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For an open trailer, you can't beat a nice RCSB, especially a newer Ram with the Hemi and 8-speed. I love mine and I get around 13-14 mpg towing my vette.
But, as mentioned above, enclosed trailers tend to drag lighter trucks around. You can always weigh down the bed, which helps quite a bit, but ultimately a bigger, heavier truck is the hot ticket.
Mine gets 9.5-10.5 at 65-70mph with the 545rfe and older hemi.
As for the Chevy HD 2500's w/ 6L motors and tow setups, stay away if you go with an enclosed trailer (which, if you stay with this sport/hobby, you will). Sure, the frame and engine are up to the task, but barely. My ex 2011 2500HD Denali never stayed in 6th gear; always downshifted to 4th or 5th on the slightest grade. The howl from the engine inside the cab was the deciding factor for me to get rid of it.
Now I'm in a F250 diesel pulling a 5th wheel. All. Day. Long. If you have the means, go diesel, never look back.
I had a beauty of a '13 (or '14?) 2500 HD with the 6.0 liter. It worked "on paper" but not so great in reality. Went to a '15 Chevy HD 3500 dually diesel...no regrets!
I had a beauty of a '13 (or '14?) 2500 HD with the 6.0 liter. It worked "on paper" but not so great in reality. Went to a '15 Chevy HD 3500 dually diesel...no regrets!
LML GMC dually here w/ enclosed gooseneck. Feels wonderful to tow.
I am an experienced tower as i have been towing my vette to events since I was 21 (37 now). I never tow without weight dist hitch. I've used dad's astro minivan, my 1500 truck, dad's 1500 suburban, an 87 suburban with the 454, and dad's diesel motorhome. I have just never towed wiht an AWD vehicle. I've only had 4WD and been able to run it in 2WD for towing. I have heard it wasn't good tow in 4WD but i hadn't heard anything about AWD.
Most of my towing is around Indiana to NCCC events. The farthest I usually tow is to Convention if I go. I don't' see many large hills and definitely no mountains in my normal towing. So a 2500 or 2500HD should be fine for me.
The truck i am trying to replace is my DD during the winter so it needs to be 4WD or AWD. I'm single so don't have wife or kids, but I do like the extra room in my extended cab for hauling all my equipment. If i had a cap, i could haul some of that in the bed though.
My truck is an 01 and is just rusting away. Rockers and cab corners are completely gone, front right fender starting to rust, rear wheel arches rusting. Frame and suspension components rusting but just replaced upper control arms, steering knuckle and hubs.
So I will be looking for a 2500HD extended cab truck or 2500 suburban with 4WD. I would prefer a newer truck with less miles on it (under 150K) and no rust. Trying to stay around $16k but may be able to go up to $18k for the right truck. If you have anything lying around let me know.
I use a 2006 Chevy 2500 Duramax to pull a 24ft enclosed trailer with 10,000lb axles. I average 12mpg with the truck and trailer fully loaded with a car, fuel, tires, gear, us...
This may be a one off event but, my buddy has an 08? GMC Sierra Denali crew cab with the 6.2L. He borrowed our trailer on a regular basis to haul his motorcycle and some gear to track days and races. The trailer was way overkill for his needs but he liked camping in it at the track. While the truck had plenty of power to pull it, especially with only a bike, the transmission hated it. It constantly shifted in and out of gears and did so with a racket. After a year's worth of races/events (4-5 ?), he was putting a new transmission in his truck.
I can't say for sure if towing the trailer caused the issues or if the trans was already in bad shape but I know my buddy maintains his vehicles flawlessly. Replacing the trans was enough to make him reconsider towing our trailer with his truck again. FWIW he averaged 7-8 mpg.
Older diesels can be had cheap(ish) and are well worth the money. If you do get an older diesel be sure to do research and learn the ins and outs of each brand.
For example:
Ford 6.0 = NO
Dodge = Bad automatics
<2006 Duramax = Injector issues
01-22-2017, 06:11 AM
LML GMC dually here w/ enclosed gooseneck. Feels wonderful to tow.
