TV - back to the drawing board...

[Saluda372]

Sorry to hear, good luck shopping. Crazy times.

[Merlintiaga]

At the risk of some folks here going bonkers, I'll make a bit off the wall suggestion. The new Cadillac Escalade ESV Sport Platinum package with 4WD is listed as having a payload of 2056 pounds. Disclaimer: I know, you have to look at the actual door sticker, which may be lower. It's a 1500, not a 3500, so it will ride much better than a HD P/U truck. Comes in both gas and diesel. The 2021's and 2022 show a significant increase in payload with the new independent rear suspension, which will give an improved ride. Granted it's $105k for a truck, but heck, the Ram had to be pushing $80k. But it'll look awesome pulling an AS!! (if only GM would start making the 2500 series Suburban/ Yukon/ Escalade again).

[Dennis C]

An Escalade would be awesome, but I suspect it would run into payload issues with a family of 6. Even at 2,056 lbs., I think this would be pushing it.

[Spaggs]

I have a 2000 Ford Excursion, 6.8 V-10, 2 wheel drive. Seats 8. Seats 6 very comfortably. I changed the rear end to a 4.56 LS and installed new F-350 springs.
The 7.3 Diesel is the bomb and with a stock 4.30 would do just fine.

[Luke Grisott]

Sorry to hear of all the delays on your new Ram tow vehicle purchase.
We recently purchased a new tow vehicle and are very happy..
2020 Ram 1500 Limited Hemi
More than enough power to pull your 30 FT airstream.
Ride & interior comparable to luxury SUV.
Running boards at Tuckaway and lower letting easy entrance and exit from the vehicle.
45 inches of legroom in the backseat amazing. Reclining backseat .
Never thought I would say I am a truck person. It’s really an SUV that thinks it’s a truck . That’s just one gals opinion..
Hope you’re able to plan an adventure soon. Safe travels see you down the road neighbor .
#22624 The Silver Buffalo

[Oreg52]

I've been doing a lot of research regarding the GM vans. As noted earlier very few on the dealer lots and of the ones that are, they're Contractor vans. Some have the 6.6 liter but most with V6.
GM has delayed the 2022 Van start up date to late November.

GM upgraded the power train last year with a 6.6 liter with 401 HP and 464 lb-ft of torque and 6 Spd auto. There is a 4 cyl diesel, but no AWD or 4WD. You can buy the Cargo van with a full window and interior package with a single rear seat. Rear A/C is mandatory with the rear seat.
Been wanting to buy the 2500 SWB but it appears the waiting list is longer than Airstreams

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by Oreg52

I've been doing a lot of research regarding the GM vans. As noted earlier very few on the dealer lots and of the ones that are, they're Contractor vans. Some have the 6.6 liter but most with V6.
GM has delayed the 2022 Van start up date to late November.

GM upgraded the power train last year with a 6.6 liter with 401 HP and 464 lb-ft of torque and 6 Spd auto. There is a 4 cyl diesel, but no AWD or 4WD. You can buy the Cargo van with a full window and interior package with a single rear seat. Rear A/C is mandatory with the rear seat.
Been wanting to buy the 2500 SWB but it appears the waiting list is longer than Airstreams

GM van plant also makes the midsize GM pickups too. Local news stories have been showing pictures of van and pickups sitting on fields outside of the plant. Lots of product but a shortage of electrical components from suppliers. Supposedly computer chips. Plant has been idled waiting for the chips to show up which will allow the vehicles built that are sitting outside to start shipping out.

Interesting on where the power trains have gone to over the years. I went to the web site and noticed that the 6.6 liter gas engine comes equipped with the 6 speed HD transmission. That HD transmission is a gem and one of my multiple reasons back in the day that I went with the 6 liter engine was to get that HD tranny. One of the benefits was the auxiliary mounted transmission cooler and the fact that you could use OD safely in towing, as long as you weren't experiencing hunting. All the other engines offered in the GM vans were equipped with a lighter duty tranny and expressly stated in the drivers manual were the instructions to not tow in OD. I typically pull mine out of OD to hold speed on some grades.

I'm not sure if you want a bare bones cargo van with windows though. The Passenger van with finished interior and carpet is worth spending a little more.
Although if you truly expect it to be a utility vehicle for contractor type work or delivery vehicle, I could understand keeping it somewhat bared bones.

