Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: The best Truck for a Host Mammouth

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Topic: The best Truck for a Host Mammouth

Posted By: schubi on 05/11/18 06:03pm

Hi,

We are visit tomorrow a Host Mammouth and now I asked me whitch is the best Truck for the Camper?
Silverado 3500 , ford f 350, gmc or Ram 3500 dualy Crew Cab

I think not older than 2012 . Can you explain me advantages and disadvantages of each truck. Who has the highest axle load?
Thanks, i Hope you understand me, my English is not so good. We are in Virginia and want to start a long journey through Nord Amerika
Stefan

Posted By: donn0128 on 05/11/18 08:32pm

With a base weight right at 4000 pounds could easily translate to 5000 pounds. I honestly dont think any 3500 dually will handle that big of a camper. You might look at a 4500 or even a 5500 series truck.

Posted By: jimh406 on 05/11/18 08:37pm

I don't think it will matter which brand you choose for 2012 and above with regard to ability to haul the Mammoth. Take a look at the threads regarding Host Mammoths, and you see a variety of trucks hauling them.

'10 Ford F-450, 6.4, 4.30, 4x4, 14,500 GVWR, '06 Host Rainer 950 DS, Torklift Talon tiedowns, Glow Steps, and Fastguns. Bilstein 4600s, Firestone Bags, Toyo M655 Gs, Curt front hitch, Energy Suspension bump stops.

NRA Life Member, CCA Life Member

Posted By: Grit dog on 05/11/18 08:38pm

donn0128 wrote:

You should just start reccomending Kenworths for everyone!

Schubi, brand is irrelevant for load carrying capacity if you’re talking roughly the same year trucks. Dodge and Chevy use the same axles on their Hds up to a couple years ago. And Ford is jsut as stout. You’ll have 10klb rear axle capacity with any of them.

2016 Ram 2500, MotorOps.ca EFIlive tuned, 5” turbo back, 6" lift on 37s
2017 Heartland Torque T29 - Sold.
Couple of Arctic Fox TCs - Sold

Posted By: Bedlam on 05/11/18 08:50pm

If you plan to tow a heavy trailer behind the camper like I do, you will need a Ram 5500 or Ford F550. If you just want to carry the camper and flat tow a car or bring along a light trailer, the Ford, GM or Ram 3500/F350 with dual rear wheels will do the job.

[image]

Chevy Sonic 1.8-Honda Passport C70B-Host Mammoth 11.5-Interstate Car Carrier 20-Joyner SandViper 250-Kawasaki Concours ZG1000-Paros 8' flatbed-Pelican Decker DLX 8.75-Ram 5500 HD

Posted By: Devocamper on 05/12/18 07:49am

We carried our mammonth on a 2007 Chevy extended cab dual rear wheel diesel for a year and now have gone to a 2018 ram crew cab 3500 dual rear wheel gas and both have handled the heavy camper , we do not tow anything. The Chevy had sumo springs and a bigwig sway bar and the ram so far has upper and lower stableloads, no sway bars available for the 6.4 ram that I can find due the exhaust system The Chevy had a gvwr of 11,400 and the ram in the configuration I ordered has a gvwr of 14,000 pounds and a camper rating of 5900 . The gas engine handles the weight well getting 10.5 mpg but of course it doesn’t compare to the Chevy diesel. The gas 2 wheel drive works for what we do with our camper and increases capacities over the diesel 4x4. Really depends on what you plan to do with you camper . We went with a ram for the higher camper rating over Chevy or gmc in the same configuration and the ford was about the same but the cost was more. Good luck with your plans
Mike

08 NU-WA Hitchhiker Discover America 339 RSB Sold
18 Host Mammoth
07 Chevy 3500HD LT1 EXT Cab LB DRW D/A Sold
18 Ram 3500 SLT Crew Cab DRW 4x2 6.4 4.10's

Posted By: Kayteg1 on 05/12/18 08:50am

Don't think you can find that answer easy.
Most of duallies have 15k GWVR what is taxable number.
What they can really hold needs to be determinate by actuall experience as manufacturers don't release real technical ratings.
My 2017 F350 is holding 6500lb camper with no modification, even previous experience would indicate I should have a problem.
What adds to confusion is camper COG. On my camper it is behind rear axle, so 6500lb camper adds 6700lb on rear axle.

Posted By: JimK-NY on 05/12/18 09:23am

I would go with some of the advice above. A 350 (3500) dually is the absolute minimum needed. Also many of the older trucks had lower ratings for cargo capacity than the newer trucks.

