Shadowlake
Junior Member
Here's another post looking for advice on buying a truck. How cool is it to be able to spend someone else's money?
My current truck is a loaded 4WD 2002 quad cab sport long bed RAM with the 5.9 engine and a 3.55 Axle. It met my needs at the time and drives very well but has had a LOT of maintenance issues on the road including going through 5 rear ends, rebuilding the 46RE trans, and broken springs. The truck is terrible pulling a trailer. It was a Michigan truck for most of it's life (so has serious rust). We now live in South Carolina so that should not be an issue.
It's time to consider a replacement.
Mine is a somewhat unusual use case. Looking for a truck that is exceptional for long trips, generally in the 600-800 miles / day range. Both of us are over 60 so the ride quality is critical. I am willing to address ride issues by using aftermarket parts, if required.
The truck is not a daily driver but we do often take it on our approximately monthly shopping trips as the nearest midsize city with Costco, Trader Joes, Whole Foods, etc. is 75 miles away and we shop with 3 marine coolers. If I could figure out how to drop a small powered chest freezer and fridge in the bed I would because the marine coolers are really not enough in the summer.
On long trips we occasionally, but not always, pull a 7,000 pound GVW trailer, which my current truck struggles with, even at the 5,500 weight we generally max it out at. I also have a pontoon boat but it's lighter weight and only goes on the trailer a few miles and a few times a year (put in, take out, maintenance).
I'm open to diesel or gas, and have seen strong arguments both ways. Most of our trips do not involve trailering so I'm leaning more to gas but am willing to listen to arguments.
I love my long bed and regularly fill it with custom-built storage decking & dividers to be able to fill the space. Giving up the long bed would be almost impossible. Additionally, I use ALL of the back seat of the quad cab when we travel and spill over into the bed so a large cab is very attractive.
Given that I kept my last truck 20 years, reliability and longevity are also a significant concern. I'll go for the largest fuel tank available, hopefully without resorting to the aftermarket. I miss the days of huge dual tanks.
From what I can tell, my ideal truck would be a 2021 1500 Limited Mega cab long bed with a 75 gallon fuel tank but RAM does not make that truck. If I could get a 1500 Mega cab, I'd consider going to stretchmytruck.com and having them fix the truck but I need to move to a 2500 to get either the Mega Cab or the long bed and I'd prefer not to have to swap the bed on a new truck.
About the best compromise I can come up with is a 2500 Crew Cab long bed (giving up the mega cab), but again, I have ride quality concerns.
Looking for suggestions.
My current truck is a loaded 4WD 2002 quad cab sport long bed RAM with the 5.9 engine and a 3.55 Axle. It met my needs at the time and drives very well but has had a LOT of maintenance issues on the road including going through 5 rear ends, rebuilding the 46RE trans, and broken springs. The truck is terrible pulling a trailer. It was a Michigan truck for most of it's life (so has serious rust). We now live in South Carolina so that should not be an issue.
It's time to consider a replacement.
Mine is a somewhat unusual use case. Looking for a truck that is exceptional for long trips, generally in the 600-800 miles / day range. Both of us are over 60 so the ride quality is critical. I am willing to address ride issues by using aftermarket parts, if required.
The truck is not a daily driver but we do often take it on our approximately monthly shopping trips as the nearest midsize city with Costco, Trader Joes, Whole Foods, etc. is 75 miles away and we shop with 3 marine coolers. If I could figure out how to drop a small powered chest freezer and fridge in the bed I would because the marine coolers are really not enough in the summer.
On long trips we occasionally, but not always, pull a 7,000 pound GVW trailer, which my current truck struggles with, even at the 5,500 weight we generally max it out at. I also have a pontoon boat but it's lighter weight and only goes on the trailer a few miles and a few times a year (put in, take out, maintenance).
I'm open to diesel or gas, and have seen strong arguments both ways. Most of our trips do not involve trailering so I'm leaning more to gas but am willing to listen to arguments.
I love my long bed and regularly fill it with custom-built storage decking & dividers to be able to fill the space. Giving up the long bed would be almost impossible. Additionally, I use ALL of the back seat of the quad cab when we travel and spill over into the bed so a large cab is very attractive.
Given that I kept my last truck 20 years, reliability and longevity are also a significant concern. I'll go for the largest fuel tank available, hopefully without resorting to the aftermarket. I miss the days of huge dual tanks.
From what I can tell, my ideal truck would be a 2021 1500 Limited Mega cab long bed with a 75 gallon fuel tank but RAM does not make that truck. If I could get a 1500 Mega cab, I'd consider going to stretchmytruck.com and having them fix the truck but I need to move to a 2500 to get either the Mega Cab or the long bed and I'd prefer not to have to swap the bed on a new truck.
About the best compromise I can come up with is a 2500 Crew Cab long bed (giving up the mega cab), but again, I have ride quality concerns.
Looking for suggestions.
