New TV (and a back story)

[RollingDownTheHighway]

Originally Posted by TheUO

Not much of a shopper eh? It took me 2 weeks of browsing inventory and comparing spec/pricing before I ever even hit a lot to look at any in-person

Almost as much time as it took me to write up the back story

lol, nice 2 weeks, I looked at mine back in October to start, then again in December, and we couldn't come to terms, and then finally, boom the dealer got loaded up with 17's and was ready to deal.


It takes me an average of 4 months before buying a truck.

[TheUO]

Originally Posted by Tcdoughboy

I'm an RV dealer. I have a number of the delivery drivers who haul units to my lot. None of them will even consider a ford....reputation is not good for long term heavy operation. About 2/3 of them drive Chevy/GMC w/ duramax. Those who do swear by them/ I have a couple of them around 800k, and one guy who has in excess of 1,000,000 miles on his duramax. Most w/ duramax do nothing but change oil!. My son runs a chevy store and has nearly identcal truck to yours except chipped to almost 600hp. he pulls a 13700lb Jayco 5th wheel at 16mpg and he say you don't even know its back there.
happy camping

Well, given I can put over 40K a year, here's to 1,000,000 miles

[TheUO]

Originally Posted by RollingDownTheHighway

lol, nice 2 weeks, I looked at mine back in October to start, then again in December, and we couldn't come to terms, and then finally, boom the dealer got loaded up with 17's and was ready to deal.


It takes me an average of 4 months before buying a truck.

I suppose it depends on when you want to start the timer on how long it took us. Technically we've been casually shopping since about Aug of last year. Took until the end of Nov to even decide on a truck vs car... After she told me to look into a truck though, that's when the real "shopping" started.

It's smart to work the dealers over and you probably made out nicely. I did walk away the first day anyways and was able to get the warranty and service agreement at cost because of it. Luckily my dealer was willing to deal knowing the '17s were on the way already so it wasn't an issue and I wasn't going to save any more by holding out longer so I took the 0% and ran.

[RollingDownTheHighway]

Originally Posted by TheUO

I suppose it depends on when you want to start the timer on how long it took us. Technically we've been casually shopping since about Aug of last year. Took until the end of Nov to even decide on a truck vs car... After she told me to look into a truck though, that's when the real "shopping" started.

It's smart to work the dealers over and you probably made out nicely. I did walk away the first day anyways and was able to get the warranty and service agreement at cost because of it. Luckily my dealer was willing to deal knowing the '17s were on the way already so it wasn't an issue and I wasn't going to save any more by holding out longer so I took the 0% and ran.

Agreed, I looked a few months prior before really looking, i visited several dealers and even called my GMC dealer that we buy the DW suv's from and he had nothing. Where I'm at the 3500's sit on the lots from March to November/December, and then boom, they sell like hot cakes at years end. In my area Fords 350 are bigger sellers then the 3500's for whatever reason, then again, I see more used ford 350's then 3500 on the lots as well.

[TheUO]

Originally Posted by RollingDownTheHighway

Agreed, I looked a few months prior before really looking, i visited several dealers and even called my GMC dealer that we buy the DW suv's from and he had nothing. Where I'm at the 3500's sit on the lots from March to November/December, and then boom, they sell like hot cakes at years end. In my area Fords 350 are bigger sellers then the 3500's for whatever reason, then again, I see more used ford 350's then 3500 on the lots as well.

The Black Friday and model year end sales are amazing. Would be paying $8K more for a 2017 right now... No regrets!

[RollingDownTheHighway]

Originally Posted by TheUO

The Black Friday and model year end sales are amazing. Would be paying $8K more for a 2017 right now... No regrets!

if not more, right now in CT, the '17's are starting out at 67 and the high country/denalli 3500 are starting out at 70k. Mine works great and I have no regrets as well for getting the '16.

[speckeld]

I totally agree with everything you have said. My 2015 is basically the same as yours except I do not have the sunroof or rear entertainment. This was my first diesel and I have no regrets. I went with the Bak Flip cover, no regrets here.

I hope you enjoy your new truck as much as I do.

Congrats!!

[TheUO]

Originally Posted by speckeld

I totally agree with everything you have said. My 2015 is basically the same as yours except I do not have the sunroof or rear entertainment. This was my first diesel and I have no regrets. I went with the Bak Flip cover, no regrets here.

I hope you enjoy your new truck as much as I do.

Congrats!!

Thanks, enjoying everything but the payment, registration and added fill-up costs. Fill up about the same amount of times per week (about 2 or more if we go into town on the weekends as well), and use the same fuel but the tank is 3 times bigger...

And don't worry about the sunroof or rear entertainment, they were entirely frivolous (except when the kids actually quiet up and watch a movie, I suppose). I would have easily gone without the sunroof if they had another one without it on the lots around me, but alas... The rear entertainment is nice when the kids watch it (which is all the time right now as it hasn't lost its newness to them yet), but their tablets have been all we needed previously and the added 4G hotspot in the truck just makes tablets even more viable now.

