Smoothest Riding 3/4 ton Truck

[Bamer]

Like the title suggests. I’d like your opinions on which 3/4 has the smoothest ride. I am mostly interested in 2019 and newer. Chevy, GMC, Ford, Ram. Crew Cabs only. Also interested in ride quality empty and loaded with a 23RZX sized boat. Did I miss any important variables here?

Thanks in advance.


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[Zackdogg]

Like the title suggests. I’d like your opinions on which 3/4 has the smoothest ride. I am mostly interested in 2019 and newer. Chevy, GMC, Ford, Ram. Crew Cabs only. Also interested in ride quality empty and loaded with a 23RZX sized boat. Did I miss any important variables here?

Thanks in advance.


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Your thinking gasser or diesel? I’ve driven all of them, and to me the Chevy/Gmc are the most comfortable to drive, although “smoothest ride”, probably doesn’t exist in any. Dodge is probably the one you’d get the best price on, but it would be my last choice. As far as a tow rig, you won’t go wrong with any of them. I’d probably go GMC #1 and Ford as #2. I’ve actually towed mine more with a Ford diesel than the chevy/gmc diesel, my truck is gas, and it get horrible mileage in our mountains. You’d never even know that boat is behind the diesel versions, but none are remotely as smooth as a 1/2 ton.


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[Bamer]

[mention]Zackdogg [/mention] if I’m gonna go 3/4, I’d go all the way and get a Diesel, unless for some reason a gasser had a better ride. I’m thinking a diesel would have a better ride cause of the added weight of a Diesel engine.


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[Zackdogg]

[mention]Zackdogg [/mention] if I’m gonna go 3/4, I’d go all the way and get a Diesel, unless for some reason a gasser had a better ride. I’m thinking a diesel would have a better ride cause of the added weight of a Diesel engine.


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I would absolutely go diesel, although the gas trucks will tow them just fine, they’re working harder and sucking significantly more gas down. I have a buddy that just got the new Chevy gasser who tows a G23, and one get the gas Ford that tows a 10k LB trailer, but neither have had them long enough to get reports on the real world towing with them. I think I’ll probably go duramax dually on my next truck. A buddy got one over the summer and double tow a big camp trailer and a boat with it. Thing is a beast. If I decide not to go with a dually, it will be a 3/4 ton Denali.


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[bsreid]

That’s a hard one. For me I would probably go with the new Ford super duty. Allows found GM to be the smoothest HD platform up and until last years re design it feels so much larger.
The new fords are much better than the previous non aluminum body style absolutely night and day difference.

I currently have an f150 with the ecoboost which is hard to beat my dads got a 3500 duramax Denali, beautiful truck but drives like a tank. Close friends of mine have a new f250 platinum and that is by far my favourite driving diesel truck right now. It just doesn’t feel as big as the ram or the gm.

[BrentP]

We are a Ford family, full disclosure. The F250 has gotten amazing in ride quality since the switch to aluminum. Compared to the Ram my neighbor drives and the GMC I’ve been in, i feel like they finally found it. We drove my Dads from Texas to Kentucky with a travel trailer, and from Texas to utah without and it was butter both times.

Either way, I suspect they are all pretty similar at this point.

Also I’d echo go for the diesel. The gas mileage is better and it’ll pull anything you tie it to. Also, if you do a lot of long road trips, spring for the higher end truck with the massaging seats. Hehe

-BP


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[UNSTUCK]

Considering I drive my truck 15k a year and only towing around 3k of that, I wanted a truck that was more comfortable than "capable". I picked a 2021 GMC 1500 with the 6.2L and the Max Tow package. 11000 towing capacity and enough payload to carry the tongue weight and my family in the truck. It tows fantastic! I'm happy with the choice. The savings of the diesel engine will more than pay for the extra fuel over the life of the truck, plus you are not buying DEF or dealing with any diesel emissions junk that WILL fail. Go price an EGR or the other items. New half tons are more than capable of towing any tige boat.

[akdoc]

I'd say smooth riding and any diesel truck may not go together, however I absolutely love my 18 Ram 3500 megacab cummins diesel. Tows like a freight train and is very comfortable inside. Yes the ride is not ultra smooth but the confidence towing is great. My bro has a '21 GMC 2500 Duramax its nice for sure, tows great and does ride better than my 3500. Don't think you can go wrong with any of the big 3's 2500 diesel platforms right now.

[Germaine Marine]

Im in and out of a truck every year. Ive gone GM, Dodge back to Gm then to Ford. Ford by far rode the worst but has been the best truck. Most wont ride great empty. Any of the them with a Kelderman kit will ride like a Cadillac. Go best all around and fix the ride if its an issue. For me its Ford with a kelderman kit. Pretty hard to beat.

