We are currently thinking a used 21-26 foot travel trailer (about 7000 pounds fully loaded) and a higher mileage truck with a camper shell and roof rack. Looking around at craigslist makes me pretty sure I can get both truck and trailer and whatever repairs/replacements they need and a solar system for $30-35k (in cash of course) if I'm smart about it.
What's your total payload going to look like (trailer weight, stuff in the truck, stuff on the roofrack, you/your wife/your dog/etc)? If you've got stuff in the bed or cab, that counts for weight. You'll need to keep the gross vehicle weight (vehicle, stuff in it, tongue weight of the trailer) below the limit to be legal/safe/sane. And for solar, what type of batteries are you going with, because they can easily add a lot of weight in a hurry. Though, if I were you, I'd look very closely at non-lead-acid batteries for something like what you're doing. For the same weight, you can get much better power capacity with, say, LiFePO4. :) And cycle life measured in the thousands of cycles instead of hundreds. And you can use the full capacity, not just the top 20-30% if you care about your battery life.
The problem is neither I nor anyone in my family has ever bought a truck so I have no idea what makes one truck better than another other than towing capacity and fuel economy. What do I need to look for? What extra features are really worth it? What does a "tow package" mean and do I need it? When looking at used trucks, what repairs should I think of as doable/not that bad and what are "run away as fast as you can" issues? People keep saying "it has 200k miles which is just broken in for this engine", are they full of it or do the engines really last that long? Should I care about gas vs diesel? I'm a total beginner and want an education from people who understand buying what matters and not what doesn't.
I'll try to help. Feel free to ask questions and I'll do my best to clarify.
A few questions for you, first:
- How much of the time do you think you'll have the trailer attached vs just potting around locally (to rivers/town/etc)? A good tow vehicle is generally less-than-enjoyable for unloaded around town use. You should seriously consider (if you haven't) bicycles or scooters or something to get around locally instead of having to take the truck everywhere.
- How many miles/yr do you expect to be towing?
In general, for something like this, you're looking to build a "tow pig" - a truck built for towing heavy a lot of it's life. There's some stuff that matters for that type of build that doesn't matter as much (or at all) for an around town commuter truck.
I'll apologize in advance for the Ford-isms. You can translate them easily to other manufacturers. I'm a Ford guy, and a diesel guy (and an ebike guy - go figure).
I'm going to assume you're dealing with 8k-9k lbs total weight, if you factor in the trailer, the stuff you add to the trailer (they get heavier over time), stuff in the bed, weight of the camper top, etc. This pretty much puts you out of the F-150 series unless you're going with a brand new one (which you shouldn't do).
For a long while, the F250 and F350 are basically the same platform, just with different suspension/some engine details. They'll both work fine for what you're dealing with. You'll want a hitch rated for your trailer, so you'll need at least a Class IV receiver setup (2" receiver, 1 1/4" ball, generally a pretty beefy setup, but most F250/F350 class vehicles will have one).
I disagree with the people saying "Run at your weight limit." First, you'll be heavier than you think you will be. It happens. Second, a vehicle running up at or above it's tow rating/GVWR is not usually fun to drive, and not legal most places. It's also really hard on the transmission/brakes/etc, so you're more likely to have issues with them if you're towing heavy a lot. Just don't do it. Look for at least a 10k lb tow rating, IMO, for a 7k+ lb trailer you're towing a lot.
For 2WD vs 4WD, consider where you're going to be camping. If you're sticking to paved roads and some light gravel or dirt, 2WD is probably fine (and you can get a 2WD truck cheaper - they're less popular). However, if you're going to be dealing with a lot of gravel, dirt, or camping in wet, muddy areas, 4WD is very likely worth the weight and cost. Trying to get a trailer unstuck with a 2WD pickup is entertaining to watch, but not terribly productive. If you do go 2WD, consider a limited slip differential in the rear so you don't simply spin one wheel. Of course, 4WD trucks can still get stuck, but it's a whole lot harder to do. If you're planning to camp in a lot of dirt and mud, a limited slip differential in the rear (and possibly the front) will help a whole lot with getting things unstuck.
As far as gas vs diesel... welcome to the holy wars? :) I would rather have a good turbodiesel for something like what you're doing, for several reasons.
Upsides of a diesel:
- A well maintained diesel engine will run damned near forever. Getting a decent diesel to 300k+ is fairly easy, and most of them are still running strong and pulling hard up there. Getting one to half a million miles is a little bit harder, but there are plenty that will do it. They're incredibly well built motors, built to work, and you're going to be working it.
- For towing heavy, especially up hills, a turbocharger is amazing. The harder the engine is working, the more air it's getting, so the harder it can work. You dig in going up a hill, the turbo spins harder, and the thing just pulls like a tractor. The efficiency while working hard is also relatively good - they're built to work hard.
- They make a lot of power at low RPM, so getting a heavy trailer going, or dealing with one that's slightly stuck is fairly easy. They just grunt and pull wonderfully.
- It's incredibly easy to make more power out of a diesel - upgrade the turbo, put some bigger injectors in (optional), reprogram the computer, and they make more power.
- You can run them on damned near anything that burns. For something like this, with long towing, you might want to consider (if you swing this way) doing a waste vegetable oil conversion or similar. You can run most diesels on filtered, heated waste vegetable oil, and you can get that easily from various restaurants, or your own cooking. It's a bit harder to obtain than it used to be, but the flexibility in fueling can be a nice perk.
