Turns out I need a real truck. Kindly help me choose one!

phsycle

Adventurer
Personally I'm a base level guy. My wife doesn't ask for much but power seats are a must. I did a seat swap out of a higher-end truck. I'm not sure It was worth the headache or if I even saved that much money 🤣

I’m the same but like said above, wife likes power and heated seats. I also like the door keypad. I CAN retrofit them in. But time, money, multiple trips to the dealer and autozone. Not sure if you really come out ahead in the end. I think XLT strikes a great balance for me.
 

hdas

Active member
wife likes power and heated seats.
Here is the same, which poses a huge conundrum. Waiting for confirmation from dealers, but it seems that one can only get power/heated seats with minimum BigHorn level, which comes with horrendous chrome finishing and you have to pay 1000 to remove it.

Buying a car is a very annoying process. You have all this options, but in reality there's no inventory and who knows when can I actually take delivery of the vehicle with the color and configuration I want.
 

Todd n Natalie

OverCamper
Maybe the 2500 can work after all

View attachment 798783
It's the same footprint / size of truck as a 1 ton. I'd personally just get the 1 ton version of whatever make / model I was looking at.
Aside from saving a grand or 2 what's the benefit of going 3/4 ton vs 1 ton. What's another grand or two when spending 75K for some extra payload insurance? Just my 2 cents...
 

hdas

Active member
It's the same footprint / size of truck as a 1 ton. I'd personally just get the 1 ton version of whatever make / model I was looking at.
Aside from saving a grand or 2 what's the benefit of going 3/4 ton vs 1 ton. What's another grand or two when spending 75K for some extra payload insurance? Just my 2 cents...
I agree with you.......but If insist in the power seats. the bill jumps out a lot, due to the trim difference + getting rid of chrome. Which doesn't make any sense if Im going to get rid of the bumpers if I do the AEV thing........this is exhausting.

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If I go for the basic, I think I can find pretty much what I want, except the power seats, and the color. My wife hates white, so I would need to do a wrap.

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Maybe I can get this with ~5% of MSRP.......In december

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Im starting to see this dropping, I think it can get to 65k

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Todd n Natalie

OverCamper
I agree with you.......but If insist in the power seats. the bill jumps out a lot, due to the trim difference + getting rid of chrome. Which doesn't make any sense if Im going to get rid of the bumpers if I do the AEV thing........this is exhausting.

View attachment 798786
mr-bean.gif

90K USD??? For a Big Horn??? I thought that was a CDN build and price....

Since you're hauling vs towing I would think real hard about going gas instead of diesel.

What am I missing here? How come my build using the equipment I can see on your post comes out cheaper in CDN?

Screenshot 2023-09-29 113847.pngScreenshot 2023-09-29 113922.pngScreenshot 2023-09-29 113942.png
 

ramblinChet

Well-known member
I believe and maybe @ramblinChet can confirm, that you can swap in the factory LED's onto a tradesman.

Power seats can maybe be installed? Not sure. That's def one thing that pushed to a Ford with the upper XLT trim vs an XL.
Gotta have power seats. (Well height adjustable anyway. Not sure why Ford can't offer manual height adjusters on lower trims)

You are correct @Todd n Natalie, both the mid-grade and premium LED lights are able to be retrofitted into a Tradesman although I would encourage every potential owner to make sure everything they desire is included in their original purchase. Even mud flaps and rear wheel well liners are a PITA to install after the fact. Then again, I am at the point in my life where I desire to spend more time adventuring and less turning a wrench. For those that enjoy building projects, I can fully respect that.
 

GeorgeHayduke

Active member
I was thinking that perhaps the 3500 is overkill, but If go for the prospector or down the line I want to add more parts, it doesn't seem so. Additionally, its very interesting that in this table, there's an option for a Cummins with 4.1 axle ratio, which I don't see available anywhere.

View attachment 798777

View attachment 798778
That table showing a Cummins with 4.10 gears is for chassis cabs, not pickups. The giveaway is the 60" C/A (cab to axle distance) in the title. All the 2019+ Cummins SRW pickups are 3.73 gears.

Also, some of the 3500 trucks you're looking at have the high output Cummins. These have a larger rear diff and I think they may not have lockers available. Worth reading up on and factoring into a standard vs high output decision.
 

hdas

Active member
Ok. Some decisions were made:

1. We will go with the RAM 3500 Crew Cab 4x4 - 6'4" Box
2. We will go with the Cummins High Output engine
3. We will go with the Big Horn Trim level minimum.

Next decisions to be made:

1. Full list of features to add.
2. Color selection: Metallic Gray, Dark Blue or Black
3. Do a partial AEV upfit (wheels, suspension, fender covers, rocksliders) or a Full Prospector Package

I went to a RAM dealer today and look at the interiors and colors on 2500. They didn't have a 3500 for testing. Some takeaways:

1. My wife needs powerseats ----> We need BigHorn package minimum
2. I liked the gray color less in person (granted it was mixed with hideous chrome finishings)
3. I liked the dark blue color more in person.
4. I like the "black" appearance of the limited trim for blue color. And that little air intake in the hood. Looks cool.

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The dealer we visited is a AEV authorized dealer so that's good. If we go with partial AEV upgrades, I do wonder if It's ok to trust the dealer ppl to perform the work ?
 
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