Newbie needs help deciding which truck

deadi

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Jul 28, 2018
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After following this forum for years we have finally made the decision and chosen an eight foot Alaskan cabover as our retirement camper/my retirement $$. A darn big decision that I don't want to get it wrong if I can help it. Now I need real life factual input on which truck size. I will be pulling a trailer with my 4wheeler some so I need to add 300 pounds to the vehicle weight to be safe. I suspect 8-10,000 miles annually. Trip temperatures can get to -10F overnight in remote mountain areas. With the 3/4 ton I can just fit into the max GVW with a 3/4 ton gas, if diesel I'll need to go 1 ton. I'm a Chevy guy so the decisions are:
- 3/4 ton gas or 1 ton gas or 1 ton diesel
- 6.5' with tailgate down or 8' box with tailgate up?

I have never had a diesel so I don't know if it's worth the maintenance and upfront cost for the power with the realistic low annual miles.

I have Googled myself silly and visited the local dealership in an attempt to sort through this decision.  Am I missing anything in this thought process or overthinking?
Your input is appreciated and thank you in advance.
 
deadi said:
With the 3/4 ton I can just fit into the max GVW with a 3/4 ton gas,
Personally, I don't like to be right up against the limit, I prefer some leeway for the unexpected. And how realistic really were you when you estimated the weights of your clothing, bedding, food, cooking gear, camping chairs, etc.?

Leaving aside the diesel option, if you compared a 3/4 ton and 1 ton SRW with the same cab, bed length, and engine; what would be the price differential? And how much more weight could the one ton carry?

As for the long vs short box, with an 8 foot box, the tailgate become a handy porch when you step outside the door, as well as a convenient shelf when you are standing around on the ground.

(and if you go for the long bed, wouldn't you really rather have the extra room that a 10 foot Alaskan provides? :))
 
On the subject of diesel vs gas, I freely concede that some people - those who are pulling huge 5th wheels or carrying massive multi-slide truck campers up and down the Rocky Mountains - NEED the torque that a diesel provides.

I don't know anything about Chevy diesels. I no how much trouble Ford has had with their diesels. The old, mechanical diesels weren't too bad to work on. The modern, turbocharged, electronically controlled diesels are insanely expensive to fix. $3000 for a turbo? $5000 to rebuild the injector pump and injector system if you get some bad fuel? Crap, I could put a whole new gasoline engine in my truck for that kind of money.

Don't take my word for it. Look at some of the YouTube videos on this, especially the Ford Diesels. Like this one:


Personally, I bought the 6.2 gas engine in my F250.
 
I'm a diesel guy but I will suggest that in your situation a gas engine might be better for a couple of reasons.
1. It will be cheaper to buy and operate
2. It will give you more cargo capacity.

My real comment is to consider a one ton (3500 series) over the 3/4 ton. Most of us who have campers here realize that the weight of our campers is more than what the manufacturers list and then you add the weight of all of our stuff and you will be surprised.

Either way, enjoy the trip!
 
Definitely 1 ton.....We just took delivery back in May of a 10' Alaskan cabover from the factory in Winlock, Washington. BTW....Brian Wheat is awesome to work with there. I switched from a 3/4 ton Silverado gas burner with long bed to a Ford 350 diesel dually to accommodate the 10' Alaskan and it was a good choice. Watch closely at the inside glove box on GM trucks for a sticker specifically referencing truck campers and you will find it will deduct in my case 900 lbs less you could put in the bed from specs quoted online.....GM doesn't tell you this on their website and my dealer had no idea about it either. So, we sold off the 2016 Silverado gas burner and bought a 2017 F350 diesel dually. The Alaskan is a very high quality build and if you want I'm happy to tell you how we went about ours....changed/upgraded several things from the standard factory build. All the best on your decision.....it's a pricey choice no matter how you go about it.