Yes, rear entertainment did move me towards this truck over a few similar ones (that were the wrong color anyways), but it was not a deal killer and if I had found one where everything else was equal but those options, I would have probably saved the money and opted to get the one without. The sunroof was just part of the package, can't have it removed once it's there.

Can't be too picky with model year end options that are still on the lots. I felt I was already being pickey enough.

Overall extremely content with the purchase until I have to open my wallet. But hey, it's not giving me back problems now that it's so light

[Wileykid]

Originally Posted by TheUO

Are we twins?... We're about to turn 200K on the Jetta and we were just settling in to working on the next 100K after turning down a few trade-in offers right before the scandal hit. They just didn't want to give us any money for it so we opted to drive it until it quits. Then all hell broke loose and we ended up loaning ourselves a few bucks and traded in the 2500 to get into the 3500. Some of the buyback is slated as "payoff" for the self loan. It was amazing timing though cause the buyback is giving us $10K over what current trade in was, so although I have a few complaints still, that isn't one of them.

Substitute a GTO for the motorcycle (I'd kill myself on one anyways) and we're practically kin.

What stealth you have, the 27XX?

I think we could. I have the 2515. Had the weight around 9,500 with my bike and water for dry camping, and all my daughters stuff as I was moving her to grad school on the other side of the country.

I wish VW at least had given me love when the turbo gernaded causing $$$. They told me I drove it too much as I put 90K miles in less than 3 years.

Mark

[asquared]

Originally Posted by BandJCarm

A2, I had to put it all the way up in order to miss the Companion hitch and also have any accessible room between hitch and front of bed. And to be honest, although it was high quality, I didn't like it.......and wanted the Retrax! I could write that differently, but that's sorta it. The Retrax is just so much neater, easier, etc. It solved everything.

I don't know about Lp's and Lm's and all that. I know how to find a mechanic in the yellow pages. That's it. I bought what they had, at the time I bought it. I understand the 2017's are neater, cooler, stronger, but I'm stuck with mine till I die in 40 years, so that's that.

And I have the heated seats (and apparently heated steering wheel, LOL), and buttons that do stuff I don't even know about. If I turn on one switch, it will vibrate my LEFT butt cheek if I veer too far left, and my RIGHT butt cheek if I veer too far right. I kid you not. THAT, I had to turn off. SO a lot of that stuff is unneeded, don't pine away for missing some of it. But DW, she has to have heated seats, period.

I can't imagine pulling a fifth wheel and traveling across country with anything else. I don't usually do it, but I splurged and bought the extended warranty just because of all the electronics and engine parts, so whatever breaks is covered. But after 10 1/2 months, I couldn't be happier.

The GPS does suck. And the DEF nozzle location sucks. But I have an on-dash GPS that I like better and the DEF is just every so often. Heck, I just pay the premium prices at service stations that have a pump for it, so much easier than finding a stool and a funnel and........

And if you are a 5'2" female and that's your picture with the red tshirt opening that Bak Flip, well.........um............um...........

I get the whole, gotta get what you want and eh at works for you. Oh and not my pics. They are stock photos from the bakflip website.

[tuckerdog1]

That's a REALLY nice truck.
Waaayyyyy outside my budget.

[hdmtnrider]

TheUO, Super nice TV. Now come the fun part of add the little thing that make it your. One thing you'll want to do for sure is to one thing that GM should have done is to add a grill in the lower opening to help stop any road junk hitting your Trans cooler. One other thing is I wish they had installed wheel well to wheel well steps since these trucks are higher would have been nice.

[BandJCarm]

Mine came with those steps. I assume they were an option on the sticker....??

Three things I don't like about this truck, and one is fixable.
-DEF filler location
-On board GPS better than nothing, barely
-No wheel well liners in back wheels. Looks goofy.

[RollingDownTheHighway]

Originally Posted by BandJCarm

Mine came with those steps. I assume they were an option on the sticker....??

Three things I don't like about this truck, and one is fixable.
-DEF filler location
-On board GPS better than nothing, barely
-No wheel well liners in back wheels. Looks goofy.

I agree, I hate the DEF filler location, at least the fords have it in the gas filler. I haven't found the GPS being an issue, I use a truckers map as well when I tow, and use the GPS as a "backup", traffic advisory, I agree with the lack of a inner liner on the back wheel wells, my GMC 2500 had a "carpet" style inner liner, I'm in the process of tracking something down to put in the wheel wells

[BandJCarm]

Originally Posted by RollingDownTheHighway

I agree, I hate the DEF filler location, at least the fords have it in the gas filler. I haven't found the GPS being an issue, I use a truckers map as well when I tow, and use the GPS as a "backup", traffic advisory, I agree with the lack of a inner liner on the back wheel wells, my GMC 2500 had a "carpet" style inner liner, I'm in the process of tracking something down to put in the wheel wells

PLEASE let me know if you find something. However, I've found a shop in town that blows the bed liners in trucks, and I've asked if they can do that for the wheel liner area. They said yes..........but that was last year some time. I'm saving pennies for that and may have that done. The front wheel area has it! Just makes no sense. And there are a lot of online truck accessory places that sell wheel liners, but NONE anywhere for a dually!

