Just started my research in January for my retirement travels days, roughly 9-10 years from now. We know for sure that we're looking for a 5er, and I already have a short list of candidates. But there's more to do. Price and size are definitely serious considerations. Plus, we're still not sure if we are full-timing or not. I'm positive we would like to snowbird travel during the winter and a many other trips during the spring and fall. But I want to go into this paid for, so I need to do it in stages. So my TV will be coming first, and needs to be garage-able and a daily driver for 7 years before I retire, that means a F350 SRW. (I'm waiting for the 2017 Aluminum Super Duty) Unless before that time, we will decide to sell the house to full time. Then the TV might be a Dually. Decisions, decisions, decisions. I will certainly be coming here often for updates and advice on all of the above. Looking forward to it.
BiggarView said
09:21 AM Jul 10, 2015
First, welcome aboard. When we started to look into the lifestyle we thought 8-9 years but quickly discovered, through research, that we could go much sooner than we thought. Your mileage may vary.
Unless you have specific needs for a truck during the time before you start this journey, after all 7 years is a long time, I'd look into more economical vehicle options until such time as your future vision firms up. The premise here is most people should be piling up money as they approach retirement and expensive to operate vehicles are more than likely to be a vanity thing rather than a necessity. Again, you know your situation and needs better than I do. Not trying to discourage you, just giving you food for though.
I used to have an extended cab GMC Sierra SRW and it barely fit in my garage. If you opt for a Crewcab PU I think you may be hard pressed to get it into a more or less standard garage unless yours is extra long. Most on here would recommend a dually over a SRW for safety reasons when it comes to towing a fifth wheel trailer but, as usual..... it depends on the set-up.
FWIW, Brian
-- Edited by biggaRView on Wednesday 15th of July 2015 05:10:12 AM
RickandJanice said
09:35 AM Jul 10, 2015
Welcome to the group. This is a very good place to do research and ask questions. We also started researching and planning about 10 years before we took the plunge in Oct. 2013. The research never stops and we learn new things about this lifestyle all the time. We also purchased the rig and truck about 6 years ahead of time due some real deals we came across at the time. We still have the same 5th wheel we decided on back in 2006 and could not be happier but we did purchase another truck that has a heavier tow capacity and less problematic engine (went from 2006 Ford F350 6.0 to 2012 Ford F450 6.7).
Just a word of advice about what you buy in a truck. A SRW will be ok as long as you do not want a high profile 5th wheel or one much over 10000 - 12000 lbs GVWR. The higher the profile and the more the weight, the more stable a DWR will be on the road as well as safer due to heavier pin weight capacity. There are allot of people pulling the larger high profile 5th wheels with single rear SRW trucks that will tell you they have no problems and are within their weight specs. However, I have never met anyone that has gone from SRW to DRW that will not tell you that there is a world of difference in the stability and overall handling between the two when it comes to the heavier and taller rigs. If you decide on a DWR, the sooner you can get used to driving it, the more comfortable you will be using it as both a tow vehicle and on sight seeing. As someone who has used a DWR for the past 9 years with two as our only vehicle , I can tell you there is nothing we have missed because of having it as our vehicle.
Terry and Jo said
07:15 AM Jul 11, 2015
With 9 to 10 years to go, you have lots of time for this process. Ordinarily, we like to recommend that one choose their RV first so that they can insure that the tow vehicle will be heavy enough for the trailer they want to get. In many cases, it is even wise to buy a bigger truck than needed so that if one suddenly decides that their first choice isn't big enough, the truck may still be able to handle a bigger, and perhaps heavier, trailer.
In our case, we wanted a DRV Mobile Suites that would weigh 18,500 lbs loaded, so I wanted to have at least a Ford F450. When looking at the trucks, keep in mind that the bed rails on the new Dodge and GM trucks are taller than the bed rails on the Fords. Taller bed rails can lead to clearance issues between the bed rails and the bottom of the nose of the fifth wheel. Pulling down a regular road is not a problem, but pulling into angled driveways or across other uneven ground can be a problem.
Good luck in your research and planning.
Terry
mds1 said
09:23 PM Jul 14, 2015
Good luck in your planning. We are planning four years out. Starting our planning last year. We decided on a fifth wheel. Here is the planning process I used which I hope end in the best rig for us:
1.Decide on budget. (Done)
2.Fifth wheel vs Motor Home? (Done)
3.Then decide on floor plan and basic needs (such as 4 season rig) of a "fulltime" unit. Figure the floor plan we like will dictate the size of rig.
4.Then decide what manufacturers build the floor plan or close to it.
5.Then decide which of several manufacturers appear to have best quality for price and the best after purchase service.