Maybe this article will shed some light:

https://www.truckcampermagazine.com/off-road/extreme-rigs/alaskan-dream-machine/
 
Hello dead I
Our 3/4 Superduty with All Terrains Cougar 6.2 gas, does ok 13-15 mpg depending on terrain and my right foot. Our gvwr is 10,000 probably close to that. I have towed a 16 foot trailer with a Kawasaki mule behind the camper and it does fine.
If we were to get an Alaskan like you are I would definitely get a 1 ton, my personal opinion is you definitely need a big block gas motor if you go that route. Our Roadtrek had a 7.?L motor and that was an awesome motor plenty of power to haul the motor home, even towed our jeep a few times behind it, pulled grades fine out of OD and pressed the gas pedal.
I hear you on making the right choice one time, diesel does cost more and seemed to hold their values. With a diesel motor you would hardly feel the weight behind you. I would want the 8 footbed especially if I was also towing. As previously posted understanding the gvwr is paramount and few salesmen or weomen will understand and be of any help.

Best of luck on you adventure.

Russ
 
I can second the sales folks not knowing about gvwr. A visited a bunch of places and lot of them didn't know and/or gave me inconsistent numbers. Ended up going with a dealership that did give me the right data - after I marched them around insisting on seeing the current info on paper. They also gave me the right price. Turned out a couple of them had driven RVs and campers of their own all over the country, which helped a lot.

Fyi have an Alaskan on a Ford and spent a long time figuring out what I wanted. Feel free to PM me deadi so I don't bogart this thread...I can babble a lot about this topic!
 
Moose Dog said:
I can second the sales folks not knowing about gvwr. A visited a bunch of places and lot of them didn't know and/or gave me inconsistent numbers. Ended up going with a dealership that did give me the right data - after I marched them around insisting on seeing the current info on paper. They also gave me the right price. Turned out a couple of them had driven RVs and campers of their own all over the country, which helped a lot.

Fyi have an Alaskan on a Ford and spent a long time figuring out what I wanted. Feel free to PM me deadi so I don't bogart this thread...I can babble a lot about this topic!
One of the nicest Alaskan/truck combinations I’ve seen! Color me jealous!
 
Find the fleet sales guy at the dealership and deal with him or her. They're far more likely to know about using a truck as a truck (GASP!!!)

If you were buying used I'd say find an excellent condition mechanical diesel. Since it sounds like new is the chosen route I'd go gas in your set of conditions. Older gas trucks don't get the mileage that the newer trucks get. I've driven two different EFI Ford 460's and they got 10 mpg. Unloaded they got 10. Loaded they got 10. Loaded with a trailer behind going over the Grapevine they got 10. I'm not obsessive about tracking mileage, I merely spot check it at random. The worst that I've ever logged on our '95 CTD was 13, the best that I've logged (thrice) was 19 (once as a stock truck other two with the camper in and the 315's on).
I mention this not because of economics, but because of range. I like our fuel range to be considerably greater than our bladder range. Allows us to buy fuel where we want to, not when we have to.
 
What ntsqd said - it was the fleet manager who I ended up working with and getting the truck from.
 
My '88 F-250 HD Lariat 4x4 with an extended cab and an 8' bed is a good example here...I too have a 460 gasser with a C-6 auto trans in it. I would suggest you forget most of the online weight references because as each item you change is included to the Build Sheet, it changes the weight ratings for both the front and the rear axles. In essence you either have to find the EXACT truck you want in the YEAR (2018?) you are buying and then check the individual axel ratings based on those choices. Then open up the manuals included with the truck and see what they say about the towing capabilities and tongue weights.

I went with a 1976 8' CO and I like the idea I can drive with the tailgate closed and then have a back porch when I get to camp.

My truck doesn't know the Alaskan is back there on flat ground, it does take a bit more gas pedal on steeper hills but I too have the satisfaction of knowing it 10MPG average wherever I go and that is with or without the Alaskan mounted!

Remember too that your Alaskan will probably weight more or less than mine; that depends on what you have in it. If you have the propane tank forward or rearward, if you have an oven or not, if you have a CO or not...same as the truck, the weight gonna be what it gonna be.

Now, the next thing to sort out is gas vs. diesel....that is up to you but as noted above, different year diesels from the big three have their good and bad reputations. Then, do you need 4x4 or not (no, not until you DO need it!)? Should your truck have four doors? Or do you just need the jump seat style extended cab? Or do you want nothing behind the front seat but the rear window?

