Truck for 995

[Edlittle]

Hello everyone,
My wife and I just purchased an Eagle Cap 995. Originally, we were looking at triple slides. Our plans were to spend 5 years or so traveling around the U.S. and full timing in a camper. We are skiers so we wanted something that would also work well in the winter. At any rate, we were at Barber RV in Ventura, CA looking at their campers when we went into the 995. One if our requirements was a dry bath and the 995 has a dry bath. As we were in the camper, the manager announced that he was greatly reducing the price because it is a 2013 and he wanted to move it. It is completely set up and has everything we wanted except a solar panel. My wife is very impressed with the camper and still plans on spending months at a time traveling around the country.
Our only problem at this time is that we haven't bought a truck. We are considering  a 1 ton Ford or Chevy diesel. Does anyone reading this have any recommendations?

[timonbik]

I have an 1160 and have it on a 2011 Chev 3500 dually.  Dually's can be a pain when unloaded but when it comes to handling the weight of a camper there is nothing better for stability and ride, never mind overall safety.

[eaglecapownerone]

x2 on the dually.
The 995 when loaded will need a dually class truck - or a bunch of expensive upgrade on single rear wheel axle truck.
Also, I would seriously consider a gas powered truck as well.

[Zack]

I have a 2008 GMC 2500 4x4 Dmax/Allison shortbed crewcab and LOVE the truck. It's a daily driver. We have an 2012 EC850 and it does awesome after I spent a bunch of money on suspension upgrades. Airbags, swaybar, adjustable shocks, stronger tires, etc. I'm currently searching for a shortbed DRW at this time, or I'll upgrade to 19.5" wheels. I think the safety of  multiple tires in case of a blowout and the stability of the wider axle is worth the pain of driving around town. We ski every weekend at Mt Hood  in the winter so we go through Portland and the Columbia Gorge so the wind is our worst evil. SRWs are better in the snow (dig down, and PSI) but with the weight of the camper I don't think it's a big deal. I drive a DRW delivery truck and have to chain up every year  so I have some experience in both just the delivery truck is a little lighter and has hwy tires on it.  Hope this helps a little and  we haven't had any problems with our truck/motor/trans thus far (70k+ miles and 19mpg with a couple upgrades). Enjoy your camper!!!

[Edlittle]

Thank you to everyone who replied. My wife and I are in the process of purchasing a Ford F350 diesel dually. Hopefully, we will sign the papers this week. We are waiting on getting the color we want. The dealer who sold us our camper says that a 1 ton SRW is fine but my wife is insisting on a dually. Safety is her number one concern, and I agree. After we get everything together we hope to start going to meet ups, etc. My wife is from China and knows little about the US. However, I taught her to ski and she is in love with America and everything we do. She wants to spend as much time as possible in the camper. Originally, we wanted a triple slide, but the 995 seems to be all that we need. We'll see.
Thanks again! I'll repost when we get ready to travel. As a veteran with 100% disability, we can stay at US and Canada military RV parks, so we will definitely be going to those places.

[Curahee]

Ed,
we went with a 2012 Ram 3500 DRW from a 2003 Ram 3500 SRW on our previous camper. The dually hauls the 995 well. The only truck modifications we have so far is a Helwig big wig sway bar and Ride Rite air bags, which are mostly used to level the truck when parked.