Jack

[uncle_bob]

Hi

I could easily have been on the wrong site ... however:

https://www.chevrolet.com/commercial...er/specs-trims

Seems to max out all of the vans at a gross combined weight of 15,000 pounds. If the van is up around 9,600 or so, that leaves you with just over 5,000 pounds for the trailer. More or less, you can get the payload, you can pull a big trailer .... you can't do both at the same time.

Bob

[GetawA-S]

We spent 10+ years towing a 28’ ( lighter) SOB with an E350 van. Two kids in the three rear rows. I can’t imagine six passengers in two rows for serious travel. You may end up resorting to a second vehicle if you stick with a truck.
The van was great for other purposes, like movie outings with eight or more of the kids friends and hauling big stuff out of the weather.
Just saying…

[DavidsonOverlander]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

Seats six? .... ummm ..... errrr .... two parents and four very small children? or two small and two fairly large kids.?

I very much would not want to try four fairly large folks and two small ones in the typical pickup truck for any length of time. Yes you can get a bench front / bench back configuration in a lot of trucks. They do have 6 seatbelts. None of the "other guys" has anything like the Megacab.

When you have four kids you learn to travel with a little less comfort. (-:
We did lots of trips in our crew cab F350 with our four kids in their teens and twenties. It's not ideal, but we made it work. It helped that our kids were used to long drives from an early age.

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

I could easily have been on the wrong site ... however:

https://www.chevrolet.com/commercial...er/specs-trims

Seems to max out all of the vans at a gross combined weight of 15,000 pounds. If the van is up around 9,600 or so, that leaves you with just over 5,000 pounds for the trailer. More or less, you can get the payload, you can pull a big trailer .... you can't do both at the same time.

Bob

I checked my guide and my gross combined weight limit is 16,000 lbs. I've weighed my 2003 GMC 3/4 ton passenger van with full gas tank, myself and the usual items that I carry. My passenger van has 2 bench seats, and 2 bucket seats in front and is equipped with the optional dual heat and A/C system. It was about 6100 lbs. GVWR for the van is 8,600 lbs. So if the trailer is a its gross, I have about 800 lbs of of gross GCVWR left. With a 1260 lb hitch weight which is part which is distributed to the front axle of the tow vehicle and the trailer axles, I'm probably at or just over GCVWR. Typically I only tow the trailer at 9,100 lbs. once a year one way. That's where i'm carrying a full fresh water tank which is 60 gallons on my trailer. That trip is on relatively flat ground for about 214 miles. So any other time I'm carrying about 480 lbs less weight in the trailer.

So unless I'm made a mistake in calculations other than that single trip a year, I'm under GCVWR so I'm sized pretty good.

[Fungus]

2022 F-250 ordered mid July 2021. Delivered in less than 60 calendar days. No adaptive steering, which seems to be delaying some deliveries. Towed this week for the first time. Awesome!

[Oreg52]

When ordering the full window package you get the full interior paneling. Our plans are to upgrade the van a bit for camping on the beach or for when we don’t want to bring the trailer. Don’t really have a need for all those seats.

[Mollysdad]

The YouTube family, Less Junk, More Journey early on had an Airstream Classic and a 3/4 ton van diesel. (not to be confused with Vin Diesel)
They went to Alaska with that rig. You can look up their videos and see what they looked for. I recall Nathan drove to New Jersey to buy a used van from a rental company.
The other van advantage is the storage. Bikes, crates all out of the weather. Just be sure to have a sturdy divider in case of an accident, you don't want a flying generator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDbLdIQ_ztE

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by jcanavera

I checked my guide and my gross combined weight limit is 16,000 lbs. I've weighed my 2003 GMC 3/4 ton passenger van with full gas tank, myself and the usual items that I carry. My passenger van has 2 bench seats, and 2 bucket seats in front and is equipped with the optional dual heat and A/C system. It was about 6100 lbs. GVWR for the van is 8,600 lbs. So if the trailer is a its gross, I have about 800 lbs of of gross GCVWR left. With a 1260 lb hitch weight which is part which is distributed to the front axle of the tow vehicle and the trailer axles, I'm probably at or just over GCVWR. Typically I only tow the trailer at 9,100 lbs. once a year one way. That's where i'm carrying a full fresh water tank which is 60 gallons on my trailer. That trip is on relatively flat ground for about 214 miles. So any other time I'm carrying about 480 lbs less weight in the trailer.

