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Considerations for 1500/2500 and gas/diesel

I pulled our 32ft TT that weighs around 10k loaded with my 2018 f250 (4inch lift, 37’s), through Utah (Bryce, Zion, etc). We went up 7 & 8 % grades and it had to work quite a bit in that type of environment. Did it get the job done? Yes, however due to the market we sold it and ordered a ram 2500 with the Cummins. We figured that the type of camping we enjoy means mountains and elevation…a forced induction engine shines in that environment. If we lived in Utah I would get the Cummins 2500 (overkill is better then underwhelming plus possible future trailer upgrades is a notable variable).
FYI, we live in wa state where we deal with mountains and elevation to a point
 
jamesL said:
Hi all,

I know this topic has been heavily discussed in other threads, but I have been scouring discussion threads for months and haven't been able to come to a consensus on the best truck for my personal situation. I am pretty set on getting a Ram, but I am still torn between 1500 and 2500, and then between gas and diesel. I am hoping to get either some recommendations or at least advice on what considerations are most important given my situation.

Here's my situation: Family of 4, including two young kids. One large dog. We live at 7,000 feet in Utah. I commute 60 miles 2-3x per week. We have a ~3k lb camper trailer that we tow 100-500 miles about twice a month from March through October. Each year I'll probably do about 10k highway commuting miles, maybe 2k in town miles, and maybe about 6k towing miles. When we tow, we generally dispersed camp, which usually involves some fairly rugged forest service or desert dirt roads.

So in short, I am looking for a daily driver that I can also tow a relatively lightweight trailer with, including some longer road trips, almost all of which will be between 5k-10k feet elevation. Given the relatively low trailer weight, I have been thinking gas, but the MPG bump in diesel is very tempting. Also, given the elevation, the turbo in the diesel may be nice. And though I think 1500 may be plenty truck for me, I do like the look of the 2500s, and we may eventually get a slightly heavier trailer. Also looking at possibly doing an AEV conversion if I can get the money to work.

I would love to hear thoughts on 1500/2500, and gas/diesel, or at least what factors I should be focused on, given my use case. Thanks in advance for your input.
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I'll give my two cents even though I have not towed anything yet. For me, it was time for a new truck and my intention is to get a bigger travel trailer in the next couple of years. Not really set on that yet, but I would imagine it may be in the 25'-30' range. As someone else mentioned in this thread, payload is typically the limiting factor. I ended up ordering a truck and found that the price difference between the 1500 and 2500 is not that much (depending on how it is optioned), so I figured since I am getting a new truck anyways, better be safe and go with the overkill 2500 just in case. I got the Hemi since I don't think any trailer I will end up getting will be over 7,000 and I won't be driving it that much and from what I have read here, diesel's don't do as well just sitting around. Your situation may be different though since you sound like you will be putting on 15,000 miles per year or so, so maybe the diesel will do you better. But as someone else said, once you put your family in the truck and all of your gear, the payload adds up quick. And for now, I just pull a popup trailer that only weighs around 2,500 pounds so even though this is a huge overkill for this little trailer right now, you can't feel it back there AT ALL, so it won't be a bad thing to tow your light trailer with a 2500!
 
jamesL said:
Hi all,

I know this topic has been heavily discussed in other threads, but I have been scouring discussion threads for months and haven't been able to come to a consensus on the best truck for my personal situation. I am pretty set on getting a Ram, but I am still torn between 1500 and 2500, and then between gas and diesel. I am hoping to get either some recommendations or at least advice on what considerations are most important given my situation.

Here's my situation: Family of 4, including two young kids. One large dog. We live at 7,000 feet in Utah. I commute 60 miles 2-3x per week. We have a ~3k lb camper trailer that we tow 100-500 miles about twice a month from March through October. Each year I'll probably do about 10k highway commuting miles, maybe 2k in town miles, and maybe about 6k towing miles. When we tow, we generally dispersed camp, which usually involves some fairly rugged forest service or desert dirt roads.

So in short, I am looking for a daily driver that I can also tow a relatively lightweight trailer with, including some longer road trips, almost all of which will be between 5k-10k feet elevation. Given the relatively low trailer weight, I have been thinking gas, but the MPG bump in diesel is very tempting. Also, given the elevation, the turbo in the diesel may be nice. And though I think 1500 may be plenty truck for me, I do like the look of the 2500s, and we may eventually get a slightly heavier trailer. Also looking at possibly doing an AEV conversion if I can get the money to work.

I would love to hear thoughts on 1500/2500, and gas/diesel, or at least what factors I should be focused on, given my use case. Thanks in advance for your input.
Click to expand...

I have had both a 1500 and now a 2500 (gas) 4x4 crew cabs and am in a very similar situation kid and trailer wise as you. I will leave gas vs diesel discussion out of my comments, but I went gas because it is a power wagon.

The 1500 Hemi
Goods: will easily and effectively accomplish all of your goals, achieve better fuel economy and be a more comfortable ride daily
Bads: IFS if it matters to you so less articulation off road, the 5.5' bed is too short in my opinion for trip gear, lift kits are limited without more extensive parts (control arms, etc...), all mechanical components are not as robust as the 2500
The 2500 Hemi
Goods: Obviously will handle all of the above and then a whole lot more. We sold the 3,500lbs pop up trailer and considering a larger one now that we can tow whatever we want now. Everything is much more heavy duty from brakes, to axles, to the frame. On this highway at 80mph, the truck feels much more smooth and solid, 6.5' bed is way more room, man grunts are a common result
Bads: Fuel economy, ride quality in town (not so much on the highway though). My 1500 with a 2.5" lift and 33's would get about 17-19mpg on a trip, 15 towing. The 2500 PW on 35s gets about 15mpg on a trip, don't know about towing yet.

