I have towed with Ford, Ram, and Chevy in the 1/2 ton platform. I never had any real big complaints with any of them and would buy from any of those brands again in the future. I currently own a Ford F150 with the 2.7 ecoboost. I tow a Lund 1875 impact which I am guessing total tow weight is close to 3000# fully loaded with gear. Plus I tow single axle utility trailers around a lot. Any 1/2 ton pick up with any motor will handle those setups. Years ago we towed a trailer with a Chevy trailblazer that was close to the max tow rating of the vehicle. The mpg towing was like 6 to 7 and it was working hard. With that trailer balanced pretty good it would still feel unstable at speeds over 55mph. We upgraded to an Avalanche which had at least 3000 more pound tow rating (sorry don’t remember exact numbers). Mpg improved to 10 to 11 and stability was no longer an issue we could run any speed we wanted.
2015 to 2017 ford f150 with coyote v8,6r80 transmission not the ten speed transmission, aluminum body light weight and rust resistant, engine has lots of power and good gas mileage for a v8,great tow vehicle.
Boy, this is like a garmin/ lowrance/ humminbird fight. Lol. 2019 Chevy 2500 duramax here. Been running 3/4 and 1 tons chevys for 20+ years. Usually trade before 120k miles. Had an exhaust sensor go out. Never had any major issues. Pulling 4 horse living quarters trailer down to boats. 14-16mpg on interstate no matter what I’m pulling. 21mpg empty in 55 zone. They do like to chew up rear tires with all that torque. Need to rotate or replace rear tires more. Good luck with the truck.
I tow a 2021 1775 Lund Impact XS with a 2016 F-150 Super Crew 4WD (6cyl 2.7 ECO). I got the truck used in 2018 with 34K on it. I tow to the Madison Chain about 20-30 times per year and to Vilas and Iron counties about 6 times per year. I have had ZERO issues towing. Gas mileage drops off pretty significantly. Without towing on HWY I get about 24mpg and with towing on HWY about 15mpg.
I tow an 18.75 smokercraft, about 3k lb fully loaded. Still rocking a 2000 GMC Sierra 1500, 5.3 vortec wearing 175k miles. Absolutely no drivetrain issues. Besides the standard chevy body rot only issue I had was recently had to replace a leaf spring shackle.
I had been towing my current boat Lund 1875 crossover. Short trips with my dodge Durango. 3.6 liter v6 pentastar. Rated 6200 lb towing and 295 hp. It’s on the narrow side for towing the newer boats. So I sometimes use tow mirrors. But it is really nice for going to say Port Washington Wi. Because of the super tight parking. More difficult to park the big trucks. For long trips I use my farm ford f350 6.2 gas SRW pickup. Extended cab with an 8 foot box. It has 385 hp. I have the 4.30 axle. So it is 15000 bumper pull. Needed for my farm stuff. Not for my boats. I would have gone with the regular axle ratio. For towing my boats. Since I am switching to a warrior 208 boat. I will just be using the f350. Unless you are just towing heavy all the time. Putting a ton of miles on a year. The extra costs of the diesel . Does not pencil out. It’s like 8 to 9 thousand more for the diesel engine. Plus around here diesel cost more then gas per gallon. If you also want a truck to haul heavy payload around. Be careful getting the 250 trucks with diesel. Since the diesel weighs quite a bit more than a gas engine. It really reduces your bed payload.
Nice topic choice! I have a 2017 half ton chevy with the 5.3L, 62000 miles. I get around 12.5mpg towing my Stratos walleye boat, 14.5 towing ice fishing alum trailer w/ atv. Usually keep in towing mode and 70 max speed. Ave 16.4 mpg since bought the truck. Was looking at the 3.0L diesel. No payback for me now after doing the math. When I retire, if tow a lot more and/or heavier boat think diesel is definitely the way to go.
Per the comments about rust, I'm trying Fluid Film on my 4Runner (tows a small aluminum boat) to try and keep the rust down. Too early to tell if it works...
