileage regardless of situation. 2 more gears, more power on the curve, useful VVT, and DoD.

Unloaded mine drives way nicer. It is "sporty" but it literally weighs a TON less. It's not even close as far as comfort.

For utility, I have him beat also. He has to jump up into the bed of his truck to do anything, mine is literally six inches shorter. Like I can reach into the bed from the sides, sit on the tailgate, etc. His you are always climbing up. Sure, 72 concrete blocks in the back of my truck means I need to put air in the bags, but that's about it.

For pulling 10k plus, I'd get a 2500HD... for anything else, they're kind of a PITA.
 
We shifted gears altogether on this purchase. After sitting down and looking on how we use vehicles and decided to sell the camper, and thus we don’t need a 3/4 ton.

I test drove all the OEM’s to see what fit the best instead of my usual approach of saying I want this make, model, and then finding it. We bought a new Colorado Trail Boss. It tows almost 8k, 430 ft lb of torque and the bed is the same size as the back of the Suburban. Nicest thing I’ve ever had too!

IMG_3250.jpeg

IMG_2617.jpeg
 
Not towing 30ft of camper really opens up the vehicle options. I think those Colorado's are cool.
 
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