- Fuel efficiency when towing is typically much better than the comparable gas truck. Turbochargers are one hell of a neat gizmo. :)
Downsides of a diesel:
- They cost more. They're just flat out more expensive to purchase and maintain. If you can do work yourself, the cost difference isn't as bad, but parts for them tend to be large, expensive, and heavy.
- They're cold blooded. Most modern diesels (if in good condition with working grid heaters/glow plugs/etc) will start down to about 15F without the block heater, and some will start a bit lower, but if it's going to be cold, they need to be plugged in to start (block heater). They can also be a bit cranky until warmed up, but you shouldn't be working a cold engine hard anyway.
- They run diesel (duh). You need to pay more attention to the fuel blends and additives if you're dealing with cold, because summer diesel will gel up and stop the engine. It's not a big deal, and if you're going through a lot, you'll be getting a decent blend from the places you fill up, but it does take a little bit of attention sometimes.
- They can stink a little bit more. Especially the older ones will just smell like a diesel while running. It's not a problem unless your wife can't stand the smell. :)
There do exist some utter flops of diesels out there, though. Don't buy a Ford with a 6.0L diesel in it. It's an utter piece of junk unless you spend a lot of money re-engineering it. Do your research before you buy, and find out what common problems are. If you want pre-emissions-crap, it's hard to beat the 7.3 Powerstroke (which was used from 1994-2003 in Ford diesel pickups).
Gas burners work just fine as well, but until you get into the newer, turbocharged, direct injection gas engines (which you're probably not going to want because they're expensive), a diesel will generally out tow a gas truck every time. Gas engines also don't last as long. It's rare to get a gas truck engine past about 250k-300k miles. A 200k mile diesel is usually finally broken in. :)
In terms of "Things you should consider when buying," you'll want the following:
- A transmission temperature gauge. Automatic transmissions do not like running hot and their life will be dramatically shortened by even short periods of getting too hot. You'll also typically benefit from additional transmission coolers, which are commonly installed on trucks anyway. 140-160F is about perfect for running, and you really don't want them running much above 175F for any extended period of time, or you'll be rebuilding it far earlier than you care to.
- If you go with a diesel, you'll want a pyrometer (exhaust gas temperature gauge). Running a diesel too hard will damage it, and an EGT probe will let you figure this out long before you damage anything.
The worst conditions for a truck are towing heavy (which you'll be doing), in the summer (you plan to live in it year round), on a long uphill grade (I assume you're going to be crossing mountains). Something that can handle that may seem a bit overkill in the flat lands, but when you're hauling a trailer up over an 8000 foot pass, it makes a difference. :)
"Tow packages" aren't as much of a thing on trucks. They're common on vans & the like, and generally consist of some transmission coolers and often a slightly larger engine and suspension, but trucks being built to tow usually come with that stuff stock.
Another thing to look at is the axle/differential ratio. You can get a lot of trucks with 3.55s and 4.10s in the differentials, and they're not that expensive to swap out. For towing, 4.10s will tow better (the engine is turning a bit faster at any given speed), but your highway fuel economy will suffer a bit. Not that it's going to be very good anyway.
Other considerations are what size cab and bed you want (and for the F250/F350 series, this more or less determines which truck you get). Common cab setups are:
- Regular cab: Two door, no significant space behind the front seats
- Super cab: Two door, but a small bench behind the front seats and some space back there for, say, a dog.
- Crew cab: Four door, two full rows of seating.
With a dog, you'll almost certainly want a super cab or crew cab. Play around with a few and see what works best.
For beds, you can get anything from 3.5 feet (lolz) to 8 feet (long bed). I'd figure out what you're going to be putting in it and go from there. If you're dealing with water craft, you may want to go with a long bed so you can fit them inside the topper.
Most of the bigger trucks come with dual tanks. You can often find aftermarket upgrades for them - I've got 38 gallons in mine and once I get around to dropping the rear tank, I'll replace it with a bigger one so I can have ~60 gallons. You're going to be chewing through gas or diesel at a tremendous rate, so a small tank won't get you where you want to go. If you're hanging out in the middle of nowhere a lot, remember that you may be a long distance from a fuel station.
As far as tires go, you can stick with what's on whatever you buy, or go with some high pressure highway tires (Toyo M608s are nice). They wear a lot better and have lower rolling resistance when heavy. It just depends on how much driving you're planning to do.
You'll need a brake controller for your trailer. Almost any truck you look at used that's suited to towing will have one, but there are varying qualities of them, and you may want to upgrade it if you don't like how it runs the brakes. They detect braking and control the trailer brakes proportionally, and most of the nice ones have a lever you can use to apply the trailer brakes a bit to help if it's swaying. Make sure your trailer has electric brakes - the cheap hydraulic "surge brakes" built into the tongue of the trailer are utter and complete garbage for any real towing use.
Also, if you can find a truck that's been modded the way you want, it's going to be a LOT cheaper than doing all the stuff yourself. Even if you have to pay a bit more (or a good bit more) up front, buying a used tow pig is going to be a lot cheaper than building one. You can often find people upgrading to newer trucks selling off their old one.
Anyway, that's at least a little bit of a brain dump on trucks for towing. Hopefully it's helpful, and if there's anything else you'd like information on, I'm happy to try and help.
... and, yeah, this forum isn't going to be a great place for a lot of advice on big trucks. :)