I have towed with Ford, Ram, and Chevy in the 1/2 ton platform. I never had any real big complaints with any of them and would buy from any of those brands again in the future. I currently own a Ford F150 with the 2.7 ecoboost. I tow a Lund 1875 impact which I am guessing total tow weight is close to 3000# fully loaded with gear. Plus I tow single axle utility trailers around a lot. Any 1/2 ton pick up with any motor will handle those setups. Years ago we towed a trailer with a Chevy trailblazer that was close to the max tow rating of the vehicle. The mpg towing was like 6 to 7 and it was working hard. With that trailer balanced pretty good it would still feel unstable at speeds over 55mph. We upgraded to an Avalanche which had at least 3000 more pound tow rating (sorry don’t remember exact numbers). Mpg improved to 10 to 11 and stability was no longer an issue we could run any speed we wanted.
2015 to 2017 ford f150 with coyote v8,6r80 transmission not the ten speed transmission, aluminum body light weight and rust resistant, engine has lots of power and good gas mileage for a v8,great tow vehicle.
Boy, this is like a garmin/ lowrance/ humminbird fight. Lol. 2019 Chevy 2500 duramax here. Been running 3/4 and 1 tons chevys for 20+ years. Usually trade before 120k miles. Had an exhaust sensor go out. Never had any major issues. Pulling 4 horse living quarters trailer down to boats. 14-16mpg on interstate no matter what I’m pulling. 21mpg empty in 55 zone. They do like to chew up rear tires with all that torque. Need to rotate or replace rear tires more. Good luck with the truck.
I tow a 2021 1775 Lund Impact XS with a 2016 F-150 Super Crew 4WD (6cyl 2.7 ECO). I got the truck used in 2018 with 34K on it. I tow to the Madison Chain about 20-30 times per year and to Vilas and Iron counties about 6 times per year. I have had ZERO issues towing. Gas mileage drops off pretty significantly. Without towing on HWY I get about 24mpg and with towing on HWY about 15mpg.
I tow an 18.75 smokercraft, about 3k lb fully loaded. Still rocking a 2000 GMC Sierra 1500, 5.3 vortec wearing 175k miles. Absolutely no drivetrain issues. Besides the standard chevy body rot only issue I had was recently had to replace a leaf spring shackle.
I had been towing my current boat Lund 1875 crossover. Short trips with my dodge Durango. 3.6 liter v6 pentastar. Rated 6200 lb towing and 295 hp. It’s on the narrow side for towing the newer boats. So I sometimes use tow mirrors. But it is really nice for going to say Port Washington Wi. Because of the super tight parking. More difficult to park the big trucks. For long trips I use my farm ford f350 6.2 gas SRW pickup. Extended cab with an 8 foot box. It has 385 hp. I have the 4.30 axle. So it is 15000 bumper pull. Needed for my farm stuff. Not for my boats. I would have gone with the regular axle ratio. For towing my boats. Since I am switching to a warrior 208 boat. I will just be using the f350. Unless you are just towing heavy all the time. Putting a ton of miles on a year. The extra costs of the diesel . Does not pencil out. It’s like 8 to 9 thousand more for the diesel engine. Plus around here diesel cost more then gas per gallon. If you also want a truck to haul heavy payload around. Be careful getting the 250 trucks with diesel. Since the diesel weighs quite a bit more than a gas engine. It really reduces your bed payload.
Nice topic choice! I have a 2017 half ton chevy with the 5.3L, 62000 miles. I get around 12.5mpg towing my Stratos walleye boat, 14.5 towing ice fishing alum trailer w/ atv. Usually keep in towing mode and 70 max speed. Ave 16.4 mpg since bought the truck. Was looking at the 3.0L diesel. No payback for me now after doing the math. When I retire, if tow a lot more and/or heavier boat think diesel is definitely the way to go.
New video ideas
Rod repairs, tackle storage and organization.
Thanks Noah
Per the comments about rust, I'm trying Fluid Film on my 4Runner (tows a small aluminum boat) to try and keep the rust down. Too early to tell if it works...
I've actually been using fluid film as well on my current truck and thus far it has seemed to work