The best truck features (Fairbanks, Haines: insurance, house, buying)

[MissingAll4Seasons]

Ok, after much research, I think hubby and I have narrowed down what type of truck we need. At this point, we don't really care about makes because everyone has their own particular brand loyalties, but if one truck stands head and shoulders above all others I'd be willing to hear about it.

So here's our "needs":

1. Heavy haul and tow - timber, firewood, sand, gravel, concrete either in the bed or in a trailer; plus either a 5th-wheel or travel trailer, and eventually a livestock trailer. We'll also need probably need to put 4-wheeler & snow-machine in the bed a few times.
2. Heavy suspension & rugged - we have to drive on a graveled haul road 50+ miles just to get to the turn-off, and then another 1-1.5 miles on barely maintained forest trail
3. Good tow/yank/winching - did we mention the road conditions? Also, this will be used a utility truck on the farm much more than any kind of commuting
4. Winterized - we don't plan to do much driving in the dead of winter, but we want her to start if we need her and it migth also be nice to have a snow plow/grader
5. Engine, transmission & aesthetics - we're fine with either V8 Gas or Turbo Diesel, we can both drive manual or automatic, and the exterior/interior of the truck is going to get trashed so it's not that important.

So we're thinking we need a 1-ton, 4wd with off-road suspension & stabilizers, tow package, skid plates & a winch... probably good on-off road tires too. We'll also need a block, pan & battery heater; and maybe the attachment for a plow blade.

Are we forgetting anything? Is gas or diesel better for the winter temps (outside Fairbanks) and for cost/availability of fuel? Are tail, bed, or gooseneck mounts better for heavy loads on the windy mountain roads? Is there is anything you wish you had on your truck? Is there anything you thought you needed on your truck but eventually realized was pointless? Any help is greatly appreciated since I've only had very light duty trucks to tow around a dinky trailer (Class 1 or 2... tops).

[rotorhead]

Thats a pretty big question, but here's my $.02 worth.

In snow country, go with single rear wheels instead of a dually setup.

I've got a dually now, and it's a genuine PITA in some ways, particularly in winter. The hub/wheel setup with a dually restricts how far the front wheels can turn much more than a regular four-wheel-drive setup. It's a factor of the way the wheel hubs are offset, since for spare purposes you use the same tires and rims front and back. You end up with a much larger turning radius, which becomes problematic both when manuevering trailers in tight areas and when snow berms narrow the roads in winter. Duallys also have a wider track which complicates backing up in tight spots, those wide, wide rear fenders block a LOT of the view from the side mirrors. Duallys also don't ride very happily in rutted roads where the ruts are made by single-tire axles, which is to say, most of them. They kinda want to wander around a bit in the rear, hunting for a flat spot which just ain't there. It goes without saying that six tires costs more than four to switch over come winter. Tire cost isn't as clear-cut, since load range E tires tend to be a bit less expensive in the tall, narrow tires that duallys use compared to the bigger, wider tires that a single-wheel one-ton is gonna require. Either way, you're gonna need to buy some pretty serious tires to make hauling that kind of load safe, and those aint cheap.

On the positive side, duallys add a layer of insurance when you're towing heavy trailers since a single rear-wheel blowout usually won't lead to a loss of control. The ride is also noticibly smoother with a dually when towing a heavy trailer over frost-heave roads, since the hitch point is much closer to the rear axle (longer wheelbase). If you tow with a 5th wheel or gooseneck, it doesn't make a difference single vs. dually since the hitch point is pretty much right over the axle centerline. In summertime road conditions a dual rear tire gives you a bit more rubber on the road for more traction, both for towing and expecially for heavy braking with a trailer in tow. I'm not sure that still applies in snowy conditions, in fact I'm inclined to say that it might actually be a bit worse. The tires themselves make far more of a difference, and the studded snow tire brands available in the tall, skinny tire sizes duallys use don't seem to do as well as a set of Nokians would.

Other than that, make sure it comes with a factory block heater and keep it plugged in when you can. The option of having heated front seats is really, really nice with diesels, since they're slow to warm up.

