Buying a new Truck, any suggestions?

HI Everyone,
We are new to the 5th wheel towing and are in the process of purchasing a Wildcat 28RKBS and also need to purchase a truck. Anyone out there have 2010 or 2009 28RKBS and what are you using for a tow vehicle? We want to be able to travel cross country and not have to worry about hills etc. What are you using and are you happy with the performance. What suggestions might you pass on. I love to learn from others experiences. Thanks any thoughts would be appreciated.

What ever brand you buy,get a diesel. You will never regret it.

Welcome to the forum.



I guess its a personal preference on what brand. You'll know the right truck when you sit in it.

If your buying a used ford truck, try and find one with the 7.3 engine or the newer 6.4 engine. If your buying new - I think either brand would be equally good.

I have a 2009 32QBBS and have a 2008 Chevrolet 2500HD crew cab short bed 4x4 with the 6.6L Duramax Diesel. The engine seems to have no trouble handling the 10k lb wildcat but does only get 9mpg while doing so. When I buy a new truck it will be a long bed. I bought the truck before I had a 5th wheel and got a deal that was too good to pass up; and while the short bed works fine with the new wildcat front end i would feel a little more comfortable with the extra clearance of the long bed. Another note is fuel capacity. The 26 gallons on my short bed is laughable and I am in the process of purchasing an in bed auxiliary tank. My suggestion is to get a diesel and the largest fuel tank offed OEM. As far as 3/4 ton vs 1 ton trucks I don't really know if it would be a noticeable difference while handling the trailer.

We have a 2009 28RKBS and tow with a 2008 Chevy 3500 Single rear wheel Diesel. No problems at all. I am sure a 2500 would also be fine. I went with the one ton for a little extra carrying capacity. the one thing about the 3500 is (at least for 2008) it only came in a long bed. I am used to it now, but man it is long. Good luck with your decision.
Jim

You need a truck with at least a 9900# GVWR. The old school 3/4 tons don't have the legal ratings at 8600# to carry the pin weight. With my 31qbh, I gross at 10,500 on the truck axles alone. With the 28RKBS, you'll be in the 9500 range easily. I know the newer Ford F250 (2008+) have GVWR of 9900 and the F350 are now in the 11000s. The duallys are higher, but would be overkill. I don't research the other brands, but I remember the GM 2500s being only 9200#.

If you are going new, I'd get the 6.7L Ford just to be a early adopter. Hopefully they have it figured out. Or the reliable 7.3L.

Newbies to the forum.

jetskier wrote:You need a truck with at least a 9900# GVWR. The old school 3/4 tons don't have the legal ratings at 8600# to carry the pin weight. With my 31qbh, I gross at 10,500 on the truck axles alone. With the 28RKBS, you'll be in the 9500 range easily. I know the newer Ford F250 (2008+) have GVWR of 9900 and the F350 are now in the 11000s. The duallys are higher, but would be overkill. I don't research the other brands, but I remember the GM 2500s being only 9200#.

If you are going new, I'd get the 6.7L Ford just to be a early adopter. Hopefully they have it figured out. Or the reliable 7.3L.

What he said. New or used? The new Ford F350 supercabs (SRW) have a GVWR of 11400; I would look for something like that. I really like what I hear about the new Ford 6.7, but it is new, only time will tell. If you buy used, I'd avoid the Ford 6.0; the 7.3 and 6.4 are more reliable. Did I mention you should go diesel; I wouldn't consider anything else. The GM's and Dodges are good rigs too. But the highest GVWR you can get with a Chevy (SRW) is 9900; don't know about the Dodge. I'd go long bed just to avoid the slider issue; up to you.

We have a 2010 F-250 with a 6.4 and a 31TS. The combo of these work great. Haven't gone on any long distance trips yet. However, the trips to-date have been very pleasureable as the weight/torque/ride have all been superior.

We have a 2007 30LSBS wildcat and pull it with a 2007 Dodge Ram 2500 with the 6.7L Diesel and it pulls great. No complaints at all.

Just a tidbit my insurance company told me. Buying a new dodge ram cummins diesel will insure for less than an equivalent ford or gm with the duramax or powerstorke due to the fact that the cummins engines are 6 cylinders, so the insuraqnce rating is less.

We purchased our 2010 Ford F250 Crew Cab XL with a 6.4 liter diesel in February. Ford was giving some great rebates on the 2010 models. Right now I’m seeing ads here in the New Orleans area advertising up to $6200.00 in rebates on XLT models. If you find a Ford dealer that carries a large inventory of trucks you should be able to get a decent amount off the sticker price along with the rebates. The Ford rebates offered in your area might be different but they should still be substantial.

Less than a month after our purchase we towed our 2008 Wildcat RKBS from the St. Louis, MO area to our current location here in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. We averaged 10.4 MPG for the trip down here. The stability and power of our truck really impressed me. The ride on our trip was so smooth and stable that I found myself driving at 70 MPH without even realizing it. I actually had to set the cruise control at 63 MPH to keep from driving faster than I wanted to.

Whether you get a Ford, Chevy, or Dodge, go with a diesel if you can afford it.

We have a 2008 F350 with the 6.4 and love the truck. I'd avoid the Ford 6.0 as scottz said. The new Ford diesel sounds great but I would wait till its been on the the road awhile. Good luck on your choice and welcome to the forum.

I agree, get a diesel. Brand is personal choice. They are all good. I solved the fuel problem on mine with replacing the factory 26 gal tank with a 52 gal tank that fits in the same place. With the use of a Bully Dog tuner I average 13mpg when towing.

Thanks for all your advise, we made the leap and got an F350 Crew Cab Diesel. So now our next decison is to get a cover or not. Anyone have bed cover with a 5th wheel, pros and cons any suggestions welcomed.

I have a Roll N Lock rolling bed cover. Have it for 1 1/2 years and am extremely happy with it. The pros are that it works real smooth and you can lock it to secure bed contents as long as you have a locking tailgate. I had things stolen from my bed in the past so I really wanted a hard cover that locked. You can close it in about 5 seconds. Sure beats the snap type cover that I had on my last truck.The con is that you loose some bed space at the front of the truck. The canister that holds the drum at the front of the bed sticks down about 8" and back about 8". I only have a 6'-6" bed and hated to loose the room but decided it would be the best fit for my needs. The other con could be if you get a lot of snow or ice on it. I keep the truck garaged and use it very little in the winter so I never had to deal with that issue. Would definitely make the same purchase again.

newbies wrote:Thanks for all your advise, we made the leap and got an F350 Crew Cab Diesel. So now our next decison is to get a cover or not. Anyone have bed cover with a 5th wheel, pros and cons any suggestions welcomed.

On my last truck, I had the same Roll N Lock that Kevin has and for the most part it worked great. Other than the lost space that he mentioned, the only other thing was that a few times in the winter, snow and ice collected in the rollup storage as I was opening it and I'd have to work it back and forth a number of time to get it fully opened, but this only happened a few times.

On the new truck I picked up last fall, I ordered the Tri-fold cover from Ford and I really like this one. I can fold it so only 1 panel is down when towing or if I'm carrying something larger in front of the hitch, I can fold it against the back window. When not towing, it's great for keeping snow, ice, and rain out of the box and since it unlatches from underneath, I can lock the tailgate and have everything secured in the back. I found a few pictures here.

I'll have to agree with bsmall2800. 2005 Chevy w/ 2006 28RK. Annual "Odyssey" last few years with no truck problems. Brand is personal choice. I wouldn't go so far as to say they're "all good" but the Allison tranny is the "Cats meow"!