Ford Expedition Vs Chevy Tahoe Vs Dodge Durango

[endonirvana]

I am waiting on my FC23 CB BUNK and currently looking for a new TV.
Any advise or tips are much appreciated. I have narrowed down on the above three options.
We need to have 6-7 seating capacity. 4 adults and 3 kids.
would love to hear some pros and cons

[SYC2Vette]

Originally Posted by endonirvana

I am waiting on my FC23 CB BUNK and currently looking for a new TV.
Any advise or tips are much appreciated. I have narrowed down on the above three options.
We need to have 6-7 seating capacity. 4 adults and 3 kids.
would love to hear some pros and cons

Compare payload, that is where most end up being limited in capability. Add up weight of your 7 passengers and the real world (as opposed to specification sheet) tongue weight and see what is left. The new Tahoe does have more legroom in the third row, previously limited to small children.

[Dennis C]

I think any of the options that you’ve listed are viable options for a 23 footer. The challenge that you’ll have is payload capacity, particularly with 7 passengers. I don’t know the dry tongue weight of the 23 CB, but I’d start there. Published weights are a bit lower than real world weights. Then add the weight of you seven passengers as noted above. Compare this to the payload capacity from the door jamb on the actual vehicle that you’re considering. This should give you an idea of how each vehicle option will work. You’re likely going to need to pack the tow vehicle and the trailer very carefully to make this work.

As a reference point, I tow a 23 footer with a 1/2 ton truck. When fully loaded for camping with two adult passengers, I’m usually within a few hundred lbs. of my payload limit. Seven passengers would be impossible.

[field & stream]

In addition to the weight of the seven passengers you should add in the weight of all of the “stuff” they will be bringing. A related issue: there is very little cargo area behind the third seat in these shorter wheelbase models so you might consider the longer versions (e.g. Suburban vs. Tahoe).

[Dennis C]

I just took a quick look online and I see that the tongue weight published by Airstream for the 23 CB Bunk is 654 lbs. The maximum payload for the 2021 Expedition Max published by Ford is 1,757 lbs. In the real world, the tongue weight will be higher and the payload limit will be lower, but let’s use these numbers.

If you subtract the tongue weight from the payload limit, this leaves you 1,103 lbs. for passengers and gear. Let’s assume that the adult passengers weigh 150 lbs. each and the kids weigh 50 lbs. each, which may or may not be realistic. This adds up to 750 lbs. Subtracting that from 1,103 leaves you with 353 lbs. for cargo.

This seems doable with these numbers. When you run the same math with the real numbers, it may be a different story.

[Wayne&Sam]

I've towed our 25' with a Durango and now an Expedition (just two people and to dogs). Both towed fine, but the Expedition is better. With that many people I'd go big.

[richard5933]

Have you considered a 3/4-ton Suburban? That would give you the passenger capacity AND the cargo/payload capacity you need. One the vehicles you mentioned you'll possibly be at cargo/payload capacity before you even hitch up the trailer once you get everyone on board with their belongings.

[moosetags]

We used to tow with 3/4 ton Suburbans. GM quit making them for the public after 2014. They are now only available for government agencies.

Brian

[panamerican]

Originally Posted by richard5933

Have you considered a 3/4-ton Suburban? That would give you the passenger capacity AND the cargo/payload capacity you need. One the vehicles you mentioned you'll possibly be at cargo/payload capacity before you even hitch up the trailer once you get everyone on board with their belongings.

I love my 3/4 ton Burb, but it's a unicorn. GM stopped making them around 2014 (though there are rumors it may return).

https://www.hagerty.com/media/news/w...t-suburban-hd/

This year, my brake and fuel line were close enough to the end of their useful life (I live in the rust belt). It was a $4800 job. Drop both tanks (pump and filter are in the tank), and lines from tank to engine rail and all brake lines front to back.

I balked at that $4000 price and went looking what a used Suburban's value was. Mine is an 04 and has only 50k on the ODO.

Used 1/2 ton (around same year) with near or over 100k on the clock was maybe $4k
Used 3/4 ton (same year) with near or over 75k, $20k.

Needless to say, if you go the 3/4 route today, be prepared to pay a fairly high price for a near 10 year old or older truck.

The 3/4 ton Burb and it's GMC cousin Yukon XL have more than ample cargo capacity, and can handle both the gear, the passengers and the trailer with ZERO issues.

EDIT***

Originally Posted by moosetags

We used to tow with 3/4 ton Suburbans. GM quit making them for the public after 2014. They are now only available for government agencies.

Brian

The 1 ton fleet Suburban also did not have the same factory tow rating as the 3/4 ton IIRC and like you said, hard to get one if not a fleet buyer.

[Dennis C]

I know that this wasn't listed as an option for a tow vehicle by OP, but this seems like a perfect application for a GMC 2500 or 3500 van. It would have plenty of room for all 7 passengers, plenty of towing capacity, plenty of space for gear, plenty of payload capacity, etc. It's not particularly sexy to drive, but it would get the job done!

