What truck needed?

23000lbs trailer should be pulled with a 3500 diesel. If I were getting a new truck it would be the Ram 3500 Cummins with either the 6 speed Aisin or G56.

Dont forget either your farm plates,CDL or (if your state offers) a Non-commercial drivers license that allows over 26,000GCVW.
 
If your getting a new one get a 6.4 hemi or the cummins, a 2500 or 3500 should pull it fine.
 
Back into your question by determining how much your max cargo load will be. Then add weight of truck and trailer. This will give you GCWR. Research the manufacturers Gross Combined Weight Rating for the truck, trailer and load of the truck you want.

Example: My Dodge 2500 has a GCWR of 21k. Truck weighs 7k. That leaves me 14 k for trailer and cargo. My initial thought was bigger is better so looked at a 22k dual tandem GN trailer that weighed 7k empty. Leaving me 7k for my cargo. That was borderline for what I wanted to do. I ended up with a 14k single tandem that weighed 5k. That left me with 9k potential cargo. More than enough to haul my Farmall SH's & SC's.


DOT is looking at GCWR in TX. I've also had inspector look at my tires to insure they where rated for the truck.

Others claim DOT is not enforcing that and go by registered weight. I suspect that once all the various Law Enforcement Agencies figure out they can make fine money they'll all enforce it.
 
if you are getting new, get a ford f450, heavier duty than a 3500 from any maker better brakes, just generally better for towing than a 3500 even Rams "Heavy duty" 3500 how far and how often are you going to tow this weight? that will be a big determining factor in how much truck you need, probably gonna want to check local laws or laws in the state or states you will be towing to see how they go about determining if you need a cdl

whatever you do dont get a 2500 with a 6.4 being disappointed will be the understatement of the year, even though they do get so called "50 mpg" while making "800 hp stock without a blower and 1600 ft Ibs at 800 rpm"
 
i have a one-ton dually and g-n trailer,, easy hook-up, [have a fifth wheel set-up, instead of ball], backing, more stable, better braking,,and weight friendly..
 
Ford needs to do a lot of work to the F-450 if they are going to keep up with the new 3500 Dodge. The exhaust brake and transmission work together a lot better, and they rate it to haul 30,000+.
On a trailer that heavy I'd rather get a 4900 IHC with the DT466 and know I could control the load.
 
DOT doesn't give a hoot about the manufacturers recommended towing capacity.
They care if you are registered and properly licensed for the weight. If they ticket you for towing 12000 if the recommended towing capacity is 10,000, you'd win in court easily and that officer is a fool.
 
As long as you are within the axle weight ratings and registered weight that's all they worry about. Until very recently there was no standardized way to determine gross combined weight. The reason they had it where it was, was so that their techs wouldn't have to have a CDL if they needed to drive it for testing/repair.
 
I would look for a dually 350-3500. You can pull with a gasser, it is possible! I pull this much with a F250 5.4 gas, 8000 plus gvw. I have went to tractor pulls a 1000 miles away. I have pulled 2 tractors 350 miles one way. It handles and brakes well. A bit anemic in the real hills I admit. Followed a new 3500 Dodge diesel 300 plus miles last fall. Got there the same time as him and our cost per mile was within 3 cents a mile for fuel. Vic
 
whatever you do dont get a 2500 with a 6.4 being disappointed will be the understatement of the year, even though they do get so called "50 mpg" while making "800 hp stock without a blower and 1600 ft Ibs at 800 rpm"

I heard somewhere the Power Wagon version will give those numbers....
 
(quoted from post at 10:26:53 03/08/14) DOT doesn't give a hoot about the manufacturers recommended towing capacity.
They care if you are registered and properly licensed for the weight. If they ticket you for towing 12000 if the recommended towing capacity is 10,000, you'd win in court easily and that officer is a fool.
i have never heard about this, how might one go about fighting that in court? because its suggested weight or?
 
