Why even bother with a 3/4 ton truck?

[Wolverine 1945]

Originally Posted by Skyliner

There seem to be some universal truths in the RV community. One of those is that most people will almost always upgrade their RV's to a larger and heavier camper. Another almost universal truth seems like you should buy as much truck as you can afford.

I laughed years ago when a full-timer told me I would get a new RV every 2-3 years that was at least 3 feet longer than the last one. Guess what, he was right. I think we are up to our 5th RV and as soon as our truck is paid off in 35 months, will upgrade from our 30 footer to a 33-35 ft 5th wheel.


Anyway, I digress.

My question is, Why do people bother buying a 3/4 ton truck when you can get greater payload and possibly tow rating capacity with a 1 ton truck?

My experience showed that you could get a 1 ton truck for the same money as a 3/4 ton truck and sometimes less because of the "stigma" associated with 1 tons (poor and harsh ride unloaded).

I see, read, and hear a lot of people upgrading their 3/4 ton trucks with airbags in order to increase payload when they do upgrade even though they are not "legal" to carry a heavier load.

As for ride? I put a very heavy Curt 24k 5th wheel hitch in my F350's bed. Couple that with about 500lbs of water and gas hauled in the bed most of the time, I don't really notice a difference between the F350 and F250 trucks.

I had a guy from MN last week tell me to license a 1 Ton Truck in MN cost only about 1/10 of what it cost to license a 1/2 Ton Truck !!!
Seams backwards to me !!!

[JohnD10]

Much easier to register your truck and trailer or motorhome in South Dakota...

I just did that a week ago!

My Colorado license fees this year would have been around $1500 for my 2015 Chevy 2500HD and 2015 33-foot 5'ver.

Cost me $400 in South Dakota...

$256.00 for the two title transfers, license plates and associated taxes and fees.

The rest was for a PO Box at an RV park in Rapid City, which is a yearly fee.

For more info, go to: Americas-Mailbox Home - mail forwarding - Americas-Mailbox

The whole trip, including the above mentioned fees, gas and RV parks was probably around the price for the truck's tags alone in Colorado this year.

In hindsight I wish I had gotten my drivers license there as well...might have to do that next time I go up there!

There are no state income taxes if you claim South Dakota residency.

I am still on my way home from South Dakota to my new home in Arizona and am presently in Denver getting the rest of my stuff out of storage and putting it in my 5'ver (a challenge at best).

I will probably keep my Colorado drivers license for now and get an Arizona DL later this summer.

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by nomad297

Fairfax County, VA

Believe me, those bills all come at the same time, and it is painful.

Bruce

Originally Posted by nomad297

It’s the county more than it is the state. I can’t wait for the day that I can get out of this place.

Bruce

So how come your profile says East Earl, PA?

[BandJCarm]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!

What my brain hears in all those type answers is "The laws of physics don't apply to me".

I still say the best answer is "Tow anything you want with whatever you have". Just do it.

THEN you'll know. I do wonder how many of the questions about this are honest questions and how many are requests for validation. I traded trucks 2+ years ago just because of the answers to my similar questions. I do notice that the folks that helped me seem to have stopped chiming in on these type discussions. Don't blame them. I'm not sure but what this type discussion should maybe be banned. LOL

[Ejs4029]

Originally Posted by Dustyhd

Many states heavily tax a truck over 10k GVWR even for non commercial. That’s the reason.

X2.....That's the case in CA when I bought my 3/4 ton truck...I remember reading an article where it cost a guy 1K to register is new Ford F450 he was griping because he only used it to pull his Toy Hauler a few times a year.

[BandJCarm]

Is a Ford F450 considered a one ton????????????

(I had no idea the 1 tons were taxed more in these Tax Heavy states. I admit, that'd make me think........)

[Kaadk]

I think it all depends on where you live, as evidenced by different stories here in this thread. In our case, I went F250 because Ontario has different regs depending on whether your truck is over or under 4500 KG GVWR. Here, they consider all pickups, regardless of use, as Commercial, but basically, if you're under that 4500 kg, and it's personal use, then you 100% follow the non-commercial rules. Over, you start tacking in annual inspections, higher costs, etc... By staying under with my 9900 lbs derated F250, I won't have to deal with any of that.

And even being derated, since it's a lighter weight gasser, my payload is still 2849 lbs. Is it enough? I don't technically know yet. I've only had the truck for a little over a month and haven't been able to hit a set of scales yet. The only actual metric I can go on so far is my wheel well measures, which says hooked up I only drop the rear about an 1" (1 1/8 is what's coming to mind, but I'm not exactly certain, I measured several weeks ago and silly me, didn't take pictures to maintain a record of it.)