[Rance]

I always wanted a winch in the back of my truck. To aid in loading the trailer! Or pulling myself out of situations!

[Captain Crunch]

Originally Posted by Rance

I always wanted a winch in the back of my truck. To aid in loading the trailer! Or pulling myself out of situations!

Install your winch of choice and use it on either end of the rig....

[MissingAll4Seasons]

Thanks rotorhead - I'm now thinking a dually setup might really suck on those muddy back trails between my property and the road, and while I'm out in the state forest gathering wood. It's barely considered a road and the ruts would be horrible. don't need any turning problems either, tight bends with a trailer are my downfall in any circumstance! Duallys are good for some applications, but I think in our case that the cons would outweigh the pros. Also, good tip on towing stability with the bed-mounted hitches. I might end up getting both setups for different loads and trailers if I have to. Block heater - Check!

Rance & Captain Crunch - thanks for reminding me loading the bed. I think that dual-end mounted winch is the way to go. Besides being handy for loading the bed, it's always nice to be able to winch yourself (or someone else) out of a ditch in whichever direction works better.

[rotorhead]

Yeah, if you're regularly travelling down narrow trails those wide "hips" are gonna take a beating as well. I'm sure you've seen older duallys on the road with the rear fender flares beat up or ripped off, it's easy to forget about them back there.

Sometimes a dually really does do some things better, though. If you're hauling a heavy load regularly and driving on ice and slick conditions, a loaded down dually is safer than a lighter truck with a trailer. If you're logging mostly bumpy highway miles (like many sections of the AlCan) with a heavy trailer the long wheelbase and short aft overhang REALLY improve the ride. There's far less 'double-bump' compared to a regular wheelbase 1/2 or 3/4 ton truck as the trailer goes over the bumps and heaves the end of the truck up and down. I've driven the same 6000 lb camp trailer up and down the AlCan with both kinds of tow vehicles and there's a huge difference both in controllability and ride quality.

Probably the best compromise is the single-rear wheel 1-tons. You don't have to deal with the wide-ride issues but you still get the heavy-duty suspension and brakes. I don't think the wheelbase is any longer than the 3/4 ton trucks, but if you use a 5th wheel/gooseneck mount it doesn't matter.

Some other suggestions:

Get two complete sets of rims, one with summer tires and one with studded snow tires. That way you're not at the mercy of the overscheduled tire shop when it comes time for changeover, and in a pinch you've got four extra spares sitting around. Having real snow tires gets more and more important the heavier a vehicle is, and you're talking about a pretty heavy rig either way (my Dodge 3500 weighs almost exactly 8000lbs with just me and a full tank of fuel).

If you're regularly manuvering a trailer around in tight spaces, consider buying a front-mounted hitch receiver. If you're trying to squeeze into a really tight spot you just unhitch the trailer and change around to using the front mount. I've even seen rigs with three receivers under the front bumper (left, right, center), so that you can choose sides while "towing" forward and actually see what you're doing for a change. Must be nice, I'm stuck with the "jump in and out a dozen times and hope for the best" method.

If you've never used a snowplow, keep in mind that the non-removable part that stays attached to the truck year-round drastically reduces your ground clearance in the front. It's there for a reason; you need a really heavy-duty attachment point. Plowing is gonna tear up your truck, especially when it's icy or heavy snow. Keep that wear-and-tear in mind when you're figuring whether it's cheaper to buy your own plow or pay someone else. The snow pros around here use construction machinery instead of pickup trucks, it's built far more heavily than any truck is. Hey, you NEED a loader with a backhoe anyway, don't you?

[ASpilot2be]

Diesel is the way to go with trucks

[MissingAll4Seasons]

We're hoping not to have to put too many trailer miles on the truck once we get set up on the property. Until the house is built, I'm sure we'll be taking her and a flatbed trailer into F'Banks once a week or so; but after that, most of the trailer miles will probably be local with the ocassional tree haul in tight spaces. I really really don't want to try driving the Elliott in the dead of winter, much less with a trailer! God willing, we'll only have to drive into the city 3 or 4 times a year with the trailer to stock up once things get set up at home. The ride might be a bit bumpy on the AlCan on the way up and the few times we're towing on the Elliott with single tires, but with all the ruts on the Elliott I'll take bouncy over a slipery tailend any day.