[SYC2Vette]

If you might consider used, this is one of the nicer 3/4T Suburbans (pending inspection to confirm) with low mileage I have seen.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/234217258386

A bit concerning is the interior and dash does not look as clean as I would expect for that mileage (my 2000 K2500 WT with 82,000 miles looks better and it has always been parked outside)

[richard5933]

Not sure if it's available in Florida where the OP is located, but in the Chicago area there is a use-car dealer that sells exclusively retired government vehicles including 3/4-ton Suburbans.

I went out to look at them before I found my 1999 through a private seller. The vehicles he had were in pretty decent shape, and other than those which had been in use as patrol vehicles they seemed well cared for. Prices were reasonable as well. Had I not found the square body I would have jumped on one of the newer 3/4-ton models he had in stock.

Always an option.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

In addition to what's been listed so far, your shank and hitch will weigh something. Best guess is that will be over 100 pounds and could be much more. It depends a lot on which hitch you decide on.

The hitch and (real world) tongue weight will need to "fit" with the receiver on the vehicle. In a lot of cases the stock version isn't up to the task. That can be corrected by going to a shop and having them put on something bigger (and possibly welding this or that here or there). The weight of those modifications also gets into the mix.

The FC23 FB Bunk has a "cargo capacity" of 1,000 pounds (dry). The fresh water tank is 35 gallons or roughly 300 pounds.You also have a variety of tools, parts, and the like that pretty much *must* come along with you. Figure 200 pounds. You have 500 pounds "left" for everything else. Food and clothing for 7 is going to come up to 500 pounds mighty fast.

We haven't gotten to a hundred pounds of generator, bikes for the kids, 5 cases of beer (burp ...), or other things that may well be along.

I think I would count on two pretty full cargo carriers on the roof of the SUV.

Bob

[drmox]

Not sure if you've heard this before, but you'll need to be careful about your payload capacity. So I will inform you about this particular danger, and recommend only towing with an HD diesel pickup.
All kidding aside, you should be cognizant of weights and measures, and pack accordingly. I'm a big fan of the Expedition, but you'll to drive all three.

[Captn.Ken]

We towed our FC26 thousands of miles with our Ford Expedition. No issues at all. Had a third row seat. Plenty of power from the ecoboost engine.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Let's say you *do* come up with a math solution that "fits" and gets you under the limits by 100 pounds. ( this sounds hypothetical, but I actually have empirical data on this ... ).

Next step is to load everything and everybody up and head over to the CAT scale. You weight the front axle, and rear axle on the SUV. They each get compared to the weight limit on that axle. You then weigh the trailer axle(s) and compare them to the spec limit(s).

Regardless of the various payload numbers, all of the axles *must* come in under their stated limits. You only get the sticker payload if the front and rear loading are balanced "just right" on the SUV. If they are off, you play a fun game of moving this and that around. You then drive home to drop stuff off.

If you want to be right at the limit, this is an "every trip" sort of thing. Nobody ever packs exactly the same for every trip to within 100 pounds. Stuff creeps in here and there. It does it in the dark of night ... the load goes up and up. You have this fun over and over.

Simple, practical, far less exciting answer: Design in some margin when you do all this math. You want to be well under the various limits. You want to be far enough under that a hundred pounds here and a hundred pounds there still is under. You will need to check from time to time. You just won't have to head home to unload stuff as often.

You *do* very much want to drive safe and be safe.

What happens if you are over? For a while likely not much at all. Then there's this Saturday that you are headed into the Eisenhower tunnel coming from the west and the transmission dies .... ( yes, I also have data on this ..). You can pretty much roll into Denver from there ....

Bob

[Wazbro]

I would suggest considering a second vehicle on your trips depending on how far you travel. It can be a huge plus with 4 adults and 3 kids. Often some of the group will want to do different things or even just get some space from others and it will help a lot with payload problems.

[Fungus]

Originally Posted by Wazbro

I would suggest considering a second vehicle on your trips depending on how far you travel. It can be a huge plus with 4 adults and 3 kids. Often some of the group will want to do different things or even just get some space from others and it will help a lot with payload problems.

^1...Likely the only way.

Real world 2021 Expedition Max numbers from my son's door stickers:

• Payload: 1767#. Yeah, I don't know where the extra ten pounds came from.
• Front GAWR: 3550#
• Rear GAWR: 4380#
• GVWR: 7720#
• Seating capacity: 8

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by Wazbro

I would suggest considering a second vehicle on your trips depending on how far you travel. It can be a huge plus with 4 adults and 3 kids. Often some of the group will want to do different things or even just get some space from others and it will help a lot with payload problems.

Hi

Spent a lot of time / logged a lot of miles doing it that way with similar groups. (one less kid on some, 5 kids / 2 adults on others). Part of this was in Europe so smaller roads ....

Bob

[Jaxon]

One thing to keep in mind is that if you just barely fall below the payload capacity of one of the vehicles you mentioned, with two adults and three kids... plus gear n' goodies, next years weight will have increased because...

...Kids have a habit of growing and putting on weight, sometimes quite a bit in a years time... not to mention the things they *must have* to go camping with...

.