The rule of thumb has been to take the manufacturer's wet weight and add 1000 pounds as the best guess for total weight. Based on my experience this will not come close. My rig also included a couple of solar panels, oversized AGM batteries, and a generator. The 1000 pound amount also has to include the weight of the driver and passengers leaving only about 650 pounds to cover tools, generator gas, clothing, cooking gear, food, cleaning supplies, hobby gear, etc.

I very carefully started with the wet weight, added excess estimates for all my food, clothing, gear etc. I also included the solar, batteries, generator, tools, books, maps, hobby gear and everything else I could think of. I was shocked to find that my guesstimate was still under by 1000 pounds. I recommend starting with the wet weight and adding 2000 pounds as the best estimate of real total weight.

Posted By: Rangerman40 on 05/12/18 11:56am

Kayteg1 wrote:

14k.....

Posted By: Bedlam on 05/12/18 01:10pm

14,000 lb GVWR for Ford and Ram and only 13,025 lb for GM Class 3 DRW trucks.

Posted By: schubi on 05/12/18 01:43pm

Hi thanks for your answers !!!! Today we have looked at a 3500 Silverado 2015 with 35000 miles with a lot of extra parts. The Dealer want to have 52000 after 2 hours talking 51000 ??.
Is the car so good to sale?
Whitch model do you prefer an why? Is that right that the 6.6 engine Chevi ist the best in the market?
Stefan

Posted By: burningman on 05/12/18 01:59pm

You really cannot say the Chevy 6.6 is the best. It is very good, but so is the Ford 6.7 and the Cummins 6.7 in the Ram truck.
Any of the modern American diesels are good. The Chevy is great but certainly not better than the other two.

2017 Northern Lite 10-2 EX CD SE
99 Ram 4x4 Dually Cummins
A whole lot more fuel, a whole lot more boost.
4.10 gears, Gear Vendors overdrive, exhaust brake
Built auto, triple disc, billet shafts.
Kelderman Air Ride, Helwig sway bar.

Posted By: Kayteg1 on 05/12/18 02:04pm

schubi wrote:

I paid less for my custom-build 2017 F350 diesel.
360 cameras are nice option, but did not see it on dealer's lots.

Posted By: Kayteg1 on 05/12/18 02:13pm

Bedlam wrote:

14,000 lb GVWR for Ford and Ram and only 13,025 lb for GM Class 3 DRW trucks.

From what I remember - the 14k number comes from EPA requirements.
The 15k truck is considered commercial by EPA and at least in California, when you don't have to smog them, you have to replace the engine every 20 years.
Wherever the number is coming from, it has nothing to do with original question.

Posted By: finsruskw on 05/12/18 02:39pm

$52K???
Add 1K and that's what I paid for my decked out 2015 Ram 3500 DRW CC w/Laramie Longhorn pkg, new off the lot 3 years ago.
Me thinks yu should shop around some more.

Posted By: schubi on 05/12/18 02:52pm

I am seaching at autotrader, carsforsale, Craigslist and nothing to find. Maybe in Virginia is everything sold....

Posted By: Kayteg1 on 05/12/18 02:58pm

finsruskw wrote:

$52K???
Add 1K and that's what I paid for my decked out 2015 Ram 3500 DRW CC w/Laramie Longhorn pkg, new off the lot 3 years ago.
Me thinks yu should shop around some more.

Yeah, not ordering useless stuff like sunroof, 4WD and crew cab can save you tons of money.

Posted By: finsruskw on 05/12/18 04:25pm

No sunroof and no 4WD. but the crew cab w/fold flat floor is priceless for additional storage!!

Posted By: burningman on 05/12/18 08:46pm

Useless stuff like 4wd? Depends where you live.
Useless crew cab? Depends if you like the towing stability the extra chassis length gives you.
Useless sunroof? How else will you fill the interior with ping pong balls?

Posted By: JTLance on 05/12/18 10:09pm

Duramax before all the smog **** (2007 LBZ) is the best there is.

Posted By: Kayteg1 on 05/12/18 10:44pm

finsruskw wrote:

No sunroof and no 4WD. but the crew cab w/fold flat floor is priceless for additional storage!!

Never had overfilled our Supercab and still kept 3 dogs there.
The extra foot of wheelbase sure makes parking harder beside additional costs.