Now that I have a 2500, I would not go back to a 1500 given the choice...they just feel wimpy now, lol.
 
Jarred said:
I second this. Now that we have a 2500 my wife said the 1500s just look so inadequate.
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Lol, there is definitely some potential for a length vs girth joke here..

1500: 229-242″ L x 82-88″ W x 77-81″ H
2500: 232-261″ L x 79-80″ W x 78-81″ H
 
mcarey said:
Lol, there is definitely some potential for a length vs girth joke here..

1500: 229-242″ L x 82-88″ W x 77-81″ H
2500: 232-261″ L x 79-80″ W x 78-81″ H
Click to expand...
When I looked up the dimensions online, they seemed a little weird. I do know that my 2500 short bed crew cab is right at about 20 feet (so the list of 238.5" seems right), which I noticed was the same length as the 1500 crew cab 6 1/2 foot bed is. I don't understand those widths though. Don't they all have to be under 80" or else they will need clearance lights? Maybe the 88" of the 1500 is with the mirrors? I don't know about the height either. Are they really the same height? My 2500 seems SO tall and high off the ground. If they really are the same height, maybe the 1500 just has more headroom so it is higher off the ground but the same overall height?
 
dm6 said:
When I looked up the dimensions online, they seemed a little weird. I do know that my 2500 short bed crew cab is right at about 20 feet (so the list of 238.5" seems right), which I noticed was the same length as the 1500 crew cab 6 1/2 foot bed is. I don't understand those widths though. Don't they all have to be under 80" or else they will need clearance lights? Maybe the 88" of the 1500 is with the mirrors? I don't know about the height either. Are they really the same height? My 2500 seems SO tall and high off the ground. If they really are the same height, maybe the 1500 just has more headroom so it is higher off the ground but the same overall height?
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I believe, without doing any research to back this up, that the cab is bigger in the 5th gen 1500s

Those numbers were all pulled from the first results on Google, but IIRC, they were identical to the results on the RAM site last time I looked deeper - when I was doing my initial research on the trucks.
 
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Something that no one has mentioned here, and maybe it's something that gets overblown online, but a lot of people report that you are more likely to have issues with the emissions system on the diesel if it's rarely worked hard. The OPs situation seems like one that would never work the Cummins hard to me. That could lead to a big expense down the road on top of the premium that you already pay for the Cummins.
 
jenninr said:
Something that no one has mentioned here, and maybe it's something that gets overblown online, but a lot of people report that you are more likely to have issues with the emissions system on the diesel if it's rarely worked hard. The OPs situation seems like one that would never work the Cummins hard to me. That could lead to a big expense down the road on top of the premium that you already pay for the Cummins.
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I think the 60 mile commute 2-3x a week would mitigate that. As long as you drive it longer a few times a week it should make up the difference for any short drives in between.


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Every truck you listed is capable at sea level, but at your altitudes, turbo diesel is the ticket.
 
3k lbs is super light for a camper—you might want to put that on a scale to confirm before buying a truck based on the figure. Personally I would not want to commute that much in an HD truck, but I’d much prefer to tow with the HD. Even the eco D does quite well as long as it’s not loaded too heavy, and it maintains that power at altitude where the N/A motors get wheezy. Going over the high mountain passes my wife’s 240hp eco D Jeep feels stronger than my 375hp 5.0L v8 Land Rover for reference. So I’d probably get a 3500 diesel and a car for commuting. However if the trailer really is 3k lbs and you’ll be commuting a ton in the same vehicle I’d get a nice comfy suv.
 
BikePilot said:
3k lbs is super light for a camper—you might want to put that on a scale to confirm before buying a truck based on the figure. Personally I would not want to commute that much in an HD truck, but I’d much prefer to tow with the HD. Even the eco D does quite well as long as it’s not loaded too heavy, and it maintains that power at altitude where the N/A motors get wheezy. Going over the high mountain passes my wife’s 240hp eco D Jeep feels stronger than my 375hp 5.0L v8 Land Rover for reference. So I’d probably get a 3500 diesel and a car for commuting. However if the trailer really is 3k lbs and you’ll be commuting a ton in the same vehicle I’d get a nice comfy suv.
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This right here, 3K does see super light for a camper. I know my 24’ enclosed trailer weights 3700 lbs completely empty. I’m assuming the 3k is dry weight so even then a 1500 would be pushing it with payload capacity. If you look on rams website the 1500 with the eco diesel and crew cab has a max payload of like 1800-1900 pounds. I’d guess the hitch weight for the camper is somewhere around 500lbs plus the weight of your family and the dog, you may only have 700-800 lbs of payload left for the rest of your gear. I recently upgraded to a 2500 Cummins and it tows like a dream. Huge upgrade from my Silverado 1500 that struggled to even pull a 3k dump trailer with 2 scoops of mulch on it. However my payload on that is on 2300 lbs so if you ever plan on upgrading campers to something larger go with the 3500 Cummins you won’t regret it. I also drive mine 60+ round trip to work 3 days a week and average 19-20 mpg as long as I don’t get a lead foot.
 
jamesL said:
Hi all,

some fairly rugged forest service or desert dirt roads.



I would love to hear thoughts on 1500/2500, and gas/diesel, or at least what factors I should be focused on, given my use case. Thanks in advance for your input.
Click to expand...

I vote, 2500 Cummins 4X4.
 
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