(quoted from post at 00:33:47 03/10/14)
(quoted from post at 10:26:53 03/08/14) DOT doesn't give a hoot about the manufacturers recommended towing capacity.
They care if you are registered and properly licensed for the weight. If they ticket you for towing 12000 if the recommended towing capacity is 10,000, you'd win in court easily and that officer is a fool.
i have never heard about this, how might one go about fighting that in court? because its suggested weight or?

Just think about how Hotshots do it. The guys hauling for hire. Most of the time, they are over the recommended towing capacity. Ask them what the DOT tickets them for.
Simple as that.
 
(quoted from post at 18:35:51 03/09/14)
(quoted from post at 00:33:47 03/10/14)
(quoted from post at 10:26:53 03/08/14) DOT doesn't give a hoot about the manufacturers recommended towing capacity.
They care if you are registered and properly licensed for the weight. If they ticket you for towing 12000 if the recommended towing capacity is 10,000, you'd win in court easily and that officer is a fool.
i have never heard about this, how might one go about fighting that in court? because its suggested weight or?

Just think about how Hotshots do it. The guys hauling for hire. Most of the time, they are over the recommended towing capacity. Ask them what the DOT tickets them for.
Simple as that.

When you go for a CDL test the examiner will check your registrations. that's all they care about.
 
(quoted from post at 03:05:25 03/10/14)
(quoted from post at 18:35:51 03/09/14)
(quoted from post at 00:33:47 03/10/14)
(quoted from post at 10:26:53 03/08/14) DOT doesn't give a hoot about the manufacturers recommended towing capacity.
They care if you are registered and properly licensed for the weight. If they ticket you for towing 12000 if the recommended towing capacity is 10,000, you'd win in court easily and that officer is a fool.
i have never heard about this, how might one go about fighting that in court? because its suggested weight or?

Just think about how Hotshots do it. The guys hauling for hire. Most of the time, they are over the recommended towing capacity. Ask them what the DOT tickets them for.
Simple as that.

When you go for a CDL test the examiner will check your registrations. that's all they care about.

exactly.
I Know people who haul for hire with 2nd gen Dodge Ram diesels. I believe the rated towing capacity of a 1997 Ram 3500 diesel was 12,900 lbs. They regularly tow way way way more than that, some simple mods enable it to tow that easier but they still do it in stock form.

So in short, if DOT went by the manufactures RECOMMENDED towing capacity, every DOT officer would go after 2nd gen Rams in the hotshot business.
 
I wouldn't put that much trailer behind a single-wheel truck. The 2 extra tires add a lot of stability.

And the hemi's going to be worn out by 100K with that kind of load.
 
The hemi will be fine, the offer the 6,4 in the 3500 also, as long with it in the 4500 and 5500, I know a lot of guys around here that pull fifth wheel trailers with the 94/02 series dodges with the 5.9 gas and they were only 220hp, and the one guy I know that pulls with one pulls a 4020 and a 60 John Deere to tractor rides with it, never seems to have a problem. And that hemi is 200hp more, it'd handle it fine. For the money he'd save buying a gas he can spend more on fuel. As the one post says, between the gas and the diesel the guy had the figured 3 cents a mile difference. That's not much you save that on gas vs diesel price.
 
(quoted from post at 05:36:41 03/11/14) The hemi will be fine, the offer the 6,4 in the 3500 also, as long with it in the 4500 and 5500, I know a lot of guys around here that pull fifth wheel trailers with the 94/02 series dodges with the 5.9 gas and they were only 220hp, and the one guy I know that pulls with one pulls a 4020 and a 60 John Deere to tractor rides with it, never seems to have a problem. And that hemi is 200hp more, it'd handle it fine. For the money he'd save buying a gas he can spend more on fuel. As the one post says, between the gas and the diesel the guy had the figured 3 cents a mile difference. That's not much you save that on gas vs diesel price.
yeah considering you will be getting below 10 mpg with that load, i dare say as low as 6 but that is just a guess, the diesel would get considerably better gas mileage as well as last longer. anybody who thinks a gas is gonna last very long behind that load is crazy, also whats your point with the whole john deere 4020 and the 60, i have seen cummins with a john deere a, g, b,4010 and a golf cart on there. and i dont know what fuel prices are in other areas but yesterday they were within 10 cents of each other
 
I do it a lot. Not as stable as a dually I'm sure but from my perspective I see no need to upgrade to a dually. If I were towing over 15000 frequently I might consider it but my gooseneck pin weight will be well within the rear axle capacity.
 