Posted By: Grit dog on 05/13/18 12:33am

This is another one of those threads that’s really going somewhere......
Schubi, good luck finding a low mile newer used diesel for a decent price anywhere. They’re popular, the economy is good, fuel prices haven’t gone way up again.... yet.
The trucks you’re looking for are few and far between and most of hem are for sale for the same or only marginally less than you can get a new similar equipped diesel from a dealer that discounts them.
Seriously, I’ve been looking for a couple years and in this market , you’re better off with a discounted new model vs couple years old, unless you stumble on one of the rare “deals” that may come up.
Or wait for the next economic downturn and/or for oil to get to $150 a barrel and you’ll find a good deal then.

Posted By: Grit dog on 05/13/18 12:35am

Kayteg1 wrote:

finsruskw wrote:

No sunroof and no 4WD. but the crew cab w/fold flat floor is priceless for additional storage!!

Never had overfilled our Supercab and still kept 3 dogs there.
The extra foot of wheelbase sure makes parking harder beside additional costs.

We should all be more like you kayteg, what with our stupid 4wd and other useless features holding us back.....

* This post was edited 05/13/18 10:36am by Grit dog *

Posted By: bighatnohorse on 05/13/18 08:36am

From a manufacturer:
https://www.lancecamper.com/docs/08-owner-manual.pdf

Quote:

TIRES
Tires are available in a variety of load ratings and sizes, and if the tires you currently have cannot handle the load, it maybe possible to replace your tires with tires of higher pound capacity.
Bear in mind, that the ultimate capacity of the truck is determined by the weakest link in the system. This could be the tires, wheels, suspension or brakes.

(Emphasis mine.)

2021 Arctic Fox 1150
'15 F350 6.7 diesel dually long bed
Eagle Cap Owners
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity." -Yeats

Posted By: Kayteg1 on 05/13/18 09:06am

Grit dog wrote:

We should all be more like you kayteg, what with our stupid ;we and other useless features holding us back.....

Define "we"?
My logic might be partly personal, but definitely my European education plays big role.
European generally have less money to blow than US residents, so they do their homework and don't hesitate to wait for the right choice.
Americans want to buy "today" and pay tens of thousands for stuff they will never use.
I had tough decision buying new truck as I had to wait for cash coming from home selling. Taking cash in hand and picking up something from dealer's lot would be the easiest, but even I searched dealers in 1500 miles radius, none of them had a truck that would make sense to me.
So we were living in camper for few months - waiting for our dream truck to be build.
But now not only I have something that works perfect for my needs, but also has the colors (2-tone with pearl paint) that I like.
Saved me mentioned tens of thousands in the process.

Posted By: work2much on 05/13/18 10:16am

It's good that we have a european here to help educate us wasteful ignorant Americans.

2022 Ram 3500 Laramie CTD DRW Crew 4x4 Aisin 4:10 Air ride.

2020 Grand Design Solitude 2930RL 2520 watts solar. 600ah lithium. Magnum 4000 watt inverter.

Posted By: burningman on 05/13/18 10:56am

JTLance wrote:

Duramax before all the smog **** (2007 LBZ) is the best there is.

2006 LBZ, best Duramax. 2007 close second, you just have to do a delete on it.

Posted By: schubi on 05/13/18 02:01pm

I understand that the prices at the moment very high. We want to start out tour in 2 weeks , so we must buy something.
I have 2-3 trucks in this price range, most of them silverados, I like the Silverado.
I don’t think that European are the better buyer here, it isn’t easy for us to understand the Prozess of negotiations, There are a lot of difference opposite Germany

Posted By: Kayteg1 on 05/13/18 05:09pm

Buying several years old truck in a hurry brings pretty high risk, but I understand you have cash in hand?
When you find something you'd accept, offer few thousands less and show them stack of green bills.
Work around the World the same.

Posted By: Bedlam on 05/13/18 05:33pm

You will need frame mounted tie down points and possibly some suspension help for any truck you purchase (unless it already set up for a truck camper). This will cut into the time you buy a truck and get these items installed. The GM trucks are the most comfortable but rated for lowest payload. The Ram trucks are typically less expensive than Ford or GM and have a good payload. Unless you are towing a heavy trailer, you do not need a diesel truck. You may find a gasoline engine powered truck for a better price that is in better or newer shape.

Posted By: bighatnohorse on 05/14/18 07:24am

Bedlam wrote:

^ - this is very important.
If you only have two weeks then it is not enough time for your plan!

