Dodge 4500 or good used Single axle tractor with sleeper.

My brother worked for star transporting camper trailers using a dodge 3500 but ended up spending a fortune on hotels because the truck was pretty uncomfortable to be sleeping in. He always said if he goes back he will find a truck with a small sleeper.

 

I have a friend who has owned several 3500 Dodge dually's. He prefers them to a tractor due to not having to go into all the scales. I would not like having to rent a motel room every night. I think that you would be better off finding a single axle tractor with a sleeper and save the motel fees.

 

Go with the S/A sleeper, you will waste your money on a 3500/4500/5500 they just don't hold up well once you are continually hauling over 15,000 all the time.

Small trucks are now required to go to the scales in almost all states, if her load is 20,000 and your 4500 is 9,000 and your trailer is 8,000 your total gross will be close to 40,000.

We run S/A Cascadias and avg. 8 mpg for all miles, best motor in that weight class IS the ISM Cummins, great fuel mileage, lite weight, anybody can fix them and you can just about buy parts at Wal-Mart.

My own personal 2010 Pete with 425hp ISM is running right at 9 MPG for all miles, and I am reg up to 54,000. The only reason I don't have a sleeper on it is because it doubles as my RV/race car hauler.

One tip on S/A trucks, instead of buying some 800,000 clamped out company truck, look around for an RV 5th wheel toter, some of these are kept in excellent shape and they are well cared for.

 

This sounds like good advice!

What is a good gear ratio to go with the ISM or M11 engine for fuel mileage?

Also, I am familiar with www.TruckPaper.com. Any other suggestions on sources for good, used SA or toter trucks?

 

Depends really on how much weight you are going to carry, if you are going to be around 54,000 gross I would say anywhere from a 3.23 to a 3.55 of course this depends on your HP rating and your tranny.

If you are going ISM Cummins try and stay with at least 370HP smaller than that and it will cost you mileage.

Truckpaper, and RV forums, your best bet.

 

Was wondering if anyone could give their 2 pennys on a question i have on this subject. Was wanting to get into rv transport and was wondering if i should invest in a good used 1 ton crew cab or use my single axle cabover international. Its a 78 transtar with a 250 cummins and a 10spd it runs and drives great and tops out at about 68 mph. Where im unsure at is the fuel mileage for a 1 ton over my tractor gonna offset the investment .....any thoughts??

 

Just curious if you ever bought a truck and if so what did you go with?

 

No company is going to let you use a semi to move campers.

 

There used to be some companies that allowed you to move their RV's with S/A trucks, BUT this was back in the day when your 1985 Ford diesel had a whomping 185 hp.

There were some companies that wanted larger trucks, Teton out of Wyoming comes to mind, we used to also move some Spacecraft RV that you could not touch with a p/u, we also ran some larger trucks pulling for KIT rv, out of Boise ID and Mcpherson,KS also Aplenlite out of the NW.

Since then p/u have changed quite a bit, P/U have gotten a lot better and to a degree most 5th wheels have gotten lighter.

However today, most companies are looking for 3/4 ton trucks, in some cases you are able to run with out a CDL because the GCVWR on a 3/4 ton is lower than a one ton.

But in your case, I think your empty fuel mileage would eat you alive.

JMHO.