(quoted from post at 13:36:41 03/11/14) The hemi will be fine, the offer the 6,4 in the 3500 also, as long with it in the 4500 and 5500, I know a lot of guys around here that pull fifth wheel trailers with the 94/02 series dodges with the 5.9 gas and they were only 220hp, and the one guy I know that pulls with one pulls a 4020 and a 60 John Deere to tractor rides with it, never seems to have a problem. And that hemi is 200hp more, it'd handle it fine. For the money he'd save buying a gas he can spend more on fuel. As the one post says, between the gas and the diesel the guy had the figured 3 cents a mile difference. That's not much you save that on gas vs diesel price.
You don't even have your numbers correct. The. 5.9 gas had 245 hp and 330ft lbs torque. It could pull any load the hemi could but it peaks out at a lower rpm so it's highway performance wouldn't be as good.
The 5.2 had between 220 hp and 230 hp depending on the truck.
Gas motors don't do the job like diesels. My farmer friend is like you, loves his gas jobs. That's why towing as he does, he buys a new truck every 2-3 years cause the motor is shot by then.
 
It'd pull it but not as easy as the hemi, the new gas motors are
made to run rpms, my gas trucks aren't shot I just like new
body styles.
 
Around here I figure a diesel has to do over 5mpg better than a gasser to work out at the pump. Running empty, probably not. With that much load, a diesel would cover it.
We don't know how much towing the OP plans, just the weight, so diesel vs gas could work out either way for him.
 
As far as newer trucks are concerned, I dont know if I would shell out the money for a brand new diesel.
But buying used, I would.
I put less than 10,000 miles per year on the truck. As much as I hate to say it, if I got a brand new 2500, it would probably be a 6.4 Hemi but in no way would I start defending it over a diesel's capability.
In terms of fuel consumption I doubt the purchase of a brand new diesel would actually be cheaper overall than the 6.4 gas hog because I dont drive much. 3 miles to work. Most of my miles come from recreation and last year, 9 tractor pulls, 5 tractor shows I still only racked up 9000 miles.
 
(quoted from post at 18:00:30 03/07/14) if you are getting new, get a ford f450, heavier duty than a 3500 from any maker better brakes, just generally better for towing than a 3500 even Rams "Heavy duty" 3500 how far and how often are you going to tow this weight? that will be a big determining factor in how much truck you need, probably gonna want to check local laws or laws in the state or states you will be towing to see how they go about determining if you need a cdl

whatever you do dont get a 2500 with a 6.4 being disappointed will be the understatement of the year, even though they do get so called "50 mpg" while making "800 hp stock without a blower and 1600 ft Ibs at 800 rpm"

With some of you guys it's 'Fords forever' - Good Luck! :roll:
 
(quoted from post at 15:52:35 03/13/14)
(quoted from post at 18:00:30 03/07/14) if you are getting new, get a ford f450, heavier duty than a 3500 from any maker better brakes, just generally better for towing than a 3500 even Rams "Heavy duty" 3500 how far and how often are you going to tow this weight? that will be a big determining factor in how much truck you need, probably gonna want to check local laws or laws in the state or states you will be towing to see how they go about determining if you need a cdl

whatever you do dont get a 2500 with a 6.4 being disappointed will be the understatement of the year, even though they do get so called "50 mpg" while making "800 hp stock without a blower and 1600 ft Ibs at 800 rpm"

With some of you guys it's 'Fords forever' - Good Luck! :roll:
nahh, i drive whatever, but have a slight preference to ford
 
With that weight, a class 6 western hauler (Freightliner, ford f650, etc) is your solution. You'll be in CDL Class A territory as well. BTW, these trucks will probably do better fuel wise than any pickup. Just my .02.
 

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