I'll definitely have two full sets of rims with both tire types, because it's not like there is a service station anywhere near us. Much easier for us to just jack her up with a pneumatic floor jack and swap tires. And the dual mounts sound like a great idea, both for fine-tuning your trailer maneuvers and for swapping out a winch from front to back.

Yeah, after I got thinking about the plow/grader blade on the pickup I realized what a retard I am ... we're going to have a tractor on the farm and it's PTO is much better suited for that sort of thing! Besides, what will I be plowing anyway? A narrow dirt path in the woods? Geez That's why we have snow machines!!

[MissingAll4Seasons]

Originally Posted by ASpilot2be

Diesel is the way to go with trucks

I've always heard diesel is better for hauling and towing, and they last forever if you take care of them. But I was really wondering about how well they'll do in -20F and below since that's well below the diesel gel point and cold starting is a ***** without fuel additives, heaters and glow plugs, etc. Plus, if we ever decide to brew our own fuel, biodiesel is even worse in the cold. Plus diesel about $1.50 more expensive at the local pump. I'm starting to lean more toward gasoline, and then brewing my own ethanol at some point (50/50 in the winter).

[rotorhead]

I used to say for sure that diesels were the best engines for trucks, but the drastic increases in the cost of their fuel has considerably tempered my enthusiasm on that issue. It's true that gas engines can't match the low-end torque of a diesel, but truck engines are so ridiculously overpowered these days that even the stock gas engines have plenty of torque.

When I bought my first Dodge/Cummins truck diesel typically cost about twenty to thirty cents less per gallon than unleaded gas, now it's at least forty cents higher, usually more. It also used to be true that a diesel truck would always get better fuel economy, especially on the highway. That's not always true now, some of the new trucks get 20-21 mpg on the road, same as my current truck. The combination of higher mpg and lower fuel cost used to mean that a diesel truck would recoup the price premium they charge for the diesel engine in a few years, now I'm not sure it ever would. If the cost of diesel averaged out over time to be the same as gas, you might eventually make back the $4-6k extra you pay for the engine, but it would sure take a lot of miles to do that. If diesel stays where it is in relation to unleaded, it's gonna be a very tough sell.

If you spend a lot of time pulling a big trailer the picture changes a bit. It's generally true that for two engines with the same HP rating, the diesel will get better fuel economy than the gas engine when under heavy load. I've seen that with my trucks as well. I had a Ford with their 4.6liter gas V-8 and it got about 9mpg pulling our trailer on the highway, averaged over about 4000 miles down the AlCan to NM. I pulled that same trailer back up to AK, and my diesel truck with the 5.9liter Cummins diesel got about 13mpg, and at a higher average speed to boot. The two engines were rated about the same in HP, but the diesel was far, far better suited for that kind of work.

As far as living with a truck in a Fairbanks winter, there's no contest. The gas truck is better suited. Yes, the newer diesels CAN start when it's twenty or thirty below, but everything has to be just right (batteries, etc.) and they're sure not happy about it. Fuel gelling is definately an issue, in the latest cold-snap around last Christmas only one fuel stop between Fairbanks and Haines had a working diesel fuel pump. The rest were frozen up, you couldn't buy diesel at all in Tok. For that matter, many of the gasoline pumps were frozen up too (not too surprising at 60 below), but it's a good thing our truck gets about 600 miles on a tank of fuel! Diesels are also slower to warm up to operating temp compared to gas engines, so the defroster and heater are slower to work unless you have one of the fancy plug-in circulating pre-heaters like Rance has.

Even a couple of year ago I'd have said go for the diesel if you're gonna hold onto the truck for a while. Now I'd say go for it only if you're gonna log a lot of highway miles or pull a trailer most of the time.