Disabled Vet looking to upgrade to truck

[omin]

Hello all,

I'm looking for truck advice. I was blown up in Afghanistan in 2017 and have been in a wheelchair ever since. I currently have a Dodge Challenger that I take my chair apart to get into, but I am trying to engage with the outdoors more and the 2 door doesn't have enough room for my regular wheelchair, an offroad wheelchair, and anything else. To complicate matters, I found a company, Dune Sport, that makes super cool wheelchair accessible toy haulers, and I want to get a side by side and a toy hauler to take road trips for hunting and camping and such. to complicate further I was hoping to use the truck for a daily driver as well.

I know I want a crew cab, I know I want it fully loaded, short bed, 4x4, diesel. I am getting a bruno outrider with a topper for the bed, and an adapt solutions asento to help me get into the drivers seat, and hand controls so that equipment also adds some weight. with a 5th wheel toy hauler maxing out at 15k lbs, would I be safe with a 2500 or should i go up to the 3500? Do i need the HO Cummins? My understanding is that this will tax the payload numbers of the 2500s.

I've done lots of research and reading about towing and cummins and GVWR and GAWR and such, but I have no experience with pick up trucks or diesels.

 

[jsalbre]

Welcome to the group! You'll find there are a lot of us vets here. Glad to hear you're making a point to get out into nature. The truck will definitely be better suited to that than your Challenger.

With a toy hauler and all that extra weight you're going to want a diesel, and if you're going diesel you'll need a 3500 to maintain any kind of useful payload capacity for towing/hauling. I can't speak first hand about going SO vs HO Cummins, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone complain they bought too much power.

 

[omin]

Welcome to the group! You'll find there are a lot of us vets here. Glad to hear you're making a point to get out into nature. The truck will definitely be better suited to that than your Challenger.

With a toy hauler and all that extra weight you're going to want a diesel, and if you're going diesel you'll need a 3500 to maintain any kind of useful payload capacity for towing/hauling. I can't speak first hand about going SO vs HO Cummins, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone complain they bought too much power.

Thank you! Lol that's very fair.

 

[Enve46]

Welcome and thank you for the service! Im also glad that you're finding your way out and enjoying life despite the sacrifice you've given. We are all thankful for your service.

A 3500 will definitely be better suited based on your needs. 2500 diesels dont have great payload

 

[areuriding]

Hello all,

I'm looking for truck advice. I was blown up in Afghanistan in 2017 and have been in a wheelchair ever since. I currently have a Dodge Challenger that I take my chair apart to get into, but I am trying to engage with the outdoors more and the 2 door doesn't have enough room for my regular wheelchair, an offroad wheelchair, and anything else. To complicate matters, I found a company, Dune Sport, that makes super cool wheelchair accessible toy haulers, and I want to get a side by side and a toy hauler to take road trips for hunting and camping and such. to complicate further I was hoping to use the truck for a daily driver as well.

I know I want a crew cab, I know I want it fully loaded, short bed, 4x4, diesel. I am getting a bruno outrider with a topper for the bed, and an adapt solutions asento to help me get into the drivers seat, and hand controls so that equipment also adds some weight. with a 5th wheel toy hauler maxing out at 15k lbs, would I be safe with a 2500 or should i go up to the 3500? Do i need the HO Cummins? My understanding is that this will tax the payload numbers of the 2500s.

I've done lots of research and reading about towing and cummins and GVWR and GAWR and such, but I have no experience with pick up trucks or diesels.

3500 HO dually and call it a day..

 

[AH64ID]

Thank you for your service.

I’d go with a 3500 HO with auto-level for what you are planning.

3500 HO dually and call it a day..

Depending on where he wants to go outdoors a DRW may be prohibitive. I would have issues with the width of a DRW in the places I hunt/camp, let alone the issues with snow/ice driving.

 

[cj8rockcrawler]

A lot of great recommendations have been shared. One thought to add on this is if you have space for the longbed, you'll also be able to get the 50 gallon tank from the factory.

I have a megacab with the shortbed and small standard tank and have very limited range while towing my toyhauler. I'm looking into the aftermarket tank options.

 

[Dave01]

Thanks for your service and sacrifice, can't tell you how much I appreciate it.

I think there's a pretty close consensus here on what you should get, and that doesn't happen all that often! 3500 with HO. I personally wouldn't go dually for what you describe.

One thing that came to mind thinking about your situation. I was looking at trucks, mostly limited's, that had center console and 12" display. When I found mine, it was pretty much exactly what I wanted for options etc. but had the folding center console and 8" screen. At first I wasn't sure, but after looking at it decided it would suit me fine. In the end I love it, have used the middle seat a couple of times to seat a 3rd person up front, and the folding console has a ton of storage because there's a 2nd compartment below the seat, plus a pull out drawer in the dash that I use constantly. Love the setup. What made me think of it was that you might like that extra room, the lack of a barrier from driver to passenger footwell, for being able to access stuff. Just thought I'd mention it.

 

[omin]

Thank you all for your input! And my service was my pleasure, i had a "blast" if you know what i mean. I really like the bench seat because i can switch drivers without getting my wheelchair out so i thought that looked fantastic. The bigger gas tank would be really nice so I'll look into the longer bed.

Again thanks for the feedback!

What do you think about the 3.73 vs 4.10 gear ratio?

 

[AH64ID]

What do you think about the 3.73 vs 4.10 gear ratio?

3.73 is your only choice with a diesel and a SRW.

 

[TinGoatTravelers]

Sounds like single rear wheel 3500 diesel with an 8’ bed and 50 gal tank.

Whatever you decide - thank you so much for your service and sacrifice. We all owe a huge debt.