Posted By: Grit dog on 05/14/18 08:11am

Anyone find it ironic that our resident European, guessing Eastern, is lecturing the virtues of how Europeans are such careful, calculated and miserly shoppers in a thread where a European dude (guessing by the grammar and spelling) is trying to impulse buy a camper and a truck?

Posted By: Bedlam on 05/14/18 08:23am

My suggestion is to walk into the fleet/commercial side of a dealership and do a locator on new Ford F350 or F450 DRW and the same for a Ram 3500 DRW. You will probably find a better match in inventory on the Ford side but better pricing on the Ram side. As soon as you locate the vehicle you want to purchase and arrange delivery, start making appointments for ordering and installation of the truck frame tie downs that will anchor the camper using spring loaded turnbuckles. Between turnbuckles and tie downs, this cost is close to $1500 in parts plus the labor. You will also need a rubber bed mat to keep the camper from sliding - Since it does not sound like you will towing, you do not need a special receiver hitch, extension or extra wiring plug on your truck.

As I posted earlier, you do not need a diesel to carry the camper. Cab size is up to you and can be standard, extended or crew based on what you wish to carry in the truck and how many people are traveling. Do not get the MegaCab short bed DRW from Ram since this will be too short for the Host Mammoth you want to carry. The rest of the truck choices in DRW are all long bed.

Posted By: Kayteg1 on 05/14/18 09:02am

Grit dog wrote:

I think you've got it all wrong.
The OP is not buying truck on impulse, but just becouse he has limited time for his vacations and being new in this country - he has lot of homework to do.
And he is doing it.
If my experience how I got perfect truck is a lecture to you, I think you have another problem.
Coming to diesel/gasoline choice - diesel in most of European countries is way cheaper than gasoline, so each European want a diesel in everything. That becomes mentality and even sometimes gasoline option might be valid, mentality can prevail.

Posted By: mike/kellie on 05/14/18 10:26am

Keytag1 wrote:

If my experience how I got perfect truck is a lecture to you, I think you have another problem.

Maybe it's unfortunate in today's re-invention of language to incorporate abbreviations (r u ok) as words, the use of emojies and hashtags, that myself and possibly others cringe when statements like this are made. With a little polish (did you know this is the only word that changes definition when capitalized?)the sentence above could easily be interpreted differently?

" Hey Grit Dog, this was my first opportunity to special order a truck solely for the use of hauling my truck camper and use around the house. I was able to determine the best options that are important to me and price out the perfect truck for my needs"

I can't help but see a skit from SNL reading some of your statements.

2015 Host Mammoth triple slide w/ TorkLift Fastguns
2015 Ram 5500 SLT cab & chassis with Douglass 9' utility body

Posted By: Grit dog on 05/14/18 11:02am

Hey Kayteg, it’s all good. Please consider my sarcasm as humor. It’s in good spirit and I was just busting your chops a bit regarding your comments about how Europeans are more calculated in their purchases.

To the OP, if not searching for the “best” deal, time is short if you’re really on a 2 week clock for departure. Go get you a dually today, seriously they are all equally as capable and get some tie downs on it and go grab the camper. Only then once you have the 2 together will you be able to accurately figure out what you want/need to outfit it with for suspension and other things.
On the upside, gas powered duallies are rare unless you’re shopping the 2wd and or striped down work trucks. Vast majority are diesel so that’s a win in my book!

At the same time, it does not need to be “ideal” when you hit the road, presuming you have time on your trip. Since it sounds like you would not be doing the modifications or mechanic work your self, you can get shops anywhere to add some air bags or whatever you need as you decide you need it.

Posted By: Kayteg1 on 05/14/18 08:02pm

mike/kellie wrote:

With a little polish (did you know this is the only word that changes definition when capitalized?)the sentence above could easily be interpreted differently? .

Sure it is. "Polish" is also a word that is read differently depends if it starts with upper, or lower case letter.
I appreciate your lecture [emoticon]

as trying to be funny in my 3rd language sure not always come the best way.
To my defense I did not use even singe cent of taxpayers money for my English education and guess where I am forced to polish my English skills ? . ...
try internet forum [emoticon]

Grit dog made it good, I have no problem with it.

Posted By: schubi on 05/15/18 12:08pm

Yesterday we bought a Host Mammouth ???? it will be ready in one and a half week. Today I see a Siverado from a private owner. I hope it will be good.

Posted By: jimh406 on 05/15/18 12:19pm

Congrats and good luck with the truck.

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