You WILL want to get some after market mudflaps to stop rock damage.

[TheUO]

Originally Posted by Wileykid

I think we could. I have the 2515. Had the weight around 9,500 with my bike and water for dry camping, and all my daughters stuff as I was moving her to grad school on the other side of the country.

I wish VW at least had given me love when the turbo gernaded causing $$$. They told me I drove it too much as I put 90K miles in less than 3 years.

Mark

I grabbed up a 2715W cause it was the only one that had 12' of garage space for my 4 seat RZR and just reaches 10K loaded up. Needed to keep at or below 10K for the 2500 we had before this monster. Now I can pull her without any weight distribution or sway control and, theoretically, not break a sweat. Although, I don't see why not and will be running the same hitch setup on this truck anyways. I'm currently taking my measurements and plan to just replace the 2" shank with the 2.5" (V5) shank with a bit more of a drop to compensate for less sag on the 3500.

Our Jetta is a 2012 wagon and we just rolled 199K this morning. Doing a bit of rounding, I believe we got her around Sept of 2011 so we've had her for a bit over 4 years, let's say 4.25 years. That puts me at roughly 47K miles a year on her and she wasn't even making the cross country trips, that was the 2500 pulling the trailer... Never really did the math before, but I imagine we easily top 50,000 miles a year given we take at least one long trip each year, which we do (that or many shorter trips).

You'd think I would realize how much I drive already, but looking at those numbers is still a bit mind boggling...

Every time a dealer offers me a lease they are just blown away when I tell them I'd be over their 3-4 year mile limit in less than 1 year.

[TheUO]

Originally Posted by tuckerdog1

That's a REALLY nice truck.
Waaayyyyy outside my budget.

Thanks. I do agree that these things are stupid expensive...

Originally Posted by hdmtnrider

TheUO, Super nice TV. Now come the fun part of add the little thing that make it your. One thing you'll want to do for sure is to one thing that GM should have done is to add a grill in the lower opening to help stop any road junk hitting your Trans cooler. One other thing is I wish they had installed wheel well to wheel well steps since these trucks are higher would have been nice.

I'll consider some guards. Kinda hard though as I really like the look of the front end... I have the 6" passenger steps into the cab, if that's what you mean? Came like that...

Originally Posted by BandJCarm

Mine came with those steps. I assume they were an option on the sticker....??

Three things I don't like about this truck, and one is fixable.
-DEF filler location
-On board GPS better than nothing, barely
-No wheel well liners in back wheels. Looks goofy.

Yes, DEF fill location is probably the singular worst thing on this truck... I've already found out how much it sucks cause it had maybe 1,000 miles of DEF fluid in it from the factory so I've already had to top her off. 4.5 Gals of fluid later...

Originally Posted by BandJCarm

PLEASE let me know if you find something. However, I've found a shop in town that blows the bed liners in trucks, and I've asked if they can do that for the wheel liner area. They said yes..........but that was last year some time. I'm saving pennies for that and may have that done. The front wheel area has it! Just makes no sense. And there are a lot of online truck accessory places that sell wheel liners, but NONE anywhere for a dually!

You WILL want to get some after market mudflaps to stop rock damage.

Been looking at flaps, we're on the same page there. I do kind of like the no liner painted look, but with it being white and all it's really a pain to maintain and absolutely trashes any microfiber I use on it... But it looks good all cleaned up, IMO.

I will certainly consider getting them Rhino lined like the bed though. No upkeep then and it won't look too out of place since the bed is already done.

[asquared]

Look at what your trailer loaded tongue weight is and what your hitch receiver ratings are. I'm willing to bet your load bearing (non-wdh) rating is lower than your loaded tongue weight. I would still run a wdh. I used a wdh with my old 7300 lb tt with my current 3500 srw. My tongue weight was approx 1000 lbs

[TheUO]

Originally Posted by asquared

Look at what your trailer loaded tongue weight is and what your hitch receiver ratings are. I'm willing to bet your load bearing (non-wdh) rating is lower than your loaded tongue weight. I would still run a wdh. I used a wdh with my old 7300 lb tt with my current 3500 srw. My tongue weight was approx 1000 lbs

You are indeed correct.

According to the hitch receiver I can pull 20,000 with a max tongue weight of 2,000Lbs, which is what the SAE ratings are at so that matches. I do remember the receiver on the 2500 having different ratings for WD vs. non-WD where this one doesn't so I checked into the owners manual. According to the owners manual the max trailer weight without a WDH is 18,000. The manual states that a WDH is optional for any trailer under 18,000. This implies, as it's not explicitly stated, that a WDH is required from 18K to the max rated 20K.

Even with all that figured out, I totally agree with you. I already have the WDH (it's just the 2" receiver shank version currently) and it's all already setup still so there really is no reason not to continue to run the WDH setup (other than laziness connecting/disconnecting, I suppose). This weekend I'll be hooking her up using the 2" shank, taking measurements to see what drop will be needed with the monster, then I'll be ordering a replacement 2.5" shank with appropriate drop so she rolls level and fits the V5 without a sleeve.

I do appreciate the advise.