Buy the bigest truck you can. The bigger the truck the bigger the brakes are. Stopping a heavey truck camper is a major problem. Remember a pickup only has two sets of brakes. My TC weighs in at 11580 gross. I have a 3500 w/exhaust brake and I still drive with caution. I agree with all the above replys. Rob

I have a f350 PSD 7.3 diesel and love it and pull a fiver that weighs in at 14K and a NorthStar slidein. The truck has been great and I'll keep it for many years...Your noted that you want a truck that makes it easy to load you slidein. Unfortuneatly the Ford Super Duty trucks have a taller cab and you need to put in some two by fours on the truck bed to elevate the camper to give sufficient clearance of the bedroom area over the cab. My problem was even worse as I have some gigantic air horns to clear. Its my understanding that both Dodge and GM/Chevy don't have the clearance problem. Another issue is the dually forces you to get hinges on the forward Jacks so they miss the wider tire dimension. Single wheel trucks have the same carrying capacity as Duallys (as per the materials from the mfg's). Folks usually buy them for the feeling of security of having four wheels in the rear.

Dually.....no doubt about it. I had a SRW and the tilt/sway was just uncomfortable feeling. Did everything I could to minimize it - air bags, sway bar, 10ply tires.....but it will still feel "tippy".
Which brand.....I'm partial to the Cummins Turbo Diesel.....but I'm not going to push one over the other because your decission will be based on what you're looking for, not me.
Drive 'em and pick the one ya like the most - but a Dually will be the best decission IMHO.

After reading all of the above you have gotten great advice. One other thing to look into is the tail gate opening size. Measure your camper and than make sure the truck body will have the proper size opening. Also if you are looking at used trucks and the truck has a cummins 53 block have someone inspect it for cracks prior to purchase.

I'm in the same dilema. I'm currently leanign towards the GM with the new engive & 6 speed transmission. I liek th ehigher capacity on the Ford, but my brother in law who works for Ford advises aginst the Powerstroke 6.0 engine. I looked at Dodge, but the bodywork is terrible. Give me a Dodge engine with a GM Tranny in a Ford Body. Definitely dually though, anyone knwo if the mileage is impacted much over a SRW?

The fuel milage of srw vs drw has been discussed on one of the forums, not sure which one, and the general feeling is the drw gets 1-2 miles per gallon less than srw.

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Originally posted by hmsbeagle:
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Single wheel trucks have the same carrying capacity as Duallys (as per the materials from the mfg's).
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I'm not sure where you got that information, but it's not correct. A camper puts almost all it's weight on the rear axle. A 2000 Ford F350 single rear wheel (SRW) truck is rated 6830 lbs on the rear axle. This is probably not a coincidence that the highest rated 16 inch tires available are rated for 3415 lbs max per tire, which adds up to 6830 lbs tire capacity on the rear. The dually rating with it's stronger Dana 80 rear end is 9750 lbs and there's 4 tires sharing the load. This is probably the biggest factor for carrying a big camper: if you overload the tires, you are asking for trouble. I've hauled a very heavy camper on a SRW truck and even with the rear tires aired up to 90 psi they got really hot. A very hot tire is bad news because it will delaminate and blow out.

So whatever you do, don't exceed the tire ratings. BTW, I'm over Ford's limits for my truck with my camper loaded but well within the tire limits.

I too would say to avoid the 6.0 Ford diesel. I understand it has around 80 Technical Service Bulletins (TSB's) already and the engine is only a couple of years old. The new Cummins I hear has just a couple TSB's & it is roughly the same age as the 6.0 Powerstroke. I believe the Duramax (Chevy) has 12-15, but it is 6 years old now.

So either Chevy or Dodge is probably safe (may Chevy gets the nod with all the positive's regarding the Allison tranny with the DMax). But if you're a Ford guy you might want to consider the 7.3 Powerstroke (2003 & earlier) as it is reputed to be bullet proof.

Good Luck!!

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you slidein

I agree with Bed, Ford with dodge engine. Go DWR, havent heard good stuff about 6.0 ford, NEVER TRUST DEALER OR STICKER WEIGHTS! My 11.5 Weekender sticker says 3650, weights 4,200, my AF 1150 says 3,100 weights 4,700! Go with a 450 or 550 if you want a big TC. So, looks like ford is the winner if you want to go big. If you go smaller, Dodge. Maybe Chevy. Lots seem to be happy though.

A couple of other things to consider. A 4X4 is a little heavier than a 4X2 and that eats into the carrying capacity. The ride height of a Ford or Dodge 3500 with camper is going to have a higher center of gravity which is critical in an emergency lane change, etc. The Dodge is a 6 liter, 6 cylinder, the Ford a 6 liter V-8 and the Chevy has a 6.6 liter V-8--cubic inches, yadah, yadah...