So unless I'm made a mistake in calculations other than that single trip a year, I'm under GCVWR so I'm sized pretty good.

Hi

If you order the same van today, you loose 1,000 pounds of gross combined vs the older version. That's a pretty big deal based on your numbers.

Bob

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by Mollysdad

The YouTube family, Less Junk, More Journey early on had an Airstream Classic and a 3/4 ton van diesel. (not to be confused with Vin Diesel)
They went to Alaska with that rig. You can look up their videos and see what they looked for. I recall Nathan drove to New Jersey to buy a used van from a rental company.
The other van advantage is the storage. Bikes, crates all out of the weather. Just be sure to have a sturdy divider in case of an accident, you don't want a flying generator.

Hi

.... and if you watch the entire set of videos when they had the van: Lots and lots of shots " had to stop by the side of the road, the van overheated again".....

Bob

[JohnandDonna]

We have a 2020 International 30RB. We tow it with a 2020 Ram 2500 MegaCab with the 6.4 Hemi and 4.10 rear end. The room in the MegaCab is worth waiting for. Also, you don't need a 3500 if you get the Hemi. You don't need a diesel to tow any of Airstream travel trailers. I have towed in the Smokies and just came back from Yellowstone. The Hemi has plenty of power and about a thousand pounds more in payload. The only downside is that it is a thirsty beast. The Cummins is a great diesel engine. But it's made to tow heavy and often. Due to modern diesel emissions standards, if you let a diesel sit or do a lot of short around town trips you will run into regen issues. Just be aware.

[RosenBob]

We bought a 2018 Ram 2500 HD Diesel off the lot in early 2019. Got a $10k reduction in price because dealer was trying to clear the lot for new 2019 models. It was set up for both 5th wheel and bumper towing. Tows our 30’ FC great with BlueOx and AirSafe cushion for the hitch. We have about 54k miles on the truck with over 14k towing miles. We have seated 6 adults with seat belts in the truck with the center console folding up to an additional seat. We love this truck for towing and cross country trips with and without the trailer. I would not hesitate to get another. We have the Laramie model with good lumbar support if that makes a difference.

[RamRider]

Look at Benny Boyd Dodge, Lampasas TX - they have several 2500 mega cabs in stock or incoming all high option trucks, they can probably get you a 3500 if that is what you want. Also check out the dealers in Houston TX.

[FdTow]

Originally Posted by mickeyme

We have a 30 fbb Flying Cloud on order, delivery now slated for January. A few months ago, we placed an order on our TV - 2022 Ram 3500 megacab. Yay!

Until yesterday, when the salesman let me know that not only weren't they going to offer some of the safety equipment we'd ordered due to part shortages, they were delaying delivery until "February... maybe?"

So now we are back to square one. We're thinking it might be smarter to pick up a used late model truck now (yes, I know the prices are insane, but I need a truck) rather than wait until who knows when with potentially more deletions from our build. We have a few months to shop, so at least there's that.

Knowing that I'm going down a rabbit hole with a can of worms, I'd like some input on TVs that might fit our criteria:

Must be able to tow a 30 fbb flying cloud
Must seat six

Ideally has sufficient payload and towing capacity so we aren't playing numbers games every trip out
Ideally has a fairly comfortable back seat - comfortable kids are quiet kids

Open to gas or diesel - pros and cons to both - we live in Ohio and don't anticipate going to Colorado etc any time soon, but we do need to go through West Virginia easily

This won't be a daily driver, but will be used for longer trips and getting through the snow to school in the winter, etc.

I know this is a fairly open question, but if you needed to get a tv for a 30fbb flying cloud and a family of six, what would you pick? Thanks!

Go on Gmc website pick out your truck and look to see where delivered. They’ll say in transit. Call that dealer to see if it’s sold. You can usually make a down payment and they’ll hold. It took 3 weeks to get a 2500 where Ford would have been 26 to 30 weeks out and they don’t have that tracking. We had to travel from TX to Florida but they gave us msrp instead of over msrp in tx. Look at crestview fl dealer. They were very good. Now I’m sold on gmc. The trailering features are far above Ford and Ram too. Good luck