[Wagonhound]

I have a pulled my boat with a 20' GMC Sierra w/6.2L (best), 15' Sierra Denali 6.2 (crappy 8speed) a 15' Chevy 2500HD with a 6.0 (little to harsh for a daily driver) and a 1500 Ram (suspension and transmission was too weak). I would never choose a modern 3/4 ton over a 1/2 ton, just for the pure comfort when not towing, 10 speed transmission is a game changer. I also have an F250 with the 6.2 that I pull a heavy trailer with 95% of the time as my work truck, it is the worst riding truck and horrible throttle response. Even the 08' and 12' GMC 2500HD with the 6.0 were a far better truck than the F250. GM with the 6.2L all the way!

[freeheel4life]

Bamer I think the important question (to me) is how far is it from where the boat lives to the ramp?? How often are you making that haul??

Theres a bunch of other questions/assumptions as well....Do you intend to daily this tow vehicle?? What are your seating requirements/how many bodies need to make it to the lake in one vehicle??

Big crew equals Ram with a Mega Cab. Occasionally towing short distance can be done with 1/2 tons or 3/4 and one tons with gasser heartbeats.

If it's the whole family on a 14 hour haul with some lead in the boat with elevation gains its diesel all day.

Super unpopular opinion but there's a lot of 3rd gen 24v Cummins and 99-03 7.3s that can be had for substantially less than what you are looking at and would do great as a tow vehicle and still leave you with enough money to buy a new commuter/Tesla.

[Bamer]

[mention]freeheel4life [/mention]I use my truck as a daily driver. I tow the boat 1 times a week in the summer months about 10miles/15-20min in city driving, but I also make 2-3 trips at 3-5hrs each summer. I allways have 900lbs of lead going too and have played with some in boat and truck and various locations within each vehicle. If it was just the short trips, I’d get over it, but I’m at the point of dreading the long trips as my Ram 1500 can be very rough.


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[UNSTUCK]

I made the trip from Salt Lake City to the Tige reunion at lake mead several times with my 2015 Ram 1500 Ecodiesel. Did a couple trips to Boise ID and to Page AZ with that truck as well. I wont say it towed my RZX3 great, but it was ok. It was probably the most underpowered truck of all that have been mentioned. The RZX3 was probably Tiges heaviest boat at the time as well. We were slow up the hills (down to about 50-55 on some BIG hills), but other than that we were fine. The ride was great and the truck handled the boat very well. I never felt unsafe.
My new GMC 1500 with the 6.2 towed my RZX2 with 800 in lead perfect. No issues and no regrets on the purchase. I was very close to purchasing a new Ram 2500 with the diesel too. I'm glad I didn't. I really enjoy my truck when not towing. It is our main - family around town - vehicle.

[Zackdogg]

One thing you might want to consider, that might be an option is the 1/2 ton, GMC 3.0 diesel Denali. I drove one the week we were in Alaska, and it seemed good on power, although I didn’t tow with it. A solid consideration for me, as a guy that tows in the Sierras, constantly, would be how long I planned on keeping the truck. 1/2 ton is significantly nicer daily driving, but towing is just harder on the running gear. Everything is pushing 400hp and like 10 speed trans now, so they’ll all drag our boats just fine. If I planned on turning trucks over at 80-100k, I’d probably just go half ton, if I were only towing my boat around. I tow trailers for my business multiple times, every week, year round. My last half ton started falling apart at like 60k, but 20k of that was probably towing in mountains. Brakes and trans didn’t cut it.

My buddy tows a g23 with an F150 ecoboost, kinda the way you sound like you would, to the lake a bunch of weekends, and a couple of longer trips a year, and that thing has been great, and gets great mileage doing it.

I drive a 3/4 ton Chevy as a daily driver, and am more comfortable in that, than driving my girl’s X5, but I’ve been driving a 3/4 ton for 11 years. I’m used to it. I like the room in the interior, I can see well in traffic, it’s good in deep snow and the mountains, and if I need to hook up and drag a trailer, I don’t have to think twice about it. If I didn’t use my truck the way I do, I’d drive a half ton for the better economy and just because they drive more like a car than a 3/4 ton.


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[Bamer]

I almost wonder if there’s something wrong with my trailer. I’ve pulled the boat with all the gear and lead out and it rides like complete shit…actually worse than when I have all the lead to n. I put 6-700lbs over and just in-front of the axels and 2-300lbs In the bow.


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