New (to us) Tow Rig
Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2016 4:42 pm
With the start of this year being so crazy for us I forgot I hadn't shared this. New Years Eve I picked up a new to us tow rig. The Tundra does great towing our trailer, even being big as it is, and if we were just doing local events and local trail rides the tundra would have been perfect. But since we are going to be doing a lot of cross country events we needed something different.
(If you don't want to read the really cool back story jump to the bottom where there are pretty pictures)
I looked at Fords and Dodges and decided I wanted to go with Dodge. So did some research and figured a diesel 3500 SLT crew cab would work well. This would give us a little extra room for when people come with us to events, diesel would make it easier to do fuel ups while towing and the 3500 gives us the extra payload for extra people and not have to worry about maxing the truck out later if we get a bigger trailer. I then found out something pretty interesting. Most all dealers do not stock new or used 3500s. I was told by a couple of dealers that no one really buys them off of the lot, people that get them either order the cab only or want it to be 100% matched to their style, custom order. So after more searching I found a 3500 at a local dealer. Went down and test drove it and liked it, discovered I was interested in possibly bumping up to a Larmine package also. This put the price even higher and made it that much more unlikely I would be getting one any time soon.
Once we got back to the lot just out of curiosity I asked if they had any mega cabs, was curious how much bigger they are, they did have one and I checked it out.
Turned out it was a 2014 3500 Longhorn Limited Dually. Beautiful truck and BIG. I was able to set up the front seat how I would want it to drive and then still fit comfortably in the drivers side rear seat, which reclines. At 6'4 that doesn't happen too often. The sales guy then tried to get me to buy something even though I told him I was just browsing, no surprise he was still going to try.
Went home and told Jen about it and of course being the amazing wife she is she asked if we could actually afford something like this truck. I did the math and if I could beat them down below blue book and throw some money at it the payments wouldn't be bad. Add that to the pending work needed on the Tundra and having to rent a large truck to tow cross country it worked out. Because it was the last day of the year, they already had the truck for over 3 months, and knowing what other dealers had said they were not going to sell it any time soon. I also pointed out to them that even if they sold it at sticker price there was no way they were going to make a whole lot off of it and with what they were going to give me for the Tundra they would be able to make more off of that. The Tundra is also a truck that has a lot more buyers then a huge dually. I checked their site a few days later and the Tundra was on it, a week later it was taken off the site. I texted my sales guy and confirmed they sold the Tundra in less then a week.
All I have right now is pics from the dealers site. I threw in one more from my driveway just to prove I did actually get it.
Couple of things I have learned about this truck, it truly is huge!!! I knew with it being a dually it takes up more of the road but some of the roads out there barely give you enough room. It is also wider then the Tundra in the cab, it feels like Jen is in another zip code. There are so many buttons and settings you almost need a PHD to do some things. On the dash I have 11 gauges / read outs, I can change 6 of them to pretty much whatever I want too. It also spends most of its time in the driveway. :\ Jen's migraines have gotten worse so she is down to working about once a week so I now take her car to work and she uses the JK when she goes out.
Up side, I put over 1,200 lbs in the bed, drove 2 hours to Maine and the truck didn't not even know there was weight in the back. No affect to MPG either. Can't wait to go cross country with it and see how it does.
(If you don't want to read the really cool back story jump to the bottom where there are pretty pictures)
I looked at Fords and Dodges and decided I wanted to go with Dodge. So did some research and figured a diesel 3500 SLT crew cab would work well. This would give us a little extra room for when people come with us to events, diesel would make it easier to do fuel ups while towing and the 3500 gives us the extra payload for extra people and not have to worry about maxing the truck out later if we get a bigger trailer. I then found out something pretty interesting. Most all dealers do not stock new or used 3500s. I was told by a couple of dealers that no one really buys them off of the lot, people that get them either order the cab only or want it to be 100% matched to their style, custom order. So after more searching I found a 3500 at a local dealer. Went down and test drove it and liked it, discovered I was interested in possibly bumping up to a Larmine package also. This put the price even higher and made it that much more unlikely I would be getting one any time soon.
Once we got back to the lot just out of curiosity I asked if they had any mega cabs, was curious how much bigger they are, they did have one and I checked it out. Turned out it was a 2014 3500 Longhorn Limited Dually. Beautiful truck and BIG. I was able to set up the front seat how I would want it to drive and then still fit comfortably in the drivers side rear seat, which reclines. At 6'4 that doesn't happen too often. The sales guy then tried to get me to buy something even though I told him I was just browsing, no surprise he was still going to try.
Went home and told Jen about it and of course being the amazing wife she is she asked if we could actually afford something like this truck. I did the math and if I could beat them down below blue book and throw some money at it the payments wouldn't be bad. Add that to the pending work needed on the Tundra and having to rent a large truck to tow cross country it worked out. Because it was the last day of the year, they already had the truck for over 3 months, and knowing what other dealers had said they were not going to sell it any time soon. I also pointed out to them that even if they sold it at sticker price there was no way they were going to make a whole lot off of it and with what they were going to give me for the Tundra they would be able to make more off of that. The Tundra is also a truck that has a lot more buyers then a huge dually. I checked their site a few days later and the Tundra was on it, a week later it was taken off the site. I texted my sales guy and confirmed they sold the Tundra in less then a week.
All I have right now is pics from the dealers site. I threw in one more from my driveway just to prove I did actually get it.
Couple of things I have learned about this truck, it truly is huge!!! I knew with it being a dually it takes up more of the road but some of the roads out there barely give you enough room. It is also wider then the Tundra in the cab, it feels like Jen is in another zip code. There are so many buttons and settings you almost need a PHD to do some things. On the dash I have 11 gauges / read outs, I can change 6 of them to pretty much whatever I want too. It also spends most of its time in the driveway. :\ Jen's migraines have gotten worse so she is down to working about once a week so I now take her car to work and she uses the JK when she goes out.
Up side, I put over 1,200 lbs in the bed, drove 2 hours to Maine and the truck didn't not even know there was weight in the back. No affect to MPG either. Can't wait to go cross country with it and see how it does.