Next is the choice between and 8' or 10' Alaskan....for the two of us, the upgrade from the NCO to the CO is enough.

I don't know how you arrived at the GVW you mentioned above....but...

My truck came in as follows:
With two full fuel tanks and me in it...
Front: 3520
Rear: 2860
Both: 6400

VIN tag says:
GVWR is 8800
Front: 3920
Rear: 6084
.....so I can carry 2400 as long as I don't overload the rear axle. The heavy front end is due to the 460 and 4x4 up there.

My Alaskan says it weighs 1450 with 20 gallons of water and 25 lbs or ice in it. That gives me about 900 lbs of "stuff" before it is overloaded. Subtract the tongue weight you mentioned of 300 lbs and that would still give me 600 lbs for "stuff" added into the Alaskan.

Lastly, many guys go for a one-ton SRW 8' bed just to be sure.....the bottom line is you are going to be spending a lot of money on the Alaskan and the truck....the worst thing you could do is not get "enough truck" and that includes the engine size, HP and torque it produces.

If you are buying a NEW truck, you can look at the build sheet in the window and when you find the EXACT truck with the EXACT items you will want on it...take a picture of the VIN tag on the door because that is how Ford (and others) arrived at what is on that tag; they added up EVERYTHING which is what you need to do to know what your ideal truck can handle....then it depends on what Alaskan configuration and how it is outfitted to get the proper weights....unfortunately you just won't know how that is distributed between front and rear axles until you mount it.

You have your homework ahead of you....but for the amount of driving on the highways and off on the backroads you intend on doing, you'd better get it RIGHT before buying either the Alaskan or the truck of your choice.
 
Duramax is a great motor I had one in a 86 1 ton van pulling an airstream I would recommend a 1 ton 8 ft bed non duelly. You will not regret that combo. I have a 1995 cummins 3/4 with a Alaskan 8 ft cabover.
 
wagoneer said:
Duramax is a great motor I had one in a 86 1 ton van pulling an airstream I would recommend a 1 ton 8 ft bed non duelly. You will not regret that combo. I have a 1995 cummins 3/4 with a Alaskan 8 ft cabover.
While the original poster didn't explicitly say he was going to buy a NEW truck, that was the impression I came away with. It's easy to point at 86's and 95's and talk about how great they were. Unfortunately, the new diesels come with turbos, and electronic controls and all sorts of emissions crap that you never had to deal with in the old days. They will, sooner or later, cause problems, and they are EXTREMELY expensive to replace or work on.

And have you noticed that while everyone talks about how you can get a half million miles or more from a good diesel, NONE of the manufacturers will give you a factory warranty for that many miles? Instead, it's the same 100,000 mile warranty they'll give you for their gasoline engines. Guess the people who designed and built them just aren't that confident they'll last that long.
 
Tough decision! I was in the same boat for awhile till I can across a used 2006 Dodge ram 3500 1 ton diseal with 100 thousand miles on it and a 8 Alaskan co sitting in the bed of it. I flu out to Colorado and picked it up and drove all around the mountains then back to Florida. The truck ran great and couldn't even tell the camper was in the bed. It can with the heavy duty suspension package and air brakes which really came in handy.
 
wow sounds like my deal 1995 2500 with 98k and a free camper for 7k sold tthe camper(too large) and got the 8" CO for 5k, we all get lucky some times, congrats
 
Thks wagoneer! Congrats on your set up also. Just had to be patient and wait for the right deal. Now all I need is some cooler weather.
 
I haul my 1974 10ft CO on a 06 Dodge 3500, 8 ft box quad cab, 4wd, single rear wheel diesel manual trans. The weight and handling are nice. A plan is afoot for a flatbed with aluminum side boxes under the wings of the Alaskan. A bed extension will be used to support the end of the camper. Hasn’t happened yet. The deck is by the shop...
If I were buying a late model or new truck I would pencil out the fuel economy vs annual miles vs any future need for tow capability of a gasohol engine vs diesel. Upfront cost of diesel options comes back 2x over in resale around these parts.
If I were buying a new Alaskan it would be a flatbed model with curb side entry.
 

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