6.Finally reduce selection to one manufacturer and buy new or used depending on budget (as of 6/20/15 I'm leaning towards a new unit or one not more than two years old - but still researching this).
7.Select a truck capable of pulling the rig with a safety margin. I'm also keeping in mind we might want to upgrade the rig later so the truck should have more capacity than what we are using (although as of 6/20/15 I'm looking at F350 dually class of trucks with 4x4).
Just started my research in January for my retirement travels days, roughly 9-10 years from now. We know for sure that we're looking for a 5er, and I already have a short list of candidates. But there's more to do. Price and size are definitely serious considerations. Plus, we're still not sure if we are full-timing or not. I'm positive we would like to snowbird travel during the winter and a many other trips during the spring and fall. But I want to go into this paid for, so I need to do it in stages. So my TV will be coming first, and needs to be garage-able and a daily driver for 7 years before I retire, that means a F350 SRW. (I'm waiting for the 2017 Aluminum Super Duty) Unless before that time, we will decide to sell the house to full time. Then the TV might be a Dually. Decisions, decisions, decisions. I will certainly be coming here often for updates and advice on all of the above. Looking forward to it.
First, welcome aboard. When we started to look into the lifestyle we thought 8-9 years but quickly discovered, through research, that we could go much sooner than we thought. Your mileage may vary.
Unless you have specific needs for a truck during the time before you start this journey, after all 7 years is a long time, I'd look into more economical vehicle options until such time as your future vision firms up. The premise here is most people should be piling up money as they approach retirement and expensive to operate vehicles are more than likely to be a vanity thing rather than a necessity. Again, you know your situation and needs better than I do. Not trying to discourage you, just giving you food for though.
I used to have an extended cab GMC Sierra SRW and it barely fit in my garage. If you opt for a Crewcab PU I think you may be hard pressed to get it into a more or less standard garage unless yours is extra long. Most on here would recommend a dually over a SRW for safety reasons when it comes to towing a fifth wheel trailer but, as usual..... it depends on the set-up.
FWIW, Brian
-- Edited by biggaRView on Wednesday 15th of July 2015 05:10:12 AM
Just a word of advice about what you buy in a truck. A SRW will be ok as long as you do not want a high profile 5th wheel or one much over 10000 - 12000 lbs GVWR. The higher the profile and the more the weight, the more stable a DWR will be on the road as well as safer due to heavier pin weight capacity. There are allot of people pulling the larger high profile 5th wheels with single rear SRW trucks that will tell you they have no problems and are within their weight specs. However, I have never met anyone that has gone from SRW to DRW that will not tell you that there is a world of difference in the stability and overall handling between the two when it comes to the heavier and taller rigs. If you decide on a DWR, the sooner you can get used to driving it, the more comfortable you will be using it as both a tow vehicle and on sight seeing. As someone who has used a DWR for the past 9 years with two as our only vehicle , I can tell you there is nothing we have missed because of having it as our vehicle.
With 9 to 10 years to go, you have lots of time for this process. Ordinarily, we like to recommend that one choose their RV first so that they can insure that the tow vehicle will be heavy enough for the trailer they want to get. In many cases, it is even wise to buy a bigger truck than needed so that if one suddenly decides that their first choice isn't big enough, the truck may still be able to handle a bigger, and perhaps heavier, trailer.
In our case, we wanted a DRV Mobile Suites that would weigh 18,500 lbs loaded, so I wanted to have at least a Ford F450. When looking at the trucks, keep in mind that the bed rails on the new Dodge and GM trucks are taller than the bed rails on the Fords. Taller bed rails can lead to clearance issues between the bed rails and the bottom of the nose of the fifth wheel. Pulling down a regular road is not a problem, but pulling into angled driveways or across other uneven ground can be a problem.
Good luck in your research and planning.
Terry
1.Decide on budget. (Done)
2.Fifth wheel vs Motor Home? (Done)
3.Then decide on floor plan and basic needs (such as 4 season rig) of a "fulltime" unit. Figure the floor plan we like will dictate the size of rig.
4.Then decide what manufacturers build the floor plan or close to it.
5.Then decide which of several manufacturers appear to have best quality for price and the best after purchase service.
6.Finally reduce selection to one manufacturer and buy new or used depending on budget (as of 6/20/15 I'm leaning towards a new unit or one not more than two years old - but still researching this).
7.Select a truck capable of pulling the rig with a safety margin. I'm also keeping in mind we might want to upgrade the rig later so the truck should have more capacity than what we are using (although as of 6/20/15 I'm looking at F350 dually class of trucks with 4x4).