Geo*Boy
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Joined: 04/27/2020
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Look at a 1 ton van.
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BB_TX
McKinney, Texas
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Joined: 04/04/2005
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Unless you plan on a 5th wheel, I would go with a one ton van.
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Mickeyfan0805
SE Wisconsin
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Joined: 11/26/2009
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Since you asked, 'What do you do?' I will tell you what we do. We had an HD Suburban with the 8.1L that served us beautifully for quite some time when the kids were little. All three kids and the dog (90-100 pounds) had plenty of space, and it handled our 35' trailer with ease. After being stranded on the road multiple times in the summer of 2019, we had to throw in the towel and give it up. So...
Facing the same decision as you, our choice was to move to a pick-up and limit how often the dog travels with us. Any of our in-state/weekend trips include two vehicles. I head up early to set up and DW brings the kids and the dog a few hours later. Our longer duration trips (typically 1-2 per year) have the dog staying home with a sitter.
For us, this option seems to be working. Our longer trips tend to have us 'out and about' a lot, meaning the dog would be left alone in the camper. In these cases, he's better at home. For our shorter trips, taking two cars is beneficial as our kids are older and sometimes we need to vary our arrival and departure times. It's not perfect, but it works for us.
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parker.rowe
Delaware
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Joined: 09/14/2015
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Do you have to have a pickup for a 5th wheel? Do you want/need 4wd? How heavy of a trailer?
I know tons of people on this site say they pack all the seats in a crew cab and it works great. I wouldn't want to do long trips like that personally. Sounds like you are not ready to do that either.
2500 Suburban or Ford Excursion. If you are willing to spend some money and travel for a super clean older truck, you can find some low mileage models.
1 ton van. If you need 4wd, there are companies that do conversions.
https://duramaxsuv.com
Considering the current diesel market, they have decent prices on duramax converted gmt800 and gmt900 suburbans. Basically a frame off rebuild that you can customize as you want and your wallet can handle. Really nice factory style installs where everything works like it would in a duramax pickup.
If you want new, and you need a 3/4-1 ton crew cab, a Dodge mega cab is going to be the most room you can get.
2015 Starcraft TravelStar 239TBS 6500 GVWR
1997 GMC Suburban K2500 7.4 Vortec/4.10
1977 Kawasaki KZ1000
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IdaD
Idaho
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Joined: 08/06/2014
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We have the exact same family configuration and a fifth wheel - 2 adults, 3 kids and the same size dog. The dog generally goes in a crate in the back of the truck. If it's really hot out, we'll lay a sheet down and flip up the center console and let her ride up front. The back seat floor would be another option albeit a little tight unless you have a Megacab. Honestly I'd be fine throwing her in a crate in the trailer too but I admittedly put the dog on a lower level of importance relative to the humans in our family.
Heavy duty SUV's are old and hard to find at this point, and I didn't want to do one of the heavy duty vans. The newer crew cabs are comfortable enough for 5, imo.
Get yourself fixed because a fourth kid really complicates things.
2015 Cummins Ram 4wd CC/SB
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blofgren
Surrey, B.C.
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Joined: 11/26/2005
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Bionic Man wrote:MegaCab by RAM will be the biggest cab option available. Plenty of room for the pup on the floor in the back row.
X2. We love our Megacab!
2013 Ram 3500 Megacab DRW Laramie 4x4, 6.7L Cummins, G56, 3.73, Maximum Steel, black lthr, B&W RVK3670 hitch, Retrax, Linex, and a bunch of options incl. cargo camera
2008 Corsair Excella Platinum 34.5 CKTS fifth wheel with winter package & disc brakes
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TXiceman
Full Time RVer
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Joined: 11/17/2000
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4x4ord wrote:Dog rides in the trailer.
No way. No A/C, no heat, loud and lots of vibration. If yo want to see what goes on a trailer while towing, mount a Go-Pro or your cell phone and hit the road. I think you will be shocked by the ride and noise.
Ken
Amateur Radio Operator.
2013 HitchHiker 38RLRSB Champagne, toted with a 2012, F350, 6.7L PSD, Crewcab, dually. 3.73 axle, Full Time RVer.
Travel with a standard schnauzer and a Timneh African Gray parrot
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Cummins12V98
on the road
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Joined: 06/03/2012
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This is the reason they make the MegaCab.
2015 RAM LongHorn 3500 Dually CrewCab 4X4 CUMMINS/AISIN RearAir 385HP/865TQ 4:10's
37,800# GCVWR "Towing Beast"
"HeavyWeight" B&W RVK3600
2016 MobileSuites 39TKSB3 highly "Elited" In the stable
2007.5 Mobile Suites 36 SB3 29,000# Combined SOLD
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mkirsch
Rochester, NY
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Joined: 04/09/2004
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I get a sense that the word "compromise" is not part of the vocabulary in this discussion. Unfortunately you will need to learn the definition of the word to find a solution.
Big families are a tiny demographic in the RV industry. You need a vehicle with a massive passenger compartment, a massive cargo capacity, and a massive towing capacity. Unfortunately no such thing exists, so you will have to compromise.
1. Deal with close quarters on the trip. That's a crew cab pickup truck that you will need to compromise on, if you insist that you need that 12,000lb bunkhouse travel trailer or the 40' 5th wheel.
2. Deal with close quarters at the destination. That's the smaller, lighter travel trailer you will need to compromise with a tow vehicle with more passenger space such as a 3-row SUV or even a 1-ton van.
3. Deal with not traveling together. Get the pickup to tow the trailer without regard for passenger capacity, and have one parent bring the trailer, while the other drives the family's daily driver with the kids and dog.
There just doesn't exist a tow vehicle with the capacity for a big family and a big trailer. A 1 ton van is as close as you're going to get these days, but tow capacity is limited to about 10,000lbs, diesel is not an option, and you then get to drive a full size van around all the time.
Someone will inevitably recommend the Ford Excursion. The last one of those was built in 2005, making it 16 years old. Low mileage barn find creampuffs are far and few between.
Putting 10-ply tires on half ton trucks since aught-four.
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smarty
new mexico
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Joined: 04/23/2012
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By early stages you are thinking of purchasing in 2023. You will need to wait that long for prices to settle back down.
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