I retire in 9 months, and three years ago we bought a lake house in rural PA in anticipation. Our house in Virginia has quite a bit of equity, and we've long discussed what we'll do in the winters, because we're not staying up in PA much past Christmas. We thought about a condo in Florida, or something similar. We're both super adventurous, so I'm not sure staying in one place all winter will work for us.
When we met, I was living full-time in a motorhome, and I've always been an RV type of guy. My kids loved it growing up. My wife and I have only been married 10 years, but her family camped a little while she was growing up too. We were thinking motorhome again, because the TJ would make a great "toad" behind one. As we toured several RVs at the show, we were not impressed with the quality of most of the Class A campers we looked at in our budget. For sure, diesels were out of our budget, and I'm not a huge fan of the Ford gas chassis for a Class A.
I've always loved 5th wheels, but I never had the right truck. I wasn't even thinking the wife would want to look at any of them, but we decided to since we were so disappointed in the motorhomes. My wife was blown away by just about every 5th wheel we looked at. We talked about it a few weeks, and decided a 5th wheel was what'd be get to tour the gold old US of A during the next 10 years or so. With that thought in mind, she understood that a truck upgrade was in order.
I'm a RAM fan, and I know the HD trucks for 2025 come with big changes such as a departure from the tried and true Aisin transmission and some pretty big changes to the Cummins. As much as I love RAMs, I don't really trust Stellantis to get everything right in the first try at this new drivetrain combination for the RAMs. Most dealers around me have started clearing out 2024 HD RAMs even before the 2025s hit the lots. I got my 3500 for $13k under MSRP which I was pretty happy with. They also gave me more than CarMax offered for my 2020 1500.
Out with the old:
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In with the new:
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It's a different driving experience for sure. We took it on a couple of road trips this past weekend, and boy was the ride stiff. I started researching tire PSI and found that the dealers seem to think 80psi is a must for all four tires with the truck loaded or not. I set the fronts to 65 (according to the door jam) and the rears to 50 (according to research, the door jams say 80), and it made a pretty noticeable difference. The Cummins has so much torque on demand, but the Hemi definitely has more acceleration from a start. Our 5th wheel will be around 16,000 pounds loaded, and the Cummins will definitely shine in that area obviously.
It came with a 5th wheel hitch prep package, so now I need to pick a hitch. Any suggestions? I've already got side steps on order. You should see my little 5'3" wife getting up in the cab. It's not easy for me either with my recently replaced knees.
Looking forward to many years of adventure with the new truck.
funny.