However, calculation wise, I think I'm still ok. Payload is 2849. Me, wife, kids and dogs is about 640 (I really need to lose some pounds, this winter hit me hard). Demco hitch is about 300. Bakflip that just got put on, 55. All together, leaves me with about 1854. Dry brochure weight, which I know is useless, was 1140. Assume 55lbs per 30 lb tank and about 40lbs for the dealer battery. Gives me about 564 lbs wiggle room for added weight to tongue. Based on previous TT, I would say we've added less than 1000 lbs to the trailer, due to downsizing of what we used to carry, so as long as less than 1/2 the weight of what I've put in the trailer is on the tongue, hopefully I should still be ok. Just need to get around to actually hitting a set of scales to verify that.

[Ejs4029]

Originally Posted by BandJCarm

Is a Ford F450 considered a one ton????????????

(I had no idea the 1 tons were taxed more in these Tax Heavy states. I admit, that'd make me think........)

I'm not really sure I know for sure my 3/4 ton cost more to register when I was in CA then a 1/2 ton and the one ton is more then the 3/4 ton.......CA goes by GVWR and I think the F450 is 14K GVWR.

I recently took a trip up North from NC to PA and was on the PA turnpike because my 3/4 ton weighted between 7,001lbs and 15,000lbs it was considered a Class #2 vehicle it must have been weighted at the toll booth since I paid with cash.

[Nailz]

Originally Posted by hbillsmith

I added airbags so I can level out the headlights on those rare occasions when I tow at night. My payload is within spec and truck tows great. My old truck had adjustable headlights but this one no.

X2! You're welcome.

[cmysstailights]

Originally Posted by woodyrock1

Sounds like you are from NY? I'm in the same boat (if my assumption was correct on your location) but use my Ram 1500 as my daily drive. I scored huge on my 2005 Ram 3500(dually) with only 36K miles on it that is now my TV.

Yes i am lol, long island to be exact.

[nomad297]

Originally Posted by rockfordroo

So how come your profile says East Earl, PA?

Because that’s where I call home!

Bruce

[jtesta1]

I don't know where the hell you shop at. I ain't never seen a 1 ton truck anywhere near the price of a 3/4 ton unless you're buying a stripped down 1 ton.

[Skyliner]

What something lists for and what it sells for are two different things. I was able to get better pricing on my F350 then a similarly optioned F250.

[BandJCarm]

Originally Posted by jtesta1

I don't know where the hell you shop at. I ain't never seen a 1 ton truck anywhere near the price of a 3/4 ton unless you're buying a stripped down 1 ton.

This is where I bought mine. Prices HAVE gone up. But filtering for both 2500 and 3500, it appears most of the 3/4's are MORE than the 3500's, even Denali 3500's.

Bryant - New GMC Sierra 2500HD, Sierra 3500HD Vehicles for Sale

[Hersbird]

Yall just screwing around, get an International 4x4 Workstar. Then you can also get a Cummins with an Allison.

[DieselDrax]

Originally Posted by jtesta1

I don't know where the hell you shop at. I ain't never seen a 1 ton truck anywhere near the price of a 3/4 ton unless you're buying a stripped down 1 ton.

Go to your favorite manufacturer's website and build a 3/4-ton and 1-ton truck with the same equipment/options and compare the MSRP of both trucks. You're not going to see much difference at all. For example, base MSRP for a Ram 2500 vs a Ram 3500 is $1,100 difference. Since nobody pays MSRP the actual difference is going to be less.

[DouglasReid]

Originally Posted by jtesta1

I don't know where the hell you shop at. I ain't never seen a 1 ton truck anywhere near the price of a 3/4 ton unless you're buying a stripped down 1 ton.

That has been my experience as well, but I don't buy a new truck ever, Id prefer someone else take that HUGE depreciation loss up front.

[rockfordroo]

When you do a model search on my local Chevy dealers website, they don't even give you an option to search for a 1 ton.

[Mtelkman]

I would have bought a F350 if I knew then what I know now. Since I didn't want to buy a new truck I just swapped in the extra rear leaf spring that is the only difference between a F250 and SRW F350 for my year truck. Shazam! Same as an F350 except for the badge on the side of the truck. If you think you need that marker on the side of the truck to make you feel safe from lawsuits go buy a new F350. I sleep easy knowing mine now has the same additional 1100 pounds of payload capacity as the F350 SRW.

[BandJCarm]

Originally Posted by rockfordroo

When you do a model search on my local Chevy dealers website, they don't even give you an option to search for a 1 ton.

When I searched for a dually, I ran across that too. My local dealer could NOT find one. Even when/if they did find ONE within 250 miles, that dealer would not do a 'dealer trade'. They keep them for their farmer/rancher/etc customers.

That's what led me to Everett. They had about 25 in stock. The vie with Laurel in Illinois for top GMC dealer every year. Plus they will dicker.........I spent the day dickering and saved a zillion.

But they have them now in stock, and the 3500's appear cheaper than the 2500's.